Info

The moniker, Afr0delic, is inspired by the soul-expanding sound and energy of Parliament-Funkadelic. Not exclusively afrofuturism, my work seeks to highlight the connection between the black, gender-fluid, and psychedelic lens, blending future and past into a “Cosmic Slop” of the eternal Now. My work is an afrosurreal, afr0naut exploration, journeying across dimensions of painting, 2D animation, sculpture, digital graphic design, poetry, collage, djing, and more.

As a first generation immigrant descended from rastas, artists, and herbalists, I am also highly influenced by Jamaican and African spirituality. As a Baltimore inhabitant since childhood, the magic of nature (human, and non-human), the magic of blackness, and the various ways they intersect and manifest in my everyday world are major sources of inspiration for my art. I frequently explore themes of animism (the belief that all things in existence hold energy and life) authenticity, freedom, sensitivity, and love (of the Creator, the Earth, the Universe, the Self), as well as how my never-ending road of personal growth and healing always brings me back to these principles.

The painting technique I use the most frequently utilizes spiralized brushstrokes. This is the visual language I've chosen to use to symbolize a universal code, a mystically interdependent life force I witness weaving together everything in existence, from the largest creations like galaxies to the smallest ones like DNA strands. In an animist perspective, everything, even space itself—swirls with spirit.

Living in the “US” —Turtle Island— as a displaced dark being who has never felt fully at home within this “nation,” I needed art to affirm the fact that my body is indigenous to this planet as a whole. By connecting with the natural elements near to me and noticing plant-human hybridity, I began to establish a sense of belonging and home. With hidden (stolen) links in my ancestral history, I began to recognize the trees, and the sun itself, as family.
I have previously been recognized and published as Baltimore City's Youth Poet Laureate, as well as a National Youth Poet Ambassador representing the entire Northeast region. I have showcased and performed at the Reginald F Lewis Museum, Busboys and Poets, on Maryland Public Television, and at several local art venues within The Baltimore Scene. I have also won an international spoken word championship with the Baltimore City Youth Poetry Team at Brave New Voices. Currently, I work as an independent freelance creator, business owner, DJ, event curator, and teaching artist. I am primarily self taught, a proud dropout of Pratt Institute, and a rejector of the western academic industrial institution. I am a proud alumni of DewMore Baltimore’s Maya Baraka Writing Institute, and my poetic background allows me to create visual metaphors in other respective mediums, in order to still communicate crucial messages when the mother tongue is lost, and the english language is just not enough.

In a social climate that glorifies hyper-individualization, materialism, emotional numbing, and spiritual dis-ease, my art aims to prompt deep introspection, and reactivate ancient connections to our inner and outer worlds. I often depict the trees, the mind, hair, the heart, and other subjects, imbedding them with identifiable human features, such as hands, arms, or eyes as a visual metaphor for consciousness, in an effort to encourage an expansion of empathy and more thoughtful interactions with whatever is being depicted, as well as promote reflection and application of the lessons exemplified in nature’s processes to one’s own life.

In my portraiture work, I seek to lovingly conjure the spirit of the person depicted onto canvas—so that wherever the piece is placed can reap the wisdom of their energy.

I see art as a powerful alchemical force that, when imbued with focused intention, is potent enough to transform, heal, and liberate minds, bodies, and souls—for both the viewers and the artists themselves.

“Free your mind and your ass will follow”- George Clinton, Funkadelic