“Rotunda of the Ancestors”
In 2022, Louisville Visual Art received the honorable Public Art & Civic Engagement Initiative (PACE) Grant from the Mural Arts Institute, a branch of Mural Arts Philadelphia. This funding empowered LVA to oversee two 1-year-long cycles of the Artist Catalyst Program, providing vital support for two artists to create site-specific, socially engaged public artworks. I was the program's second recipient and collaboratively crafted The Rotunda of the Ancestors at the Kentucky Center of African American Heritage. Meant to be a place of empowerment and education, each image houses two spirits. The ancestral spirit and the spirit of present-day Louisville natives creating a continuous link from the past to the present. My collaboration involved community members, including staff from KCAAH, Grace James Academy, and the Pan African Studies Department of the University of Louisville. The Rotunda of the Ancestors serves to educate KCAAH visitors about pre-Diaspora African history disconnected from enslavement.
Dye-Sublimation on Fabric, 120” x 720”, 2023
I combined community engagement at the University of Louisville and Grace James Academy with artificial Intelligence and high-resolution photographs of living Louisville community members. This project is meant to function as a reflective mirror to the community where the ancestral spirit of the past is preserved in the present. Many historical characters across the African continent were included in the research for this artwork however, final selections for the rotunda were prioritized by quality of imagery, diversity in age and gender and spatial limitations. No preference was given towards any age, gender or demographic region during the creation of this piece. The responsibility of telling our stories disconnected from trauma is liberating. An opportunity to change the lens so we might see something different in ourselves. Something better so we might be encouraged to be better….or at least recognize we already are.
