Lightwork: Vinyl Saints in a Sound is a large-scale mixed-media collage that functions as a meditation on legacy, vibration, and Black sonic divinity. Constructed from layered vinyl records and sheet music, the work transforms archival materials into a sacred visual landscape—where sound becomes memory, and music operates as spiritual language.
Rather than traditional portraiture, each artist is distilled into symbolic form, allowing color, geometry, and texture to carry the emotional and cultural weight of their voice.
Louis Armstrong appears as a radiant sunburst—circular and expansive—symbolizing joy, warmth, and the outward-spreading brilliance of his trumpet, anchoring the work in ancestral optimism and sonic generosity.
Aretha Franklin is crowned through a simplified three-point form rendered in purple and crimson, embodying sovereignty, emotional authority, and the sacred power of voice—regal, commanding, and uncontainable.
Tupac Shakur is represented through a sharp triangular outline rooted in red and black, reflecting resistance, truth-telling, and the tension between vulnerability and strength.
Leontyne Price rises as a crescent over a horizon line, evoking transcendence and elevation. White and emerald green speak to clarity, growth, and her role in expanding Black presence within opera and beyond.
Together, these forms generate a visual frequency—a quiet yet powerful communion across genres, generations, and spiritual lineages. Lightwork functions as both offering and archive, honoring voices that shaped culture while recognizing sound itself as a tool of survival, healing, and illumination.
This piece is part of an ongoing exploration of music as memory, vinyl as relic, and Black sound as sacred architecture.
Details
Original mixed-media collage
Vinyl records and sheet music on canvas
Canvas size: 62 × 27 inches
Framed size: 66 × 31 inches
One of a kind
Includes a signed Certificate of Authenticity
