Liberty Flags (as protest signs)

​I am deeply dedicated to exploring various aspects of social justice activism, policing, surveillance technologies, colonization, and immigration. My approach involves embracing interdisciplinary and exploratory practices to delve into these issues.

In 2014, I initiated Rituals of Commemoration, which stemmed from my anger and disbelief surrounding the police murder of Michael Brown. Over time, it evolved into a focused research endeavor, involving examination and inquiry. Throughout this journey, I undertook the task of collecting, organizing, and visualizing instances of injustice. The culmination of this effort took the form of a sculpture installation, highlighting the names of more than 1,500 Black men, women, and youth who fell victim to police or security guards in the United States from 1979 to the present.​

As this thought-provoking work traveled to different locations, I realized that viewers who were not actively following the issue often failed to recognize the significance of the names and their presence. Consequently, I embarked on the development of this series in 2016, which underwent a title transformation from Memory, Truth, and Justice to Liberty Flags and eventually to Liberty Flags as protest signs.​

This series is grounded in extensive research and takes the form of mixed-media works on paper. Each artwork spells-out their names as the dominant image, symbolically placed at the center of the results of a societal problem. I incorporate a diverse range of techniques and materials; reclaiming printed media with collaged text and images combined with hand-drawn and painted passages that are arranged in an editorial that humanizes and sheds new light on the circumstances of their tragic demise at the hands of the police. Together, these pieces form the phrase "Y AHORA WHAT" (And Now What), serving as markers, educational tools, symbols of solidarity, and art works that make a call to action.