Ananda’s Great News! Her wire sculpture featuring the Haitian love & healing goddess Erzulie will be on exhibit at Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute on March 11-May 24 in NYC

Great News All!

Yesterday I learned my wire sculpture “Erzulie’s Black Heart” will be featured in the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute’s exhibition “Wearing Spirit: Aesthetically Personifying the Feminine in African Sacred Traditions” from March 11 to May 24 in New York City.  The opening reception will be held on March 11 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  If you are in the Big Apple on March 11, join me at the reception.  It will be BIG FUN!  For more information about the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, visit www.cccadi.org.  Many thanks to Shantrelle Lewis for inviting me to submit my work!

Photo Credit: Leigh Mosley (the greatest photographer in the universe! – www.leighmosley.com)

Below is my artist statement for the exhibition.

Artist Statement

Ananda Leeke’s passion for African goddesses began while she was studying Kemetian and Yoruba religions and writing My Soul Speaks, her first chap book of poetry, in 1992.  In 1995, Leeke began using coat hangers, an assortment of wire, found objects, vintage jewelry, fabric, and amulets to sculpt images of African goddesses including Oshun, Yemanya, Oya, Maat, Auset, and Het Heru.  Over the past fifteen years, she has explored these goddesses in her artwork, writing, and travels to Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, Louisiana, and Senegal.  She discovered Erzulie, the Haitian goddess of love, while writing her debut novel, Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One.  Erzulie influenced the lives of many characters in Love’s Troubadours. Erzulie’s veve is incorporated in Love’s Troubadours logo and artwork on the book cover.

Erzulie’s Black Heart is a goddess of love and healing who was born out of the middle passage experience of enslaved Africans in Haiti.  She is a Petwo spirit.  Her love and healing energy are hot, aggressive, and quick to act when the children of Haiti need her.  Her black heart represents a sanctuary for Haitians when they are faced with life’s hardships including poverty, illness, violence, and natural disasters such as hurricanes and the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that occurred on January 12. Erzulie’s Black Heart heals the pain and suffering of Haiti’s sons and daughters. She protects them with the fierce love of a Black warrior woman.  Her intention is to bring the children of Haiti to higher ground.

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude for Erzulie, the Haitian goddess of love,

Ananda