Bio
MonaLisa is a visual artist (photography and mixed media), mother, wife, sister, daughter and auntie. Her love of history, culture and community inspired her to obtain a BA in Art History with a minor in Public Administration from California State University Dominguez Hills. She also has an AA in Studio Art from El Camino College and an Occupational Certificate in Photography from Santa Monica College. In March 2020, she was part of an artist panel at L.A. Community College about the importance and impact of artists’ collectives to sustaining creative practices an exhibiting artwork in non-traditional spaces; her work was acquired as part of an African American artwork archive to the UCLA Ralph Bunche Center for African American studies. In Fall/Winter 2020, she was a finalist for a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Artists Engaged in Communities grant.
In addition to her creative life, she retired after 17 years as the Executive Director of Inglewood Cultural Arts (ICA), a nonprofit multidisciplinary arts organization. She has also worked with Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) located in Watts/Southeast Los Angeles. Besides being an artist, she also provides customized art and nonprofit administration services to individual artists, creative businesses, and nonprofits as well as volunteering with select community organizations. She is a dedicated advocate for artists and communities in the various definitions of diversity (ethnicity, gender, language, country of origin, ability, identity, economic background, career level and education) and enjoys creating art projects in response to community requests. Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, she lives and works with her family in the rapidly changing landscape of the city of Inglewood, California.
Moi profile @ Warren Lane Studios
After Cosmic Slop, for Osun
Artist Statement
My personal philosophy is that visual expression is one of the most valuable gifts we have as human beings. Visual expression using the process of light and objects, known as photography, is my chosen art form. Photography serves a dual purpose: to acknowledge and capture the beauty and complexities of life while also illustrating the realities of our world.
In my process, I use alternative photographic techniques (hand created image and emulsion transfers printed onto a surface other than paper) with digital imaging then combining with mixed media such as wood, oil paint, pebbles and other natural items. For the last twenty years, my work concentrated on the individual search for divine connection. Through that connection, my work evolved to my recent focus on two main subjects: 1) the effects of construction developments (local, regional, international) and 2) the beauty and contrasts present in nature and the diverse ways we connect with one another through our senses. Through my application of unconventional perspectives and techniques, I strive to accomplish the following: stimulate viewer’s imagination, encourage introspection; promote understanding and acknowledgement that we, as humans, nature an all living beings are interconnected, despite societal tendencies to emphasize the opposite.