Shakira¡¯a Gbenyo

Artist statement

I paint to understand who I am between places, or to reflect what remains unspoken. Each brushstroke is often a bridge between memory and change, between the traditions I carry and the ways I am still learning to belong between the known and the unknown.

This series centers on ordinary gestures, such as braiding, sweeping, and cooking, moments where I find silence or a pause. They often hold the weight of memory, small acts that speak of home, care, and identity. Birds, the ocean, and shades of blue recur throughout the work as symbols of migration, fluidity, and peace, but also as symbols of life itself, an anchor to the earth without being tethered to it¡­

Nothing in these pieces is fixed. Like identity, they shift and reshape as I do. Through this series, I¡¯m reminded that identity isn¡¯t something to define, but something to witness as it unfolds. And I hope that, at the end of your watch, you find a piece of it to carry with you for the rest of the day.