I Am the Seed

She’s finally finished! I have been working on this piece all year. Well, truthfully some of the pieces have been dyed for years waiting to be used.

The thing I love about making art, is how I’ll get an idea either through a dream, a vision, a word/ phrase, etc. And I’ll write down what came to me, or sketch something. BUT that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what it’ll actually be.

The sketch. LOL

IATS is part of my current body of work I’m building. It’s called Ancestral Tethers. Originally these were going to be these layered embroidered tapestries. Coupled with a photo project. And while that may very be, in the future, that’s not what it is now. Ancestral Tethers is an acknowledgement, a show of gratitude, and a prayer for the gifts, skills, and knowledge protected, and the prayers made on my behalf. I’ve thought so much about my enslaved ancestors and all the hopes and dreams and fears they harbored as they were removed from their homes. I thought of the prices paid in order for them to maintain their heritage. I’ve thought of how it would’ve been so easy for them to just let it all go. But they didn’t. And they prayed that someone would come back to their practices. I think about how many of us are forging “nontraditional” (per the standards of our current society) paths, and how that’s actually rooted in the prayers of our unknown ancestors. How we’ve heard them and responded and chosen to take these roads less travelled. How for many of us, the more we answer those prayers, the less we can get ourselves to turn down different paths. How our souls feel restless when we’re not doing the things we’re compelled to do.

As long as I can remember I have always had my ancestors and my descendants at the forefront of my mind. I wanted to do well in school/ life, to read, etc. because of those who shed blood for my rights to read and go to school and thrive. I wanted to keep records and create a life that my children and their children could benenfit from. They have always been there and will always be there. They are always present in my work. And that’s what “I Am the Seed” represents: the prayers and work of my ancestors. The way I nurture those offerings and sacrifices. And the ways that my children and their children will reap the benefits of that care.