RIP MOMMY

Photographs by Dom Fits,
November 2021, Washington D.C.

to my mother, Eileen. Thank you. I love you. I miss you. I hear you.

This newsletter started off as an opportunity to share my work during the pandemic. I wanted to create an online environment that highlighted my art, the art of others and served as a safe space for learning and understanding art. 

Safety leads to vulnerability to the unknown and the familiar.  The Artletter opens a space for the viewer and myself to open our minds and take time to really look at works of art. Art continues to change how I think and it brings to question my own beliefs and feelings. It has the power to transform anyone -artist or not- if we're open to it. 

I have learned education leads to freedom. Knowledge creates the space to question...self, and the life around us. Art gives us access to our subconscious, where we can express and ponder on our true thoughts, and feelings

Because society has looked at me as a Black woman, I have been denied access to education, knowledge, and art. That I have accessed, has cost me in many ways, including student loans, credit card debt, and a capitalist mindset. 

This newsletter is intended to educate everyone. Focusing on communities of color, The Artletter specifically highlights artworks by Black artists, alongside artworks by artists of color. 

Is it possible for my community to fully understand my work if they are not aware of the artist, artworks, and art movements that inspired it? I believe there is an artist in all of us. Many of us just don't know it yet. We have to see it to believe it.
 

As the great artist Faith Ringgold once said, "If one can, anyone can. All you gotta do is try." 

Maybe there is an artist in you. Maybe the Artletter will inspire you. 

With love,
 

-Ciarra K. Walters