Overt explorations in my identity began in 1975 with newfound liberties after our mother could finally leave and divorce my stepfather- Life with him was chaotic, harsh, and violent, mired in the uncertainties of hunger and the dysregulation of homelessness.

 

Fortunately, my sisters and I grew up in a multiethnic, socially diverse community on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Coming from a Caribbean heritage in the Bronx and making her way as a writer living in the artist scene of the Lower East Side (Alphabet City), our mother never wanted us to grow up in a predominately all-black neighborhood.

It was the 1960s—1970s. The Avenues of the Upper West Side divided us socially, racially, and economically- yet we created a unique neighborhood of belonging. The streets were my classroom- there were street gangs rocking colors. I learned from the white hippy kids who hung out in Central Park and who always had the best pot. Uptown, “black kids” were discovering MCing and break-dancing in cement playgrounds on the basketball and handball courts. In Spanish, Harlem, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican kids introduced me to Latin dance, Spanglish, and Spanish foods. It was an era when children were relatively safe to roam in groups from neighborhood to neighborhood to explore by foot or train, even questionable neighborhoods like Hell’s Kitchen).

These experiences helped provide the foundation for shaping the lens through which I explore abstract mixed mediums in expression.