Letters in Bloom: When Words Become Petals

What if words could blossom? What if the letters we write, the ones we whisper, the ones we never send, could unfurl into petals and carry their meaning into the world? Letters in Bloom was born from that question, a continuation of my Bloom House journey, where flowers aren’t just decoration, but a language of their own.

The Process

For this piece, I layered handwritten notes and printed fragments, letting them curl and bend like vines. Each letter became part of a collage bed, softened with petals and blooms. I used pressed flowers, paint, and cut-outs to weave language and nature together, making something fragile yet resilient. In the same way that words can fade but never truly disappear, flowers too dry, crumble, and yet still tell their story.

Language as Petals

In Letters in Bloom, words and flowers exist in conversation. Some phrases sit quietly, tucked beneath layers, like secrets only the attentive will find. Others bloom boldly, announcing themselves in color and form. For me, this project is a reflection of how we carry our stories, some hidden, some spoken, all a part of our bloom.

Behind the Bloom House Journey

This work is part of my larger Bloom House project, a “fun house of flora” where installations, collages, and storytelling converge. Bloom House is my invitation to step inside a world where growth, transformation, and memory live among petals. Letters in Bloom is just one chapter, but it carries the essence of the whole: beauty, vulnerability, and the power of becoming.

🌸 Read more of my Bloom House journey and explore how words transform into petals.
✨ Collect your limited-edition Letters in Bloom print and bring a piece of this story into your home.

Exhibition Recap: Bare My Soul in Detroit

This past weekend, I had the honor of opening my latest work, Lore, at Norwest Gallery of Art in Detroit as part of the Bare My Soul exhibition. Curated by Deep Roots Experience, the show brings together artists from Cleveland and Detroit in a conversation about vulnerability, truth, and what it means to bare ourselves through art.

🌿 My Piece: Lore

My contribution, Lore, reimagines the story of Adam and Eve through a personal lens. At the center stands the Tree of Life, heavy with oranges, while Eve cradles Adam under its branches. A serpent lurks nearby, waiting for its moment. For me, this piece is about confronting the origin of shame, especially the way nudity was tied to sin in the stories I grew up with in a Christian household. Through collage, I wanted to reclaim this moment, not as sin, but as a mirror of vulnerability and the power it holds.

🌹 The Opening Night

The opening was a beautiful exchange of energy. The gallery buzzed with conversation, laughter, and reflection. It was powerful to see people encounter Lore and share their own interpretations, reminders that art doesn’t just live on the wall, it lives in dialogue.

✨ Gratitude

I’m deeply grateful to the Norwest Gallery of Art for hosting, to Deep Roots for curating with vision, and to every artist who shared space in this show. Thank you to everyone who came out to support. It means everything to be seen and celebrated in the community.

🌌 Why Bare My Soul Matters

This exhibition feels like an invitation to be brave, to sit in our own truths without shame. To bare one’s soul is an act of rebellion, of healing, and of connection. And being part of this conversation in Detroit has been both grounding and inspiring for me as an artist.

Lore: The Origin of Shame

This month, my work Lore is on view at Norwest Gallery of Art in Detroit as part of the Bare My Soul exhibition. The show itself is about vulnerability, truth, and stripping away the layers we hide behind. For me, that meant returning to one of the earliest stories I was taught as a child growing up in a Christian household: the story of Adam and Eve.

In Lore, I reimagine that ancient narrative through my own lens as a Black woman and an artist exploring vulnerability. At the center of the piece is a great tree, standing tall and radiant, the Tree of Life. Its branches hold bright oranges, ripe with possibility, temptation, and consequence. Eve cradles Adam while a serpent lingers in the scene, waiting for its moment to disrupt everything.

I chose this story because it’s one of the earliest origin points for shame, the moment humanity became “aware” of their nakedness. Nudity became linked with guilt, modesty, and silence. Growing up in the church, I internalized these stories in ways that shaped how I experienced my own body and vulnerability.

By revisiting this narrative through collage, I wanted to strip it down to its core and confront the shame that has trickled through generations. In making Lore, I asked myself: What happens when we bare ourselves fully, without fear? What if vulnerability is not sin, but power?

Lore is both a return and a reimagining. It’s a way of reclaiming a story I was taught to fear, and instead using it as a mirror for my own growth, vulnerability, and healing.