I started making art with art therapy. It's what I know how to do. I got a lot of criticism for that when I was in school. But I think it works for me.
My artistic decision to cast my mother's objects into bronze moves beyond the notions of memorializing her. I've been fascinated for some time with the idea of monumentality and what it means to memorialize. Both of these notions are relevant historically, artistically, and culturally.
I've always been interested in masking, layering, dressing up and beautifying yourself and what that meant to black women. I've always wanted to make things that I haven't seen before.
I'm a black American, and I'm proud to represent who and where I'm from - unapologetically. There's no shame in my game.
I look to a lot of artists who don't focus on one medium, who you can't pigeonhole.
All of my experiences modeling, acting, doing theater, it's all in the work now. And the work freed me to transform myself.
I don't think an artist should always know why they gravitate toward something or someone. You are just drawn to things, and that's OK.
There's a great desire for people to alter themselves, but it's also the art of transformation. 'I want a bigger butt; I want bigger boobs.' The artifice interests me - how we're capable of altering ourselves. There's a creative element that's very intriguing.
What's always intriguing to me is transforming my subjects into a character from another era.
With photography, you've captured a moment time - it's that moment only - and in painting, you play with it; you manipulate how time is presented. It's about fantasy and illusion and the creation of desire.
When I decided to go to art school, it wasn't necessarily something I thought I needed. No one talked about graduate school when I was an undergrad. I went on to a residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and that transition from Yale to the Studio Museum, that was the real beginning of my professional career.
I used to listen to a lot of music in my studio - all the time. But as far as the music that interplays with my work, what I've done and still do is keep a lyric book and song title. The material typically comes from Eartha Kitt, Betty Davis, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston.
I started making art during high school but thought I lacked the talent to become a true artist.
