FROM THE ARTIST: "As a very light-skinned African American woman (often perceived as white), I've known intimately both the urgent human need for group belonging and the permeability of 'identity.' As a result, I both treasure the intricacies and specific beauty of one's own culture and value efforts to unite human life beyond those boundaries. I wanted to articulate my hopes for a world that celebrates difference while honoring, above all else, our shared experience as human spirits. I draw these images all the time but suddenly saw them anew in light of your theme. They immediately became characters, each with its own idiosyncratic integrity."
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