#thesacredandprofane

[shopapanaki]

It's was 5yrs to the day of the killing the Charleston 9. An Open Letter to North Charleston Cultural Arts Department re: Madonna and Child - The Sacred and Profane 2016 The Madonna and Child: The Sacred and Profane was first conceptualized for the Holy City: The Art of Love, Unity and Resurrection Exhibition in honor of the Charleston 9, who were viciously struck down at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Due to the flooding, the exhibition was postponed to the following year. I was an honored to be the only Canadian Artist to be accepted into this prestigious art festival for the second time. A Piece of Peace - the Art Festival’s theme - was a wonderful opportunity to express my interpretation through my unique art practice. It couldn’t have come at a better time since it’s almost a year to the date of the terrible incident. When I was given the opportunity to create and showcase this very personal yet pivotal artwork, as part of the 10th Annual African American Fiber Exhibition, it has taken me on a journey. The Madonna and Child not only honors my Orisha religion and Christianity, but the various themes such as Black Lives Matter, the racism in the South and freedom of speech. The image of the Madonna and Child is an iconic one. My original artwork is full of spiritual imagery from the whirls of the sky and the sea in the background to the bullet rounds used to create the halos above the heads of the mother and her babe. The original statute that grace the halls of the Vatican are of the Black Madonna and Child. One of the holiest symbols of Christianity the Madonna image remains a robust synthesis of religion and art and helps many Christian faithful focus prayers and other devotional practices. It is also used as an opportunity for artists to express, simultaneously, their creativity and their religious devotion. In using the symbol in its original form, it is literally a statement on Christianity and colonization of these images to excluded people of color. #charleston9 #whitesupremacyisterrorism #thisisamerica #madonnaandchild #thesacredandprofane #shopapanaki #apanakitemitayom #blacklivesmatter (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQMDD7oNeJP/?utm_medium=tumblr

[shopapanaki]

The Madonna and Child: The Sacred and Profane was first conceptualized for the Holy City: The Art of Love, Unity and Resurrection Exhibition in honor of the Charleston 9, who were viciously struck down at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Due to the flooding, the exhibition was postponed to the following year. I was an honored to be the only Canadian Artist to be accepted into this prestigious art festival for the second time. A Piece of Peace - the Art Festival’s theme - was a wonderful opportunity to express my interpretation through my unique art practice. It couldn’t have come at a better time since it’s almost a year to the date of the terrible incident. When I was given the opportunity to create and showcase this very personal yet pivotal artwork, as part of the 10th Annual African American Fiber Exhibition, it has taken me on a journey. The Madonna and Child not only honors my Orisha religion and Christianity, but the various themes such as Black Lives Matter, the racism in the South and freedom of speech. The image of the Madonna and Child is an iconic one. My original artwork is full of spiritual imagery from the whirls of the sky and the sea in the background to the bullet rounds used to create the halos above the heads of the mother and her babe. The original statute that grace the halls of the Vatican are of the Black Madonna and Child. One of the holiest symbols of Christianity the Madonna image remains a robust synthesis of religion and art and helps many Christian faithful focus prayers and other devotional practices. It is also used as an opportunity for artists to express, simultaneously, their creativity and their religious devotion. In using the symbol in its original form, it is literally a statement on Christianity and colonization of these images to excluded people of color. #madonnaandchild #thesacredandprofane #thestorybehindtheart #thecharleston9 #remembertheirnames #lestweforget🌹 #northcharleston #southcarolina #whiteterrorist #apanakitemitayom #shopapanaki #trinidadianartist #canadianartist #oyaenergy #thegoddessofdeath #goddessofswiftchange #madartist #artistoninstagram (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLb7BTSAXZ2/?igshid=1jk07ekpo7tl4