2024.
collage on 100% cotton.
water-based pigment inks and dyes, thread, blessing notes, family cloth, hand-dyed cotton.

Collection of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture

Aliana was inspired by a profound connection with Elizabeth Talford Scott after a heartfelt phone interview with her mother on December 18th and a nostalgic visit to her childhood home on December 19th; this piece is a unique documentation of love, sacred objects, and ancestry. At its heart, it features an early 1990s photograph of Aliana alongside her great-grandmother, Grace (whom she is named after), with her sewing machine from the 1920s collaged below them. Titled "of labor & love," this artwork serves as a meditation on gratitude, spanning generations and honoring the enduring legacy we leave behind. It speaks to the hard labor of preserving ourselves, our careers, and our craft. It captures our everyday contributions to our own healing and legacy, emphasizing the importance of cherishing the past, valuing the present, and nurturing a vision of hope for the future.

All imagery in this work is a collection of family archives and photographs of relevant objects taken by the artist.

2022, yarn, spinning fiber, & hand-dyed fabric.

Honoring my family through my art creates space for me to give them more of my time, archive their stories, and to ease my anxieties around future loss. It gives us joy, builds our relationship, gives the rest of our family an opportunity to learn more about each other, and gives me peace in knowing they will live on forever through my work. My dad took me to my very first concert, the TLC Fanmail Tour. When I think of home, music blasting from the basement is one of the first things I imagine. My dad’s lifelong relationship to and love for music seamlessly integrated into our lives as an everyday part of our upbringing. Through the musical presence he created in our home, his vast knowledge of genres, and his frequent storytelling of his own experiences, my appreciation for music is interwoven into his own. Through these weavings, I celebrate conversations and moments shared with my dad, as well as music that evokes a memory for us both. In creating this work, I returned home, bonded with my dad over his love for music, and dug through his favorite vinyl records. The weavings were created intuitively, with colors directly inspired by the vinyl covers and rhythm inspired by the music.

2022, yarn, spinning fiber, & hand-dyed fabric. 30 in x 223 in

I am inspired by my mom, grandmother and their connection to the color blue. Blue flows throughout our entire home—inside and out. It feels sacred and often shows up in the form of glass. My mom is a deep lover of literature, genealogy, and African American history. When I first asked my mom why she’s so drawn to the color blue, she shared her fascination for haint blue used on shutters and ceilings, the beauty of bottle trees, and the African meaning of blue being peace and togetherness. She ended with, “Why do I love blue? I am spiritually drawn to it.”

Founded in 2023, Soft Gather™ is a series of healing spaces. Utilizing fiber and the vibrant language of color therapy, Black women and gender-expansive people and communities are invited to comfortably gather, reflect, rest, and nurture relationships. Soft Gather is an intentional space that evokes a cohesive sense of mind, body, and spirit through art. Soft Gather is the artist’s life's work.

The Bloom Collective provides holistic care along the preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum journey. This Soft Gather space is inspired by being held, circular process of life, connection to the land, the earth’s nourishment, and honoring of the grand midwives.

Installed during Black Maternal Health Week 2024, Soft Gather is an accessible healing space open to the Bloom community. Through the colors and textures, it is a restful, beautiful experience that aligns with how they want their community to feel—light and at peace. People gather, and build community through conversation, rest, play, and release. Soft Gather provides the space for them to do these things in a new, comfortable, and inspiring way.