Through my paintings, I want to convey the people and places of African Culture. I was always interested in ancient history as a child, and I loved doodling. At four years old, I was inspired by my two older brothers, who drew cartoon and comic book characters. I started drawing animals from our giant family dictionary at age eight, and I painted watercolors of comic book characters at ten. I started creating pencil portraits at thirteen, and my first acrylic painting at fifteen.
During my middle school years, I began reading about people like W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Fredrick Douglass, and others. But I was not satisfied with contemporary history; I needed answers to the who, what, where, and when about African history, the period before slavery, the information beyond my high school African history classes. I started doing my own research. To my surprise, I discovered a whole new universe of information.
After leaving the military service at 23, I started building my personal library of African literature, in total around a thousand books and counting. In 2004, while also collecting paintings of African people and their historical places, I started painting for enjoyment, giving away my work to friends and relatives, or selling some work. But my goal in life is to continue to paint African art, inspired by my research. My future goal is to display my work in a museum one day, or show the work in a public center for African culture.
Thebes
This painting depicts a scene of the Opet Festival, an annual ancient Egyptian festival celebrated in Thebes (Luxor) during the season of Akhet and the flooding of the Nile. The festival was celebrated to promote the fertility of Amun-Re and the pharaoh, who was believed to be the spiritual offspring of Amun-Re. The Opet began on ll Aket 15 (between June and September) under Thutmose lll, 1458-1426 B.C., and lasted eleven days.
The festival included a ritual procession of the barque (a ceremonial boat used to transport statues of gods and deities) of the cult statue of Amun-Re, supreme god; his wife, Mut; and his son, Khons. This procession carried the statue for two kilometers, from Karnak to Luxor Temple, its final destination.
Our new type of ArtPrize venue gives veterans a voice as they share their stories of struggle and healing through art.
Thebes is showcasing at Veterans Memorial Park
A special thanks to Kent County Veterans Services, Zero Day, Finish the Mission, West Michigan Veterans Coalition, PlexiCase Inc, and Healing in Arts for making this collaboration of veteran stories possible.
