My ideas for painting come from photographs, actual poses, life experiences, musical pieces (such as jazz, hip hop, pop, and rhythm and blues) as well as from images of actual musicians. I am extremely influenced by Black materiality. I feel that there’s not enough representations of the Black Diaspora in our mediated world, and I want to do my part in changing that paradigm. Ms. Bonfiglio, my first art teacher, encouraged me to paint my thoughts, dreams and images from my imagination. I have included those very wise words in my process.