What's up with all the Brown Girls with Hand signs Art?

The other day I was asked "What's up with all the Brown Girls throwing hand signs in your art?" and my answer is "Representation Matters".

So let's start from the beginning, this summer I started painting a series of brown girls that reflected pride in their ethnic heritage, academic excellence, service to the community and friendship. I wanted to represent a college educated woman who is proud of who she is and where she comes from. I also wanted viewers to relate personally to each painting, I want mothers and daughters to see themselves in the painting. 

Each brown girl is wearing a dashiki in the paintings. I think it is important to embrace our ethnic heritage in art. I see works from other artists that say they are about celebrating the African, female body but the work is usually a nude. I think women can be empowered without being nude, women can be clothed in strength and pride. Women can boldly celebrate their heritage in a dashiki cloth that is derived from the Motherland. Also most of the brown girls are featured with kinks, curls, and natural hair. Beautifully representing our hair as it naturally grows out of our heads is relevant to each little brown girl with puff balls. I needed to paint big, kinked and coiled hair as a source of pride and beauty for every little girl, or grown woman, who only sees Eurocentric hairstyles. My paintings are for every woman and girl who may feel insecure about their hair, or they simply don't see natural hair represented in fine art.

Each hand sign is representative of a different group of brown, college educated women.  You may not recognize each group, and you may not connect with them but these women represent success and pride. I want girls to see what ethnic pride and success looks like through my art. Moreover I want women to be reaffirmed and celebrated in their own identity 

    Each painting depicts a different woman, from a different group, but they all embody the same general values.

 Even as I was painting the art my own child would ask "Who is in your art Mom, is it Me?" Already she is connecting herself to images around her, so I know that other little brown girls are doing the same. Representation Matters.