"... I am ..." oil and glitter on Canvas 30” x 30”
"Because of You ..." A Love Letter to my Grandmother oil, acrylics, and collage on canvas 52” x 40”
Black Women Genesis: The Birth of a Community mixed media (color pencils, collage, acrylic, pens) on paper 52” x 40”
Shifting between painting and drawing, I create to highlight the everyday life of Black womenaround me while simultaneously emphasizing the role they play in the Black community at large.Drawing from my Togolese culture, I incorporate African prints into my pieces as it is arepresentation of joy and celebration. My focus so far has been influenced by texts written byBlack feminists such as Anna Julia Cooper, Audre Lorde, and the likes. My work has also beeninspired by contemporary artists such as Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Jennifer Packer, and NjidekaAkunyili Crosby. When people interact with my pieces, I want them to see Black girls and Blackwomen experience life outside of oppression and injustice
Afiwa Afandalo, a student artist from the Bronx and Togo, is currently a sophomore with double majors in Africana Studies and Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies with a Studio Art Minor at Lehigh University. Her body of works focuses on creating spaces of affirmation, comfort, joy, and healing for Black girls and Black women. Her work has been shown in the Lehigh University Art Galleries Thinking Through Drawing: Digital Community Exhibition Fall 2021, Lehigh Art, Architecture, and Design Student Exhibition Spring 2022, the Lehigh Institute on Critical Race and Ethnics Studies Art as Activism Spring 2022, and Amaranth, the Lehigh University Literary Journal Spring 2022 Edition.