Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

Contrary to popular cultural belief, I agree with bell hooks when she says in Bone Black that “there is no one story of black girlhood.”
 In Odd Girl Out, Rachel Simmons points out, “To imagine a universal minority female experience would be to repeat exclusive patterns of research.” My essay collection is turning a multifaceted, often divergent, lens on black girlhood and young adulthood.

The pieces composed thus far breach genre barriers and snap the stylistic “rules” attending the orthodox essay. One
 selection may resemble a monograph, another a study, and yet another, a critique. In fact some audiences, having heard me read excerpts, bicker about the form (“It’s a poem.” “No, it’s
 not; it’s clearly flash fiction!” “I think it’s
 prose poetry.”)  I don’t disabuse them. But these are, in fact, a collection of hybrid linked essays.

While At Headlands

My work plan for this second year is threefold:

• completing Jaywalking, my essay collection
• researching and writing Twisted, an extended essay about African Americans and natural hair geared for an academic audience; and
• selling Gelatin Prints, the fiction collection I completed during this past year at Headlands.