"The Black Panther"
T'Challa
I Started and completed this piece last summer. So many conversations and inspiring encounters I've had in the making. Everyday thousands of new eyes passed by while working and I'm always asked about the process of my pieces. Here's an idea of what the journey of creation looks like. There are constant changes and evolution. Layers of details become buried along the way forming the bones of the final piece. I realize these layers, visible and invisible, are the depth of attraction that people are often confused by. It's the sensational encounter of intentionally woven relationship. This is why you can never duplicate the work of a maker that is passionately present throughout their process.
The birth of T'Challa was a new form of achievement for me in many ways. This is the first piece, where every stroke of the painting was made in public from start to finish. His forthcoming bridged sacred conversations between myself and other spiritual neighbors on parallel paths and attracted messengers that would deliver melodies of gold to my spirit right when I needed to hear it. I reconciled with my intuition and a new understanding of myself emanated from this canvas. Many asked what I was making, or what/ who my inspiration was not knowing that they were breathing the answer to their own question. My favorite interactions were the people who were excited to tell me what they saw and willing to exchange perspectives. Theres something about not being the only one to witness the live progressions that makes it feel something like a group project.
I met the buyers before it was halfway complete. I didn't realize that they been watching the show and told me that they trusted how it would become. I agreed to them early because they had a presence that I trusted before speculation and knew that it would be a fair home. I learned that they were starting over after losing their house and were intentionally building a new collection. It wasn't until later that I realized that the summary of their circumstance was the metaphor to that time of my reality.
The title met me in my final assessments, swimming its way to my consciousness in successional episodes of silent gazing. I found one understanding after another until I recognized the leading energy that had designed itself. Felines were starting to emerge into frame. I softly sensed it before I could visually grasp it, but I was so sure of what I recognized so I kept looking. Day after day, reading between and around the lines, constantly alternating angles. Every theory was leveled when I rotated the canvas 180°. The lateral Silhouette of the panther was perfectly carved in the white lines, and the face was staring right at me. I saw them all- the tiger, the leopard, and the ShiShi. The whole panther family represented as one. When I realized that the intuitive placement of my feathered motif resembled the amulet of T'Challa from the Black Panther Marvel Movie, it invited me to research the Xhosa name.
Denoting resilience, strength and warrior qualities, the name attended to the revival of my sentience.
T'Challa has become a nickname for Marjani in my mind that still impresses clarity and has permanently updated my self-realization. I am grateful for the opportunity to be born out loud through his becoming, and for the influence that he will continue.
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