ROOTS

This project explores honoring a woman as the root/ base of the family or our existence (considering that we all came from women so they are the roots of the family tree).

To accompany this piece, I had my very good friend, teacher and poet, Hector Stewart, perform a poem that is played on the headphones next to the pieces. The reason my model is doing yoga is because of its symbolic meaning and also because it amplifies the appreciation of a woman's body and how it can twist and reform itself from the normal way we see it .

Symbolically: the root chakra ( which is the base of the spine ) represents the first or base. It is the root of your being and establishes the deepest connections with your physical body, your environment and the Earth.

The woman was the first one to eat from the tree of life and now she produces life from her womb making her the root of our existence

I'm always passionate about my roots and where I'm from so that fueled my motivation to make this project.

This project won the President’s Purchase Award at The College of New Jersey in 2015.

Her.

the One that knows

her own Goddess;

knows the gold flowing

her veins, the alchemy that silks

her fingertips, the Ma'at

made visible in the sight

of her melanin.

Let this be your Hymn:

for both your praise

and your pardon, I pray.

For as you feign

your blush, the hushed truth

is no words can rattle the Giver

of the grounds we crawl,

the Mother of the messiahs

to whom we give bended knee.

She

that sees the cosmos

as Her yard, the color of the deep

Earth a subtle nod to her Hue:

Blessed

in your name,

let these sounds be

seeds sown in Song,

and sunbathed in Honor

unto You.

Poem by Hector Stewart