As many of you know I am in the process of building a creative and wellness space that will :

-host artists through short and long term artist residency format stays

• house my herbal line and herbal apothecary creating a space for community conversation around herbalism and access to supportive herbal medicine

• my atelier

• a black and white analog dark room

The space is secured, underway and I am pouring creative energy in, have received several artists and I am in the process of seeking support in applying for 501c3 status(process takes up to 6months) and more immediately applying for fiscal sponsorship. These filings will support me in my fundraising efforts and grant writing alongside my gofundme campaign (which is still open to receiving donations!

In the middle of this deep work my computer logicboard failed and I will need $500 to repair it here Brazil or to purchase a used refurbished machine !

This has felt extremely overwhelming. I am in a moment where I am not only reconnecting with  dreaming and visioning and working consistently towards the unfolding of the space but I am also striving and working consistently towards sharing my creative practice  and work as an independent artist.

I  am 100% self employed earning from my creative practice and the computer repair is impacting my ability to work and make a living. Any need support in getting this repair done so that I can resume the work of grant writing would be so deeply  appreciated. Donations can be sent to my GoFundme or to me directly via zelle(message me for zelle details) or Cashapp.

I'll share an update once the repair is complete and the next grant application is submitted. I am grateful for your support!

Thank you<3

In addition to working on the blanket series, I was leaning more into my textile work and shifting my practice, and my friend could tell that I needed coaching support. I was grateful, excited, and a bit nervous because I do not typically feel drawn to work within the framework of coaching because of toxic models of coaching that I've seen in wellness that thrive off of people's instability and insecurity, creating systems where people remain reliant on coaching. Although I know my friend would never be aligned with someone who works in this way, this came to mind. I have always felt more connected to taking classes, mentorship, or any guidance that I have perceived as supporting me in being accountable to myself and my vision and trusting my deep knowing and intelligence, a reconnection with self-trust. Which is just what this session was! I went into the session maybe a tiny bit skeptical, yet with the trust of my friend and the process.

I was essentially feeling resistance and fear, fear-based resistance alongside gratitude and curiosity.

The session was amazing and just what I needed. We took a look at my natal chart and how that impacts how I approach my creativity, creative needs, and my process of making. We also examined how the planetary transits at that moment were in relationship to my current desires, anxiousness, and excitement regarding fully diving into my blanket series. Deja, the astrologer I worked with, also shared practical steps and timelines based in planetary movements that helped me understand moments where I would feel spikes in creativity and production and moments where I would need a bit more rest. A moment that was extremely potent for me within the reading that I have come back to again and again is when Deja, in response to me feeling a bit of defeat and whining "but I neeeeeed a mentooooor to support me in all of this," said, "Maybe your ancestors are your mentors."

This sentiment jolted me into reconnection with myself, my soul, my lineage, and made me deeply conscious of how, while we all need support and validation, my overly relying on external support was creating a loop of loneliness and dis-animation. Leading me to reflect on the ways in which between healthily flowing support systems can be so generative and energizing and necessary, and how leaning into my interior, my lineage, and the work is potent and, frankly, foundational for creating animus while making. How in some ways I was not only seeking healthy community and mentors for balanced support, but for someone to say "yes, you're doing good, good job," which we need, but what about looking to my lineage for that support?

As a Gullah person, I reflected on all that my ancestors have cultivated through planting seeds into land, their prayers, and their dreamworlds. I was led to ask myself what my ancestors who were artists, who painted, sang, sculpted, sought to create and express while in communion with their thoughts, spirit, soul, and their ancestors and how this can support and mentor me. While I still seek elders and mentors on this plane to process, to support and love up on, and to glean support and insight from and share creativity with, the moment I lean into "my ancestors are my mentors," I am able to remember mapping. Often, mentorship can offer not only emotional and spiritual support but a model of what one may want to aspire to and how to accomplish that - within reason.

My ancestors are my mentors points me to my internal compass as a map and a merging and acknowledging of all the maps that have been drawn out before my time. I am able to think about how while my path is mine, I also merge with those maps before me and are present to support the creation of mine, no matter which direction I decide to go, so long as it is in line with my soul.

I like thinking about an internal compass being informed by our soul's voice and that at any moment we can talk to our ancestral mentor about how it is going. I have been on hikes where I have gotten turned around, and in addition to pausing and slowing down to listen to myself, the memory of the trail and the light and trees, I talk out loud. Yes, I talk out loud to myself and the trail. I ask for a person to show up and/or a sign or a memory of how to get to where I am going.

Essentially, what I love about "our ancestors are our mentors" is how this brings me/us to a place of deep listening to my soul, voice, art.

I took this reading and sat with it for a week and decided to dive deeply into my blanket making process, being led by elements such as ocean, marsh and my ancestral mentors.  I emerged ayyeaater i digo dyed hands d a lot of ocean time with two weighted blankets submerged in herbs and intentions for rest and potent dreams. As I crocheted I envisioned my relationship to those watery spaces and how I feel when I am there. The relaxation into this ancestral mentorship supported me in creating from the space of  honoring my intuition, voice, ideas and research. I have returned to the series and am currently connecting with the elememt of wind, during windy/ rainy season here in Bahia. How does the wind impact or dreams, our thoughts, our movements when we are outside on a windy day. Where does wind direct our vision and what voices do we hear when we listen?

Ocean and Marsh dream blankets are available to see and for purchase at the Noguchi museum retail shop.  And I am currently open to commissions of blankets and throws to support dreaming.  I have included the commission inquiry form below.

<3 charmaine

Blanket Commission Form

I have been painting to explore play, to explore color, to commune with my ancestors and to feel closer to the landscapes of home (South Carolina).

I’ve been painting as I re-read Song of Solomon, my favorite novel by Toni Morrison. I’ve been painting as I experiment with making new ice cream flavors and as a form of prayer. I’ve also been painting to keep my hands busy and get my mind still.

It feels energizing.

I remember my first painting class that I took as an undergraduate photography student. I signed up for a painting class because I had always been curious and it seemed fun- although I was super intimidated by the medium! I was filled with nerves and excitement as I learned about figure drawing, acrylic, oil, perspective, color theory. It was thrilling yet I deeply felt like I was starting way too late and compared myself to classmates who had been painting since childhood.

My first critiques were encouraging and I received positive feedback from classmates who I admired and professors to my surprise!

I remember one day during a figure drawing session one of my professors said “You need to learn how to draw!” My already shaky insecure self felt HEARTBROKEN. I continued and finished the class though and even took a summer painting class afterward. During my summer class I made a series of paintings based on the documentary photography of Phyllis Galembo. I absolutely loved her work and the photographs of spiritual ceremony and ritual in Haiti and Benin- yet at the end of that summer I threw my paintings away.

Why did I do that I often wonder- I liked them- but part of me thought they weren’t “conceptual” enough or that I started painting too late! Can you imagine???

I felt I had so much to prove.

And realistically I was carrying the weight of being the first person in my family (myself, my mother and sister) to go to and complete college. I was also in an environment where I was one of very few Black students and often felt flattened in critiques.

There were very few Black faculty or faculty in general with the theoretical framework or lived experience that could support me in my exploration of spirituality as political and deeply conceptual in a real way. This felt extremely isolating and stifling of my expression- but I continued on in my research about ceremony, secular dance as sacred and Afro diaspora spirituality.

I didn’t feel held or as if I was processing my work in a space that could actually hold me. I am grateful though to have met Dr. Kimberly Pinders in my second year and other professors such as Frederic Mofet, Anita Welbon, and Ruth Leitman between year 1 and 2. These relationships expanded my perspectives and shifted my life.

My current painting practice is for healing, research, fun, inquiry, time travel. My work across mediums has always explored the element of time travel, through geography, Black diaspora dream symbols, dance, spirituality.

I am time traveling forward, back, in a circle and I have arrived at the moment I threw my paintings away- come with me.

Here’s the scene:

I pull up in a blue car ( why blue I have no idea!) and I see a young dark-skinned Black girl with a colorful head wrap. I see her reaching into a trunk and pulling out canvas after canvas. With her hands full she begins to walk towards a dumpster.

I hop out of my car and walk over with calm inquiry as not to startle her/me.

I go: “hi are those paintings? They’re really cool, who made them?”

She goes “hi” pretty flatly and also curious about where the hell I came from.

I go: “Wow these are paintings! Did you make them? They remind me of these photos I love about spirituality in Haiti and Benin”

[her eyes flicker and brighten]

She goes: “Really? I actually made them based off of some Phyllis Galembo photos, have you heard of her?”

I go: “I LOVE her work! But, wait, what are you doing with these paintings?”

She goes: “Um..I’m moving and I don’t have room for them in my new place and they’re also not that good.”

I go: “Not that good where?”

She goes: “Huh, what do you mean? You’re just being nice. I get it.”

I then say, “These paintings are cool and interesting and I think you should keep them and spend a bit more time with them. I have something for you- one moment.”

I head to my car and grab a Phyllis Galembo book on documentary photography and hand it to her.

She asks, “What is this? is this for me? why?” and I say, “It’s for you, you may need it for more painting!”

She pauses, looks at the canvases and says, “I am actually a photographer and filmmaker not a painter.”

and to that I say, “you are many things just you wait and see.”

I hop in my blue car and drive off.

Thank you for reading! If this story resonated with you, I'd love your support. I'm currently fundraising for an arts and wellness space in Bahia, Brasil a place where artists can rest, make work, and feel held, rooted in the same African diaspora traditions that connect South Carolina, Haiti, Benin, and now Brasil.

If you can contribute, I'm deeply grateful. If you can't, sharing this post means everything.

Fundraiser Link

And if you enjoyed this piece, please subscribe and feel free to share, there's more coming.

where do you go to get some deep breaths in?

The specific river that I wanted to visit is in Bahia’s national park, Chapada Diamantina, which is a 7 hour bus ride away and I couldn´t figure out the right moment to go in the midst of the move and fundraising for my art studio and wellness space. A part of me was also pushing to get to a certain place with my fundraising and work - essentially I realized that part of me felt that I had to earn the time to go, to rest, to swim.

This realization was startling for me, because I very intentionally incorporate movement, making juices, fresh foods and looking at the sky into my everyday life as much as I can. I see myself as pouring into self care while building my art practice and so it was shocking to realize that I had been moving in a way where I was telling myself that I didn´t deserve to pause just yet. That I was operating from a space of more and more work, while engaging in acts of self care that are integral to my everyday. But as a friend mentioned to me recently, our acts of self devotion and rest must be renewed, what worked before isn´t always what we need currently.

So, a huge catalyst for this trip was when the logic board of my computer failed about three weeks ago. It happened about two days after I was in the ocean with a new friend, telling her that I had been working day in and day out in front of the screen and she gently nudged me to take a break- and reminded me that clarity comes with ease. A few days before this conversation another friend urged me to step away from the phone and relax and another suggested taking a day or two away from the city where I live.

But it wasn’t until my computer failed that these gentle reminders crystalized. The first two days of trying to figure out the repair definitely involved panic, spiraling and shock. Why now, when I am working so very hard?

But then I came to realize that the hard work may be exactly the why.

I took my computer to a local shop and they said that they needed about five days to do the diagnostic. So, I left it with them and decided to head to a friend’s house outside of the city with my cat.

I felt immediate relief upon arrival and felt such happiness with them. We took walks, night bike rides, cooked food, laughed, took outdoor showers and I tried surfing for the first time. I felt true relaxation for the first time in a while and felt my curiosity begin to swirl. The friends I stayed with are newer friends who I´ve known less than a year and it was our first time spending many consecutive days together and it was so wonderful to simply see them together and ask them questions and learn new recipes with them and nap. And also to see my cat exploring their yard very shyly.

Once I returned home from their place I knew it was river time. I wanted to deepen the relaxation I had just connected with and I had also noticed how my creativity and ideas and excitement surged just from being in a new environment. It definitely also reminded me that a big part of why I moved to Brazil is to connect with the land here and with many communities through travel and being in different regions and specifically small towns, like the one I grew up in, in South Carolina.

I learn so much when I am in smaller towns whenever I am traveling. I really appreciate not only the pace of small towns but also the conversations that unfold in slowness, outside, over food, near a fire that may get a bit rushed when I am in a bigger city.

I made the decision to go to Chapada Diamantina and before I could overthink it, I booked a place to stay that was built and hosted by Black people local to the region. I booked a two bedroom, even though I intended to travel alone, because I felt and thought that maybe a randomness may occur that led me to meet a travel partner or a new friend.

And that I did.

A few days before my trip a friend who lives in Rio asked if they could introduce me to a friend of theirs who would be passing through Salvador and I said yes. This year I have been allowing myself to say yes to these sorts of introductions more often and it has truly been such a joyful decision. After a few text exchanges, the friend of a friend and I met at the beach and proceeded to talk for about an hour or so before even getting into the water. I just knew and felt to mention the trip and invite her. I was a bit nervous because we had just met and upon telling her my plans she mentioned that she had some travel plans for the exact same dates but that she would look into it! I felt good about following my inner voice and extending the invite.

Later that evening when I arrived home, she let me know she would shift her dates around a bit so that she could join me and a few days later we were on a red-eye bus to the mountains.

We arrived at 6:30am and took a van into a smaller city where we would stay and spend the next few days hiking, river swimming and looking at the stars.

We bought fruit upon our arrival, went to what would be our home for the next few days and slept , recovering from the long bus and van rides. Upon waking, we took a small walk to a nearby river, not to enter but just to sit with it and listen and take in our new environment. We were introducing ourselves to the space and preparing for a 14km hike on the following day and taking it slowly.

I was excited for the upcoming hike because I had done it a few times and each time was so different on my body and within my mind, I also envisioned gliding into the reddish black river water that we would have to cross to get to the Fumaça waterfall.

The following morning, we got up early for our hike and made a big breakfast with many fruits like mango and papaya, avocado, fresh bread, eggs and arugula and delicious coffee from the region. After eating we headed out to the entrance to the hiking trail which was about 2.5km from where we were staying. The hike itself is about two hours, from the entrance to the waterfall and two hours back, totaling to over four hours of trekking not including getting to and from the entrance. Knowing this we allowed ourselves lots of breaks, breathing, laughter, and looking out at the many vistas along the way. There was no rush.

And we reminded ourselves of that throughout our time walking and climbing.

Once we approached the near two hour mark I felt a bit of impatience from both of us. It is as if simultaneously we both were like, ok… when will we get there??? And even though the route was super direct and I had done it more than once, in some moments I questioned, are we going the right way? Just as these thoughts came in the air cooled, from the dry flat plane we had been walking on for the last 45 minutes and the dirt appeared darker and there was more vegetation, signaling that we were getting closer to the river! I also began to see many blue dragonflies and it felt as if they were leading us to where we needed to go.

It was so beautiful.

Just as my new friend began to ask how much further, I heard voices in the distance and a couple speaking French were climbing up and out of the river! We asked them if they had seen the waterfall and they said yes and pointed in the direction of lush green where the waterfall was nestled. I knew that before we went to the waterfall that the move was to cool our bodies down after hours of walking. And I guided us to cut left to walk along a rocky river so that we could enter a grotto-like space with many rocks and so much moss! On our way we saw these little beings called moco who are tiny and in the capybara family. They were rock hopping across and along the river. It seemed and felt like so many of the beings of that space were leading us right to where we were headed and affirming the direction that we were walking toward.

A few more steps and we walked towards where the river opened out, the sun gleaming, the water so dark and red and iron filled.

We began to place our items down on a nearby rock and made conversation with a few people who were sitting in the sun. I could not have taken my shorts and top off faster, I was so excited and grateful. I walked up to the edge of the rock and river, kneeled down and eased into the ice cold river water.

Exhaling, laughing, submerging and feeling myself cool and settle from the inside out.

Thanks to so much generosity, I’ve come incredibly close to my fundraising goal, and I’m deeply grateful. Like many campaigns, momentum tends to slow in the middle and this is exactly when continued support truly makes the difference.

Even a small contribution right now helps keep everything moving forward:

• $20 covers basic setup items

• $50 supports essential renovations

• $100 helps secure the space and moving costs

• Support at the $200+ level, and receive a hand-dyed silk square made by me!

Donate Here!

As a thank you for your generous support, anyone who donates $200 or more will receive a small silk square hand-dyed by me, infused with care and creativity. This is a small token to show my appreciation and connect you to the vision of the space you’re helping to create.

If you’ve already donated, please know there’s no expectation to give again — your support has already meant so much. Sharing the fundraiser with friends or your community is another powerful way to help. For those able to contribute, I’m deeply thankful for anything you’re able to offer.

Thank you for being part of this - it truly means more than I can say!

With Gratitude,

Charmaine

hi everyone, happy new moon in scorpio!

i am excited to share that i am currently in the process of creating an arts and wellness space in Brazil and I am fundraising to secure the deposit for the space.

many of you have witnessed my herbalism journey and also my swimming journey. my time expanding and deepening my connection with water has brought me so much understanding with my work with plants and has helped me connect to pleasure and fun in my art practice.

i am currently moving out of my place, due to a leak and mold and while seeking places i have decided to build a home that is grounding, nurtures creativity and that will serve as a space for artists and wellness practioners to come together, rest, share meals and create.

i am so excited!

i am currently raising funds to support securing the space and beginning renovations if you can support please do by donating here or by spreading the word.

Contribute here! <3

Once I secure the space, I will begin the process of opening a studio centered around art, community and collective well-being. This space will also be my home and will launch as a creative and community space in late 2026. This space will be more than just a studio, it will serve as a place where people can gather, dream, create, and be restored. The initial deposit of $2500 must be paid by Tuesday to secure the space.

This space will serve as:

• Atelier + Showroom for garments, textiles, and hand-crafted work

• Design Studio for artists, makers, and collaborators

• Darkroom for analog photography and alternative processes

• Supperclub Venue celebrating food, gathering, and cultural exchange

• Retreat + Wellness Space for restoration, learning, and ritual

• Yoga + Movement Studio available for rental and community classes

• Massage + Healing Room for practitioners and clients

• Brick & Mortar for Bees Well Apothecary

Why This, Why Now

I want to create a space that is stable, affordable and welcoming where artists, wellness practitioners and people needing spaces to rest can decompress, work, teach, create and connect. My vision is to open a home that is also a place where artists can come to restore their energy and expand their practice and get paid for their services. Within the space there will be a meditation room where wellness practitioners can offer their gifts and services to the community. The space will also be available for travelers and people from Salvador to gather so that new collaborations, friendships, and creative projects can flourish.

There will also be a Black and White photography dark room, I have experience building darkrooms and I have confirmed donated dark room equipment such as enlargers, trays etc to place within the dark room.

Herbalism and cooking have always been a part of my self healing journey especially as someone who navigates and have family members who have navigated chronic pain and auto immune issues. I am excited to offer an apothecary and supperclub space where people can be nourished by healing tea blends and foods that I and other healing cooks in Salvador prepare for others.

This space will be rooted in Black and Indigenous plant medicine traditions, sustainable making, and community care. It will uplift local artists and makers while welcoming visiting artists from around the world.

thank you and i can’t wait to keep you all updated on this journey!

Contribute Here!

i make silk paintings and textile works and i am open to take commissions to make pieces for the home or to be worn. the silks are made as i process research about ecology, marshes, swamps and my relationship deepening with water and the people around me and the sky. i am excited to share some images of them and to make a specialty piece for your home, a set ( film/ tv/ dance/otherwise), or to the infinite spaces these portals are meant to exist that i am still dreaming up.

i have never seen the film donnie darko but i intend to today! i was watching a video on youtube where the quietest revolution was summarizing the film in relationship to what scorpios need to think about and focus on this season. they spoke to donnie being in the wrong place at the right time. and how that portal opened donnie up to seeing his everyday plane through new insights. they mostly focused on the franky character in relation to scorpio but the reflections on portals and shifting perspective through connection with another realm even if that realm is meditation feels directly tied to my dream work with herbalism and the spaces that i build through workshop containers. I co-create spaces with participants where we can delve into our dreams and feel agency and deeper connection within our dreaming and waking worlds.

those thoughts inspired me to share other portals that i work with and create such as my textile artworks. i am sharing some of them through images below and i am excited to hear if any of them move you to a place of reflection that was needed. <3

inquire about commission

image from Dogon: Africa’s People of the Cliffs

hi, i’ve been spending a lot of time in front of the screen and it is making me feel like i need a breather and to be outside more ( i am headed out for a walk after posting this!) i plan to get into a river soon and swim and be with the coolness of the forest and soothing energy of the river. until i can get there i havebeen doing waterfall meditations and they have been helping me so much.

i want to share this meditation because there is so much coming at us from different directions politically, energetically, astrologically and interpersonally at this moment and i want to share this practice that brings me groundedness and peace.

love,

charmaine

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*** i usually include my recent meditation series in paid subscriber posts but am so excited to share this meditation and offer support during this time in this way. if you feel moved by my work becoming a paid subscriber at just $5/month would be a meaningful way to support my artistic practice and help me keep creating!

i pour a lot of energy into my writing, these recordings and my herbal shares and i love knowing that my work inspires and leaves people uplifted and curious. When my work is supported by subscriptions it goes such a long way and supports me in continuing to offer creations that I love. thank you for taking the time to listen to my meditation, read my posts and thank you for subscribing!

i’ve really been enjoying recording guided meditations lately. i recently celebrated the anniversary of my re-commitment to my sitting practice. last year i decided to commit to daily meditation for clarity, connection with myself and to reconnect with the teachings of my meditation teachers. i did not sit every single day but just the act of commitment alone supported me in showing up with more devotion and consistency. it was really cool. i also had a lot more grace with myself and my practice and while i was firm about showing up and sitting - on days when it didn’t happen i felt less rigid with myself and for this i am grateful!

i have recently began to offer tarot and distance reiki again. i open each of my sessions with a grounding intuitively led guided meditation to support the recipient of the reading/reiki into grounding, connecting with their breathing and connecting with their hearts.

i have been moved by this process of leading guided meditation and seeing the impact that it has on the person meditating with me.

i haven’t been swimming in a while. swimming is a practice that refreshes me and fuels my curiosity. it grounds me in reverence for water and is fun. yesterday i was really wanting to connect with water - the symbolic water and real waters within myself as well as bring some water into my energetic field for protection and to call in some freshness and joy into my day. i had a few disturbing dreams the night before and a weird encounter over the weekend that left me feeling irritated and i wanted to clear my energetic space and create some boundaries in my field. i wanted to surround myself with water - which is fluid, sacred, highly absorbent, transformative, takes many shapes, protects us, is vast, is depthful, mysterious and acts as a mirror.

do you meditate with water? how has that felt in your process of protection and ease?

below is a 16 minute guided meditation that walks you into your heart space, connects you to your breath and connects you to your source of water. take a listen and let me know how it sits with you <3

Read more

So back to this grief from a few months ago! It became so clear to me that it was time to do some cleansing both energetic and dietary. I wasn’t feeling great and was indulging a little too much in sweets-and I was finding that I was actually avoiding my feelings in a way and needed to sit with them more deeply through cleansing. I decided to create a 3 month protocol for deep liver support and detoxification. A few signs it was time to clear out/ cleanse:

• I just felt it in my body on an intuitive and somatic level

• My eyes didnt look clear and instead looked cloudy and yellow.

• My dreams were very dense and visual and responding to all of the processing that i was doing.

• I was experiencing constipation.

• I was experiencing insomnia.

I sat with all that was happening, and began the development of my intensive 3 month herbal protocol to bring myself back into balance - my plan is to get my annual bloodwork and ultrasounds at the end of the protocol. It is really important to me in my herbalism practice to use the parts of Western medicine that serve me and as a part of my preventative care. Another aspect of my protocol includes seeing my acupuncturist at least once per month during the 3 month period - although I try to go every two weeks. I have not only also committed to sticking to my daily meditation practice but decided to begin incorporating visualizations in my meditation time. It has been such a full and nourishing time.

I am nearing the end of my protocol and I am seeing shifts - I feel grateful and energized. Some things I am noticing are:

• deeper sleep.

• brighter eyes.

• more energy

• emotionally i am allowing myself to sit with look at and adequately process my grief and anger and allow them to exist alongside joy in a way that is healthy and not about denying the grief or anger. i feel like i am a container that is a bit wider and i am allowing myself to hold more of all aspects of myself.

Within the herbal aspect of the protocol I primarily focused on plants to support my sleeping and drinking daytime nutritive infusions to support my liver health. Some of those plants I have been deepening my relationship with include dandelion, calendula, nettle, rose, lemongrass and I have been consuming them as daily nutritive infusions based on rotating daily formulas/ blends. Have you worked with any of these plants? and in which ways?

I would like to share one of the dandelion leaf based blends that I have been drinking the most during this cleanse and hope that it is helpful for you - I would also love to hear about your relationship with these plants!

I also am attaching a 20minute guided meditation! It is perfect for right before bed or napping.

Meditation, dietary changes and aligning with plants that are supportive of my liver have been the foundation of this cleansing work - read more below:

Read more

below are some collaged images of the silks + my 35mm photography - the images are grounding and healing.

enjoy <3

feel free to reach out to receive the catalog + any inquiries <3

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I didn’t learn about the connection with indigo and Beaufort until I left South Carolina for college and saw the indigo tinged hands of one of the main characters and matriarch in the film Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash. It was then that I was inspired to research more deeply about the significance of the color blue as a form of protection in Black spirituality and to learn more about the women of the Sea Islands who harvested, planted and applied their brilliance of plant cultivation and technology to an industry that silenced their contribution.

I began to work with the indigo plant about ten years ago in the form of dyeing textile sculptures that I made from tea bags and other materials. While beginning my journey of dyeing with indigo and learning about the history of the indigo plant in South Carolina I began working with other materials within my sculpture practice such as sugar and rice. Boiling them. Burning them. Experimenting with combined scents of these materials and what forms were born from their burning.

My return to indigo this week has been parallel to other calls to home/ South Carolina. I miss home and am looking forward to visiting and seeing the moss and the Beaufort River and the ocean and eating food made by my family. Home has been very present in my dreams- especially my grandmother who passed in 2008.

Calls to home have been present within my recent prayers to my ancestors and prayers for comfort as I navigate hard emotions. The emotions feel hard because while I know I am not alone in navigating feelings of grief and anger especially in this current moment in the world - the feelings still somehow make me want to hide - and not be seen until I am “in a better place.”

The prayers that I have been making have been responding pretty immediately by showing me in different ways to recognize and look up at the sky to remember that I am in the place I have once prayed to be. And that the water will help me continue to remember this.

I have also been shown this by dreams of water and water animals. Food cravings have also been a way to answer my prayers and show me where I am and show me ways to process. I love to cook and in moments of connection with my ancestors I make some of my favorite foods and drinks I grew up with such as: Shrimp and Gravy, cornbread, black tea with lemon and honey, fried fish. Foods that feed me and bring me extreme comfort, joy and laughter while honoring and also feeding my people.

My return to indigo this week, paired with my return to swimming, paired with my prayers( vocally and with my hands in the kitchen) has been incredibly grounding.

What have you been returning to lately?

Today, while talking to a friend, I mentioned that ah sometimes I feel like I hold back so much emotionally, in terms of anger, I really just want to let more out without being so concerned with appearing mature or being abandoned for showing my truest deepest feelings. I shared that I want to let myself be more messy - that I am letting myself be more messy and allowing all the parts and that Leo season is helping me with this. Helping me with being more direct in my communication around my desires as well as disappointments. It felt vulnerable and helpful to share this.

My friend said - but you already do this in so many ways and you really do this in your art - you really let yourself go and be and express and this is important for you.

While I definitely tap into feeling and my work does deal with processing things such as: translation of research into physical material and historical processing of plant material into medicinal form through dyes or tincture and translation of spiritual practices - I haven’t really had a friend express that they view my art as a place where I let myself be messy. I also personally haven’t really expressed it being a space to process emotions as much as thinking - although I recognize that research is and can be emotional and of course we process so many different things while we make. And of course I am processing emotions while making portals! I love what is born and revealed when we open and share and talk with friends.

And then I think about my indigo tinged floor and hands and I think -

I appreciate all of the forms that a prayer can take.

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This weeks herbals

This week I have been drinking warming teas! Usually if I am feeling a lot of heat or emotional irritation I drink cooling teas or teas that support circulation by cooling, but I am deciding that I want to feed and feel my hot feelings - honor them - give them space - give them tea. With softness. This blend also focuses on digestion - physiological and emotional - enjoy and let me know if you try it out <3

Orange peel + black peppercorn + honey tea

(Uma delicia)

Orange peel - warmth, digestion, heart healing ( emotionally + may help lower blood pressure) + immunity,

Black peppercorn - immunity, digestion, wound healing, relieves stomach gas

Honey - antibacterial, cough suppressant, immunity, wound care ( topical application)

Today I saw what felt like the slowest swimming I had ever seen.

It was especially shocking because of how cold the water was. But it was so lovely and intriguing and led me to reflect on the ways I have been thinking to and moving towards slowing down in this past month.

Initially, when I got into the water I was shocked by just how ice cold it was. It is winter and so I was prepared for the water to be cooler than it is during the summer months but today it felt so cold that I felt my feet immediately go numb as soon as the water washed over them. As I continued to walk into the water and then eventually dive underneath, the ice cold shifted from jarring and sharp to feelings of refreshment.

It felt like I could connect with my breath so profoundly and breathe deeply into the bottom of my lungs.

I continued swimming out away from the shore I found myself kicking my legs pretty quickly and excited to be in the water. I put my head underwater again and there was a person swimming just in front of me and their arms and legs were moving so incredibly slowly. I put my head above water to see how quickly they seemed to be moving and to see if there was much contrast between what was going on above and beneath. I liked seeing their sloooooow movements and what seemed to be relaxation with their process and it reminded me that moving my legs more slowly especially when the water is choppy actually feels more pleasurable for me and makes me feel calmer and more in tune with the water. Like I am listening more deeply.

While reflecting on slowing down to enjoy I started to think about a moment I had a few days ago in a plant medicine ceremony. At the peak of my discomfort where I was meeting myself with so much resistance, fear and discomfort - all I wanted to do was get to the other side. I kept saying I want this release, I want to see this, I want to see that. I heard myself and the plant say to me “ I want I want I want - what about just being present with it?” It was a gentle and firm question and changed the course of my night.

What does being with it mean for me - right now - I asked and reflected on - and I heard “slowing all the way down to feel every part of it.” I was ready for that, yet nervous because I thought to myself what if this discomfort goes on for many many more hours ???? But I remembered that what I went there for, into ceremony, was just this- to listen with myself, honor the plants that surround me and to actually listen.

And so this morning when I saw that person swimming so slowly in the water I couldn’t help but be grateful for the reminder to slow down.

I went on and slowed my swimming, did some floating on my back, went underwater again and when I came back up, I saw the person who was swimming again. This time she was swimming towards me and we made eye contact and she smiled so wide at bright towards me. I returned the smile.

Slowing down to feel.

After leaving the beach on my walk home I thought even more about this slowing down. What other things have I been rushing to get to the other side of recently? What feelings in particular? And the answer that came to me was- my grief and anger. I recently felt extremely hurt by a friend who I am very close to and I am not sure what repair can even begin to look like! I am sad and angry about that and I am sad and angry about the unknown and I have been rushing past those feelings to not get stuck in them. Almost rushing to the unknown to see what is there, rushing to be anywhere but in this feeling of sadness and heartache and anger - as if those things cannot exist alongside all of the curiosity, joy and laughter and cooking and dancing and ocean in my life. I am reflecting on leaning more deeply into the sadness and anger so I can see what they have to show me. Wooo this is deep burdock plant and liver work! Letting anger be a map towards liberation.

I am grateful to have ocean so close to me and forest I can get to and people I can call on who can hold me as I do so.

This weeks herbals

- this tea has been a super sweet guide into softness and mental fortitude and upliftment this week. It was inspired by a time at a friends house where I was plant sitting. She offered me the last serving of a saffron, lemon mint tea that she had gotten when she was in Morocco. The tea changed everything I thought and felt about the possibility of Saffron and Citrus merging and was such a delight. I’ve been making versions of this tea ever since ( until I can get to Morocco and get some :)

Saffron + Lime peel + Mint tea

Saffron - warmth, love, self love, anti-inflammatory

Lime Peel - Protection, Clearing of energy that doesnt serve, calm, immunity

Mint - abundance, mental upliftment, circulation, digestion, immunity, stress relief

Liver Submersion Dream Workshop!

Hello, I’ve changed the date of the Liver Submersion Dream workshop and so there is still time to sign up! I changed the date due to needing more signups to run the workshop and to being a bit under the weather! I am recovered and I am excited to share this workshop!

Can you help me spread the word? I put a lot of time, energy and research into my herbalism work and each workshop and it is important that I have enough signups so that the space can benefit all the participants, really everyone involved! I would like 10 more signups and your spreading the word/ signing up, if you’ve been curious about your dream world- would be so wonderful!

The workshop is pay what you can sliding scale and this will be the last time that I offer the workshop at this rate before offering it at a fixed rate! The sliding scale that folks pay between is usually between $10- $55!

Here is a bit more about the workshop!

Our livers support us in digestion in terms of food and hormonal regulation but also emotional and dream digestion and within this workshop we will discuss these ideas as well as plant medicine and methods of plant medicine preparation ( like tinctures, teas, wands) to support our livers and our dream worlds at this time.

We will also discuss:

- Understanding liver anatomy

- Understanding the connection between our livers and dream worlds

- Reviewing and connecting with herbs and plants that support our liver health and also support dream journeying

- Somatic exercises that help us dive deeper into our livers as an organ and our dream space - and a retrieval of insight about our dreams

-Connection/ Community building with other

The link to register is below- it is a paypal link where you can submit your payment for the workshop, please include your email address to receive zoom link! If you are feeling called or curious about this workshop, please sign up, spread the word and I hope to see you there <3

sign up here!

Hi everyone. I want to share an upcoming workshop that i will be offering on june 21, 2025 1pm est. Most of my recent swimming has been in the realm of dreaming and liver care. I have returned to eating papaya frequently, lime in my water and talking to my liver. The weather has been damp and hasn’t really given way to long ocean swims, but I did get in the water for a long swim about 5 days ago and thought a lot about my dreams and the root of some of my water fears - I ran into a friend who helped me re-frame some of what makes me nervous when I am far out in deep water - but more on that another time

I am offering a Liver Submersion Dream Workshop on June 21, 2025 and I would love to see you there! If you have been curious about this offering now is a wonderful time to join! The workshop will be held virtually and is at 1pm EST.

We will be thinking and talking through how to care for our liver at the transition of seasons and at the Solstice. We will think and talk about our relationship to our liver and how this beautiful and powerful organ interacts with our dream worlds- our emotions - and what we digest physiologically and emotionally. It will be a full, rich, depth-full conversation - I hope you can join! Let’s come together and discuss our dreams and our livers.

This workshop is donation based- pay what you can- you can sign up by clicking the button below, while submitting your payment please include your email address! (If a sliding scale is helpful, on average people donate from $10 - $55)

Some of you have expressed to me an interest in this workshop and an interest in what it means to deep dive together into the liver space to process our dreams, sit with herbs to support our dreams and process how our waking world impacts what we are dreaming about right now. I would love to see you there

If you could ask your liver a question- what would it be?

We will look at:

- Understanding liver anatomy

- Understanding the connection between our livers and dream worlds

- Reviewing and connecting with herbs and plants that support our liver health and also support dream journeying

- Somatic exercises that help us dive deeper into our livers as an organ and our dream space - and a retrieval of insight about our dreams

-Connection/ Community building with other

register here!

please include your email address with payment <3

thank you for reading and I hope to see you in the upcoming workshop- if you have any questions please feel free to message me(:

Hello <3 I am sending currently sitting at my desk and as I type looking out at the bright pink clouds surrounded by blues and oranges and some greens. as the sun sets. These are the colors that inspire so much of the energy of the sky, ocean and dream inspired silks that I create .

In addition to having added two silk throws to my silk sale catalog, I am excited to share that I am currently open to taking commissions and wanted to share about that process!

Each one of my pieces are made on sustainably harvested silk and dyed using natural and fiber reactive dyes, they are then sun dried. The silks are made over the course of days and weeks and are inspired by my dream herbalism work, which supports people in diving deep into journeying within their dream worlds and remembering their dreams; as well as by environments that I love and that make me feel connected to the water fire and sky within myself.

I have a commission inquiry form where you fill out the dimension that you interested in, where you’d like to place it in your home or whether it will be a worn adornment, I then ask you to send inspiration photos of environments/ art/ colors that you would like present in the piece as a means of merging our environments. If you are interested in having a specialty piece made for you please reach out for a silk commission inquiry form and please feel free to spread the word <3 I am so excited for these pieces to arrive to the right homes with the right people just where they are meant to be with who they are meant to support <3

commission inquiry form

untitled, 2024, Salvador, Bahia, Silk, Wax, Indigo, Coffee, Fiber reactive dyes

48in x 60inches

sunset within, 2024, Salvador, Bahia, Silk, Indigo, Cochineal, Fiber reactive dyes

48in x 60inches

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