"Grandmother Africa"

I painted "Grandmother Africa" in 2018 during a trip to back to South Africa. It was the last time I saw either of my Grandmothers, though I didn't know it then.  I think a part of me did.

For me this painting is bitter sweet — her face turned to the light, smiling, eyes crinkled to the sky. But she is more than a portrait. Around her, the world dissolves into surreal, sacred pattern — spirals, shells, eyes, tribal markings, flowers blooming right out of her earrings. Her adornments become galaxies.

She is becoming myth in real time, turning from Grandmother into Grandmother Africa — the original mother, the continent, the root.

The background is real gold leaf andhe rest is rendered in watercolor, like a memory that is both incredibly sharp and already starting to dream. This is how I choose to remember her. Not as a goodbye, but as an ascension.

Laughing, beaded, adorned, looking up — forever lit in gold.