"Codeswitchonya" Decoding

Codeswitchonya” was a repurposed play on OutKast’s “Stankonia” album cover I painted in 2018 for the Pow Wow Hawaii mural festival, . While the piece paid homage to one of my favorite hip hop groups of all time, it speaks on a much larger issue. The subject in this piece is the same woman (Jonni) portrayed twice wearing culturally different garments with very different hair and accessories. It’s highlighting the fact that most people “code switch” but black women have to do it the most. We are constantly in the act of making those around us “comfortable.” Be it our looks, hair, tone of voice, subtle actions or aggressive actions, we are seldom accepted as our true selves. Because the piece was painted for a festival, the mural was replaced the following year. Although I'm disappointed "Codeswitchonya" did not live long in the world, I am grateful that this image of the completed wall will exist in the "metauniversal" world.