Original - Galactic Education Zone

2022

14”x17”

Medium: paper, acrylic, watercolor, copic marker  

This piece of peace got its first colors in Oaxaca. In Oaxaca I was exposed to Mexican artists, architects, and muralists whose color palettes were beyond anything I had ever seen.  

In the middle, at the top and bottom are representations of the Quetzal Feathers of Montezuma’s crown. Quetzal Feathers were worth more than gold to the Aztecs. I learned this from our guide at the Pyramids in Teotihuacán.

This piece of peace is my imagining of a Galactic Education Zone lead and controlled by the imagination of Black, Indigenous, and LatinX youth. Every portal of exploration takes you into the beyond. A beyond that only you can see. A beyond that only you can teach. Every portal has secrets of the Diaspora. Majesty that we bring to life as people of the Black, Indigenous, and LatinX diaspora. In every portal our young elevate together, side by side. That elevation facilitates a sustainable village where all communities flourish.  

Oaxaca opened me up to the power of color as a tool for storytelling. Thank you to the artists of Oaxaca.