BIOGRAPHY 

 

I am a Cleveland-based sculptor whose practice is defined by monumental architectural interventions and an inquiry into the perceived value of materials. My work is currently featured in the global touring exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago, with international presentations at MACBA Barcelona, The Barbican Centre London, and KANAL–Centre Pompidou Brussels. 

 

This international presence is anchored by over twenty years of institutional partnership and social practice, including a long-term residency with Cleveland Public Theatre and ecological initiatives with the Famicos Foundation. My sculptures are held in the permanent collections of the DuSable Black History Museum, the Putnam Collection at Case Western Reserve University, and the Hilton Collection. 

 

Recent projects include the exhibition Ohio Now: State of Nature at moCa Cleveland and a forthcoming scholarly feature in the International Journal of Education & the Arts. A finalist for the Joan Mitchell Fellowship and a multi-year Ohio Arts Council grant recipient, my work Air (2022) served as the signature visual identity for the Panafrica symposium in Brussels. In recognition of my contributions to the permanent collections of the DuSable and the Art Institute of Chicago, I hold a Lifetime Membership at both institutions.

 

STATEMENT OF PRACTICE

 

My practice is a lifelong inquiry into the social architecture of perceived value and the endurance of legacy. Since my earliest explorations, I have been fascinated by the irony of ‘non-value’—the way society dismisses the foundational materials and the cultural histories that act as our essential yet unacknowledged vessels of our collective identity.

 

In my early work, I critiqued the elusive conventions of class and birthright, challenging how society confers worth onto objects while ignoring, or even erasing, their origins. This foundational curiosity has since matured into a monumental practice defined by a complex negotiation of weight and permanence. Using a juxtaposition of organic and repurposed materials, from salvaged wall lath and reed grass to clay, compost, and shredded letters to the ancestors, I construct symbolic architectures that bridge pre-colonial traditions with the resilience of contemporary, multicultural societies.

 

My work serves as a sanctuary for introspection, reclaiming fragments of identity that have been discarded and molding them into renewed, master-scale forms. By redefining the relationship between the inherent and the extrinsic, I seek to forge a pathway toward shared accountability and a more profound, collective restoration.