2023-

The tapestries I weave are made of pony beads, which typically adorn the end of Black braided styles for children. I consider the pony bead a cultural signifier of attention and care. Visually, the pony beads used resemble pixels, discrete square-like units of colored light which comprise images on display screens. Currently, I am focused on Black youth in the early 2000s. I task myself to accurately render an unprecedented era, rife with new technological developments and historical firsts. I review archival news footage of events I was alive for. I mine internet archives and government databases. Weather coverage, satellite images of stars and planets, banners from infamous presidential speeches, fashion house logos, doll franchise releases, and other aughts visual culture are collaged with acrostic arrangements of original poetry about domesticity, care, rest, and familial love. I juxtapose image and text to inundate audiences with sensation and history. By working in this manner, I seek to acknowledge the novelty, difficulty, discomfort, and joy of a childhood spent in the Digital Age.