“Stick a fork in me, I’m done” is a phrase I found myself repeating through my frustrations of the Covid pandemic, post-election disasters, mass killings of children and the continued Black Lives Matter crisis. It described that pivotal point when you couldn’t tolerate anymore, disappointment: requiring drastic changes to hold on to your sanity. I reframed from watching the news and political conversations, while finding refuge in my work. During this process I developed a new way of processing and synthesizing information as a survival technique.

 

Working with color got me through the perfect storm that I never dreamed would happen in my life time. Each day my only challenge was to create a color never seen before. My power became my work, as it was the only thing, I felt I could control. Although, it was also controlling me.  

 

I began to study color and the effects different colors can evoke on ones’ psyche.  I began manipulating the papers, as some were printed on both sides. The prints began to protrude, at least 2 to 4 inches from the background and extend beyond the borders.

 

This series represents the fact that beauty can be created in response and in spite of trauma, disappointment, fear and bewilderment. It is akin to how Jazz translated feelings into sound yet created beautiful music. My series started as a challenge to create a new color never seen before, as I do believe there are colors that our eyes just aren’t equip to see. Perhaps on other planets there are new and different colors.