2026

12 x 16in

Paper collage mounted on watercolor paper

This piece is a prayer or meditation on transition, mortality, and the mystery of what awaits us beyond this life. It imagines the moments leading up to our departure from the physical world and asks what it might feel like to cross that threshold. Are we greeted by our ancestors as they come to walk us home? Are we aware of what is happening, frozen by the uncertainty of the unknown, only to be met by a profound sense of calm as we step into whatever comes next?

At the same time, this piece questions the stories we are told about heaven, salvation, and reward. Nina Simone said, “The people who built their heaven on your land are telling you yours is in the sky.” That statement echoes throughout this piece. While contemplating what may await us after death, the work also interrogates the patience and passivity often demanded of those struggling to survive in the present. Why are so many taught to endure suffering now in exchange for a promised paradise later, while wealth, comfort, and abundance remain concentrated in the hands of a privileged few?

This piece exists between wonder and skepticism, faith and inquiry. It asks whether heaven is a destination, a state of consciousness, or a promise used to make hardship more bearable. Ultimately, it is a reflection on both the mystery of the afterlife and the urgency of the life we are living right now.