Choosing one of my favorite literary muses was an extreme challenge. As an avid reader I bounced from author to author as my inspiration, because of this conundrum I finally decided to narrow the list down to the last five books I had read. Those authors are Isabel Wilkerson, bell hooks, Octavia Butler, and W.E.B. Dubois.

I titled the work after the books themselves; Warmth of Other Suns by Wilkerson, which I chose to use my Mixed Media Collage on a large reclaimed fence which further enforces the idea of division within our community and the passage of time.

Ain’t I A Woman by bell hooks I created as a diptych. This diptych aptly titled individually as ‘Ain’t I’ and ‘A Woman’ . I was looking to further enhance the duality of feminine identity as we are strong alone, but we are empowered when we are viewed as one.

For the Parables series by Octavia Butler, I decided to translate the work with an Afro-Futuristic influence. The religion Earthseed established by the founder from the books as a type of Goddess of her own galaxy.

The final muse was W.E.B Dubois Brownies Book that he wrote for the Children of the Sun. My work shows the Child as if being seen through a pool of rippled water to accentuate that the childhood for African American children can for many be an illusion as they have to be trained early to live with a double consciousness in a society that often prejudges them for their skin color.