Artist’s Statement

I strive to create situations and objects where people are compelled to interact, to express, and therefore challenge themselves to heal, to stand taller, to build community, and to work toward a more just future. Whether this occurs in a classroom where my presence shows that art and woodworking is a valid pursuit for young people who look like me or when I bring together mothers of color in Boston to build solidarity, support, and friendship while we navigate raising Black and Brown children to value their own identities in a white society. These interactions, along with my experiences growing up as a first generation Guyanese American, where making was part of our daily lives, all serve as inspiration for the experience of working with wood. 

These wooden sculptures that reach out to your senses—the smell of cedar, the richness of walnut, the color of honey or the deep blue sea, the round form that signifies safety and warmth, the impenetrable feel that’s reminiscent of armor, the gentle curve that beckons to be touched. The process of making is a collaboration with wood, a material that even after being cut down still mimics life, changing with its environment. I push the wood to its limits and it pushes back. Finding this critical moment in time and physical balance transforms the material. In this material and process of working I see the connections to my community. I see the trust, the risks, the affirmations. I see my identity—as a Black woman, a Black mother