Title: Tribal Reality
Year: 2018
Size: 36''x36''
Technique: Digital photography, photomontage, digital painting. Dye sublimation printed on vegan leather.


“Tribal Reality” is a self-portrait from my “Gullah Me” collection, which consists of digitally rendered portraits of myself and family members, created when I was working as a family caregiver for my nonagenarian parents and younger brother. The portraits tell the story of our internal and externally visible journeys, as my family members struggled to live, age in place, and die with grace. The portraits and their stories were rendered within the context of our lives as members of the Gullah community of the South Carolina Lowcountry. The Gullah people are descendants of enslaved Africans, who supplied forced.
labor for the plantations of the South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida coastal areas.
The project was executed using digital tools for the creation of fine art. I had a dual purpose for the creation of “Gullah Me:” stress management (“Art is a medicine and medicine is an art”), and documentation of my family’s journey, to serve as future instruction for younger family members.

“Tribal Reality” reveals my metaphorical vision of how I now see myself (as a prayer warrior and healer), after my 11 years-long journey as a family caregiver. I was alone, on Columbus Day, 2018, facing my first winter without my parents and brother. I was still grieving, but unafraid. My transition from physician to medicine woman, (which I like better!), was complete. I wonder, what is next?