Beauty has always been an element of discussion for black women, whether or not we were the ones having the conversation. Out of necessity, black women have always had to consider others' perceptions of a certain beauty ideal, just starting with the skin color.

I grew up with a lot of brothers and I don't have any sisters, so for me it's really important to develop my sisterhood. It's something I've always coveted.

Here I am, the artist, the person, the black woman, and the stereotype. I'm using myself and it has nothing to do with my muses or other women. It has to do with me. You see parts of my body moving, very collage like, flashing, and not speaking, just laying on a couch, looking out at the viewer.

Beauty was so heavily important in my family, something I had to contend with. All those experiences allow me to make what I'm making today. I grew up with that. There's a reason why I express that in my art. I'm trying to figure it out myself.

I'm using the grid as formation. I wanted a relationship between the paintings and videos so that way when you are looking at the videos there's a direct relationship to the paintings.

I think what I have done is claimed the space and pushed it forward as much as I can in relationship to who I am and how I live my life.

I knew what I was doing, but I never really considered the magnitude of how my images were transformative to people.

Hotels are amazing spaces and platform for activism. If they placed voting booths in hotels and other space of hospitality - a lot more people would vote. Voting poll stations aren't easily accessible. These phone booths should be in more hotels and public spaces. Activism is accessibility. Bravo to the Standard for making it possible.

I got really excited about finding new ways of using video, and the immediacy is different, in a way, than painting and photography. The creativity comes with the editing. You can layer and cut and paste. I really love that it's like another form of making my smaller collages but in video form.