ART SERIES

Browse contemporary series I’ve created that explore themes of American identity, and transformation. Read more about my creative process under each series.

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PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW

This series of paintings pay homage to the paths our ancestors paved that allow us to express our African American heritage freely. Each digital painting blends surrealism and symbolism; reflecting on the complexities of black identity, resilience, and cultural transformation.

The vibrant colors, exaggerated forms, and intricate details represent our struggles and triumphs.

With this series I want to encourage viewers to contemplate the cultural sacrifices African Americans have made and, despite the world’s backlash, the beauty that has emerged from our fight to preserve traditions.

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THE UNKNOWN

The time and location of this world is unknown. All is known is that there was a city, now abandoned and occupied by primitive beings. The occupants who once lived in the city fled to the outskirts for a new life.

The subject for this gouache series explores the lines between instinct and rationality. I read a group of metaphysic articles then reacted to them by creating these paintings. The articles discussed the concept of rationality in relation to topics like sexuality, masculinity, civilizations, and cultures.

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ETERNAL BALANCE

In this photograph series I explored one of the sacred cycles that bind us beings, life and death. Multiple preserved photographs of a stagnant rose shift between becoming smoldered to being burnt, a depiction of the surreal reaction the mind has to the body morphing in time.

Depending on how you look at it, the photographs in this series can be a portal to another time, a form of prayer, or a cautionary tale clarifier that we need death just as much as we cling to life.

© 2017 Makayla Hughes. All intellectual property rights reserved.