Through the human voice I heard a response to my cry. Through music shared with me by my father, I wondered about God. Before death, through death, the Black voice carrying spirit has been my assurance of life. The border between anguish and song: I imagine living there for a very long time.
In the late 1990s, the voices came to me through my window, into my room, the singer’s face floating above me. In particular, the voice of Mariah Carey held me with a tight grip. Her songs about God and spirit spoke to the feelings of pain and love I was experiencing as a young person. I poured over the power she used to create different sounds, how her face and body changed as she performed. Morphing into bursts of grief and joy. For example, Mariah Carey Live At The Grammys (2006). This performance is very important.
I deeply miss my father, who introduced me to this music but also to my depths. Who waited for me before passing into death as gospel led me home just in time. Who these images are in dedication to and inspired by.
I am indebted to his capacity to listen and cry to music; something I never saw him do but know he did.
The people I’m close to in the type of way that I’ve talked to them about exactly the types of pictures I want make, maybe they’re able to recognize my relief. I have been riding my tires in mud for years, knowing my calling to document the face and body while singing and finally now I have begun. I think the honest, shameless act of singing is the only expression of anguish that makes sense to me.
Pictured are Geraldine McMillian (left) and Pam Jones (right). Both are incredibly gifted and accomplished opera singers based in New York. I am so grateful to you for sharing your voices and time with me.
Thank you Cassandra Mayela for asking me to make work in question of my relationship to spirituality and religion. These pieces are on view at Olympia Gallery (41 Orchard St., New York, NY) until October 3rd, 2021.
Prints are available for purchase, please email me with inquiries.
Please comment, email or reach out to me otherwise if you’d like to talk about the voice, singing, performance, grief, or anything in between.