I am humbled that “Guided by Spirit,” my multimedia painting, was chosen for the Woodmere Museum’s annual juried exhibition. To be included among this group of stellar artists is truly a blessing. I am especially honored because the juror is the renowned Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Ron Tarver. “Family” is the theme Tarver chose to anchor the exhibition. He encouraged the artists to broaden and exemplify the definition of “family.”
I was up for the challenge. Family means everything to me. Everything. Family is sacred to me. Family extends beyond my proud nuclear roots in Philadelphia and ancestral ties to South Carolina. Family means belonging. Family means community, validation, and connection to the global African Diaspora. Family gives me rhythm, and space, and time, and divinity, and mystical inspiration. Family, and my connection to it, empowers my sense of self. Family validates and encourages my audacity to pursue this world as an artist.
I began working on “Guided by Spirit” in November 2025 and completed it in January of 2026. The initial inspiration for this multimedia painting came from the Sankofa Artisans Guild’s Philadelphia City Hall Exhibition: “Counter Narratives: Resistance and Resilience.” “Guided by Spirit” made its debut in this exhibition, which ran from February through May 2026 as a direct “counterpoint” to the City’s celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday. The focal point of “Guided by Spirit” is a family heirloom portrait of my Grandmother, which was taken in 1950. Julia Ann McFadden Dingle Lemon lived her entire life in Manning, South Carolina. She was born in 1895 and passed away in 1978. Grandmother Julia’s portrait floats atop a composite of photographs I have taken through the years at Philadelphia’s Odunde Festival, as well photographs I captured on the Cape Coast of Ghana, West Africa. In addition to the heirloom and original composite photography, the techniques for this mixed media creation include collage, painting, stenciling, textile appliques, and handwritten poetry – all of which are mounted on a 48” X 36” wood panel. My original digital photographs were taken in Philadelphia, and on the Cape Coast of Ghana, via iPhone and Nikon DSLR D3200.
Screenshot
“Guided By Spirit” delves into the African Retentions of families that allow Africans throughout the Diaspora to express joy, creativity, self-efficacy, and resilience as an act of defiance, and an act of resistance, despite chronic colonialization, and structural disenfranchisement. “Guided By Spirit” reveals how Philadelphia’s 50+year-old Odunde Festival reaches back through Divine Ancestral Codes which have been passed down through millennia via the deity Oshun, the Goddess of the River in the West African Yoruba Tradition. As you view this work of art, you will have a difficult time deciphering which photographs were taken at Philadelphia’s Odunde Festival and which photographs were captured on the Cape Coast of Ghana in West Africa.
I have said this before, and I will repeat it again: “I live my life in a state of perpetual gratitude.” I am passionate about creating art that promotes the ideals of Cultural Preservation, Global African Liberation, and Emotional Healing.
After many years of searching, trying to discover my way as a poet, I find myself cultivating a different side of me. Photography, collage, and abstract expressionism dominate in my visual work. Ancestors, Intense Color, Movement, and Nature are also recurring themes. I am a Spiritual Dwelling. Listening to my Intuition. Obeying the Spirit. This is my life as an ever-emerging artist. “All praises,” I say to The Creator. “Thank you for choosing me as the vessel.”
“Guided by Spirit” – on view at the Woodmere Museum’s Annual Juried Exhibition in Smith Hall through September 6, 2026. Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm.
info@woodmeremuseum.org. www.woodmeremuseum.org.
(215) 247-0476
9201 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118