INSPIRATION

Sense of Place unfolds as a visual mosaic—fragmented yet deeply interconnected—inviting reflection on the layered, and sometimes contradictory, realities that shape African diasporic identity. Across shifting scenes and geographies, the work resists a singular narrative. From a Suri youth in ceremonial regalia to a PGA golf course in coastal Kenya, from a floating village in West Africa to a Maasai curio shop beside the Museum of African American History, each vignette reveals the plurality of Black life.

 
A tectonic fault line cuts diagonally through the painting—referencing both geological rupture and cultural dislocation—before dissolving into water, carrying symbols of continuity and transformation. Gold-leafed popcorn kernels, masked apparitions, and an indiscernible animal form (made of kanga fabric) speak to the strangeness, richness, and unknowability of culture: a force shaped as much by rupture as by ritual and adaptation.

At the center, a scene from the artist’s own wedding—where traditional Kenyan ritual met modern custom in the union of an African and a white family—anchors the work in lived experience. Framed by pyramids, this moment places the personal within the historical, reflecting deeper themes of hybridity, connection, and the evolving nature of identity.

Sense of Place invites viewers to resist fixed categories and remain open—to see how culture travels, adapts, and re-emerges in both quiet gestures and bold expressions. It offers counter-narratives of resilience, layered traditions, adopted customs, and contemporary realities. This is not a static portrait, but a living archive—where meaning is continuously shaped across time, generations, geography, and experience.