Everything We Touch Is Gold
The piece below marks a transition from jewelry production to a more intuitive artistic journey to learn about my ancestry. The bronze and aluminum pieces are from 2018 Blakbird Jewelry prototypes that wanted to become something else.
Towards the end of 2021 I got the idea to put them into a painting as a way to showcase them in a more creative way. At the end of 2021 I also found out that I would receive the Exposure Artists grant. This became my first project as well as an exercise to prepare myself for the coming year. I felt that I was on the verge of breaking through something I had struggled with for some time.
2021 began with a reunion with my father’s family-Blakbird Jewelry was one of the catalysts for that event. I wanted to make a piece that would represent how transformational Blakbird has been for me as an artist as well as hope for the future. This was my first time combining metalwork and painting-my first love. I ended up working on it for almost three months. It didn’t necessarily have to go on for that long, but I fell in love with the process. I loved building up the textures and watching gold paint drip. Although I began with a flat surface it began to feel like some sort of excavation. It became a meditative exercise where I was able to give my prayers form. I prayed for the strength to do this work. I prayed to stop believing I don’t deserve shit. I prayed to keep getting free from fear and crippling shame.
It ocurred to me that I love this new style because it shows that something is happening. It represents alchemy, a transformation of base metals into precious metal. There is something that happened when I lost my father. It happened many times over. I didn’t believe that things could really change for me and my family. Everything was always over and too late. There is something that has happened over the past year or so, my heart is healing in new ways. My nervous system is healing. Things aren’t great or perfect, but they are new in a way that gives me hope for everything else. Everything We Touch is Gold represents a personal experience as well as the experience of the African diaspora, especially those that were enslaved. We have this gift to transform over and over again.
