About the Art

A five-piece series using Adinkra symbolism to examine slavery, what’s often missing from the conversation, and what should shape the future.

This body of work is organized around five Adinkra symbols—visual proverbs from the Akan people of present-day Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Historically, these symbols were printed on Adinkra cloth and used in ceremonies, rituals, and funerary traditions. Each symbol carries a distilled idea; here, each one anchors a painting and a point in the arc of the African American diaspora.

Purpose: To reflect, elucidate, educate, decry, inspire.