I seek to tell the story of my ancestry through pattern and color. I explore the past and present state of my personal identity by recollecting the time I spent in Tennessee. Being able to spend time on the land where my ancestors are from helped me learn more about myself. Growing up I was surrounded by quilts made by ancestors, I was able to get to know my great grandmother through her quilting style, the scraps she chose to work with and the patters she created. Although I did not get the chance to meet my ancestors in their lifetimes I can feel them pulling, and guiding me to explore this part of our history now.

Recently, I have found interest in incorporating quilting techniques into my work to emphasize the importance of storytelling and documentation to me. By incorporating different styles of quilting into my process, I am able to dive deeper into my family’s history as quilting has been largely practiced by Black women.

My hope in making this work is to document moments in my life that have shaped me. I am learning more about myself while simultaneously learning who the people that came before me were. Whether I am using pages from my journal as filling or deconstructing paintings and sewing them back together again, I am creating this art in ode to this tradition and my family. I see my process as a form of language; the patterns in my art are the words spoken to me by my ancestors symbolizing fragments given to me through the stories of our past. I see it as my job to piece them together, transforming them into overlapping and intertwined designs.