Chenweh

Original - Oil on canvas board
Size: 18" x 24"

This portrait was one of three that inspired a series of positive faces of Black women from around the world. I juxtaposed each portrait with African carved figures that complement the portrait and symbolize their Africa ancestral origin. I added the Baobab tree, believed in some folklore to be the tree of life, as a symbol of African traditions. Chenweh is an Ibo name meaning God’s own blessing.

I make it a point to paint positive Black women as a statement of the need to influence young women to make the right choices for themselves and to see themselves as the Queens they were meant to be. As long as Black women are denigrated in the media and music, we are doomed as a people. As the Honorable Minister Farrakhan once said, “A nation can rise no higher than its woman”.