Ndebele Series - 2007-2013

My interest in this community began many years ago in the 1980s throughout the 1990s when I traveled extensively to many parts of Africa, (Senegal, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Egypt, and South Africa). During these trips, my curiosity was fueled in understanding ancestry and the commonalities among African Americans and Africans.

Many years later after the completion of research, observations and time building relationships with Africans and their families here in the United States and in the respective African countries that I have visited, I began developing a body of work. Two specific series of work created are “The Door of Return” (16 oil works on canvas) and “Ndebele Dolls/Ritual/Play”(17 oil works on canvas). Both series were exhibited in 2006 and 2007 respectively at the Wolhfarth Gallery as solo exhibitions in Washington, D.C.

My focus at that time was to understand the resilience of the Africans in Senegal as they went through slavery landmarked by the history of the slave trade in Goree Island, and the key elements of survival for the Ndebele Communities as they went through Apartheid and Revolution without a Civil War.