Abundance of Rapture, 2023, red and blue ink, and sharpie on various cloths, 6 × 3.5 feet

Abundance of Rapture tells so much upon looking at just one part of this soft sculpture. This piece displays the spiritual and religious influence my grandmothers had on me and still have on me when it comes to my lifestyle. Both my Grandma Carol and Nana raised me and most of the members on my mother’s immediate side of the family to be Christian. Growing up was filled with long car rides to Baptist churches on Sundays in New Jersey while we listened to Gospel music. Their values, morals, characteristics, and traits all positioned themselves onto me throughout my life and continue to do so even with their physical presence not on this earth. I repeatedly imprinted their pieces of jewelry they left to me, my mom, and my sister into the sculpture by dipping the jewelry in printmaking ink. This process became meditative, as did writing words and phrases, and sayings that they said or had reminded me of both of them. Their spirits continue to comfort me in this life an abundant amount.