“i did not not know i could be beautiful (number 5)” — GICLÉE PRINT

“the way to gesture praise, worship, the way to announce openness and vulnerability, the way to raise hands and produce a prayerful posture varies. there are various ways to say yes, to surrender, to bloom. and what if this variousness is the occasion to think relation, the difference a point of convergence for our living with one another in ways that pursue a more just, equitable, kind, tender, thoughtful, loving world? young ashon, who was so doctrinaire and legalistic and thought there was only one path of righteousness, could not imagine bean pie and Iftars during Ramadan with friends that are family and laughter and love with difference had so much to learn, is still learning so much.

when encountering the original image, i was struck and moved by its simplicity. i felt color and verve and something familiar in it, her gentle head and hands, a lightness and love. and i desired, in general, to expand the series beyond blackpentecostalism but within blackness. there is so much room in blackness, so much variousness, so much difference. something to celebrate.

the foundation of this piece is another ‘dancing in one spot’ painting (the last image), it’s used as a silhouette for the figure’s face, hands, sleeve and part of the khimar. a coming together of traditions, gesture and posture as relation, rooted in blackness. this is the practice, the prayer, of black social life.”

original image referenced from standing in the need of prayer.