Sometimes, it is hard to show you all that I’ve been doing in my art practice. Some of the activities do not result in the creation of new works. Only a percentage of my everyday practice results in finished artworks. So, it’s a thrill to be able to share new work with you.

Free Spirit, the title of this new piece that I want to share with you is part of my ongoing series, “The Joy of Living“. This series is my personal response to the once-in-a-lifetime event of surviving the pandemic. I’ve got plans to create more pieces of works for this series. The joy the works in the series have brought to me is indescribable. Moreover, when I see those same sentiments reflected in the faces of viewers, I know I made the right decision in following my heart. This series is as much about celebrating life as it is about a newfound awareness of our collective mortality.

“Free Spirit”, seeks to capture the joy of following your heart. Additionally, it’s about being comfortable that you aren’t like everyone. Free spirits take risks, chart new paths, and show the rest of the world what is possible. In my journey of finding the joy of living, I celebrate Free Spirits because they dare to do what people can only dream of. The joy of being authentic is pure joy.

The way I see it,

A Free Spirit is a person who's not trying to be the next someone. They are trying to be the first someone.

That doesn’t mean they’re doing something that hasn’t been done before. Maybe they’re not. However, it does mean they strive to do something that has not been done their way before.

For all the Free Spirits out there – this is for you. You light the path.

Discover more artwork here.

Warmly,

PS: Now, I invite you to share your thoughts or experiences related to being a free spirit or following your heart in the comments below.

Radiance is the newest addition to my Joy of Living series.

As I have noted previously, The Joy of Living Series is not about having happiness devoid of troubles, challenges or hard issues. It’s about resilience. It’s an expression of finding the little, fleeting joys of everyday life and capturing them so our lives will have meaning and beauty.

As a result, in order to express what I think about radiating joy even in the midst of trouble, I’ll like to quote a New York Times bestselling author who experienced a lot of pain and trauma as a child-soldier in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Yet in the midst of all the tragedy he’s been through and his unique life experiences, he’s able to say this:

The Concept Behind The Work

This body of my work is about beauty and joy. And it’s about resilience. I think that the quote above sums up this particular piece so very well. If you will remember, I started this series (The Joy of Living series) during the pandemic when there was so much loss of lives around us that it was dark and gloomy. The future was uncertain. Each day was precious as it should be. But even more so due to the dire circumstances we found ourselves in.

However, like Ishmael Beah said, we all found joy and radiance and a reason to move on even in the midst of the pandemic. Simply being alive was a reason to move on. We tried to make meaning of life. Maybe cherish it a little more and love harder on our dearest ones.

Subsequently, this piece is carefully designed to show the radiance of an imaginary sun surrounding an intricately threaded hairstyle. As the subject smiles so beautifully, she exudes the radiance of the sun and brings light to whichever space she finds herself in. The sun will always shine even after the darkest clouds have passed.

Radiance

Finally, some questions? How do we find beauty in the difficult seasons of life? Is there joy even in the most difficult situations – war, pandemic, grief, loss? Can we bounce back from the toughest of circumstances? Can you smile again after pain? What are your personal thoughts?

Warmest,

When I started The Joy of Living Series, I didn’t know where it’ll take me a year later. It’s been a long ride from the pandemic, contemplating all the lives lost and starting a body of work that would in some ways document that period. But more importantly, act as art that heals. Art that brings joy and makes life worth living. “Bubbly” is the latest addition to this collection of works which don’t need anyone to speak for them.

When I say they don’t need anyone speaking for them, I mean their expressions say it all; as you can see from all the other pieces in the series. Check them out here.

When I decided to create “Bubbly”, I wanted you to hear her belly laughter ring in your ears. I wanted you to see her body move as she laughs, feel the joy emanating from her. And most of all, I wanted you not to be able to help yourself but for her smile to infect you with a smile of your own.

Now that this piece is complete, when I look at her, she checks all those boxes.

Just like you can’t put bubbles back into the bottle that they came from, you can’t bottle this joy up inside of you. It’s got to come out. And when it does, you can’t force it back in.

While working on this piece, the words “bubbly” and “effervescent” kept coming to me. To honor that, I collaged in several circular shapes to look as though they were coming out of her mouth. In my original sketch these shapes were not present. But I like allowing the work to lead me instead of me trying to bend it to my will. The more I allow collaboration between me and the work, the better the resulting outcome. It’s still a work in progress for me to completely let go, and allow the work to lead while I follow.

That’s it for now.

Warmest regards,

Joy is part of my series of works titled “The Joy of Living“. In this series I document, celebrate, and honor those fleeting glorious moments of joy in our lives before we die.

With this piece, I wanted to convey the kind of infectious smile you see on a person’s face which can only be a result of an inside job – a joy that comes from your inner being; unaffected by external circumstances. Yet, it cannot be contained inside. It simply has to overflow to the outside – on the face of the person. In the process, it infects everyone who witnesses this pure joy.

In this series of works, I used the Adinkra symbol for joy in various places in each work. For this particular piece, you’ll find the symbol in the front of her hair, hanging from the center of her hair wrap.

Textured hair always plays a central role in my portraits. In this piece, the figure wears her hair in twists with a colorful head wrap tied around her twists.

Clara Nartey, Joy, 2022
Inks, and threads on cotton
40″ x 30

Hey friend, I have a new piece called It’s A Balancing Act. Remember when I told you about the story behind my piece “Breaking Bread“? Don’t remember? Here’s that story again. Anyways, my maternal grandma owned a bakery and that was the main source of income for my mother’s family.

Consequently, growing up, I spent a lot of my time behind the scenes in my granny’s bakery. You see, my granny’s bakery didn’t have a store front. It was a wholesale bakery for other business owners who’ll resell the breads directly to the public.

My grandma’s customers therefore were people who bought very large quantities of breads to resell. As a result my grandma baked a lot of bread and there was always a ton of work to be done around the bakery. She was always grateful to have an extra pair of hands to help around.

I fondly remember the weekends, summer breaks, and holidays I spent helping in the bakery. I would clean loaf pans, oil them, and prep them for baking. Other times, I’ll help carry dough from the huge mixers to the work tables. Then, I’ll cut, knead and shape dough into loaf pans. Next, I’ll help load the pans into the wood burning stone oven.

The oven was so large and so dangerously hot that children were never allowed to get too close to it. There was a boundary beyond which we were not allowed to go. An adult will pick up the baking pans from that point and load them into the oven. I remember very clearly that was the job of the younger of my mother’s two brothers. And he was really good it. No one was better at loading the pans in the oven, nor at stoking the wood to maintain the right baking temperature as my uncle.

Looking back, it’s amazing how they did it. The ovens had no thermometers, nor did they use individual thermometers to check the internal temperatures. However, they rarely burned the breads. I can’t ever remember that happening. Whenever it was time to get the breads out, they amazingly had well baked breads.

While we waited for the breads to bake, we’ll clean up, and chat. As soon as the breads were done, we’ll line up to transfer them out of the ovens; which were outdoor ovens; into the main bakery. By the time the breads were ready, we already had people waiting to buy for resale. And those resellers who lived nearby always knew when to come and buy because of the aroma.

As a young woman, what I found interesting was how these women built and run small businesses around my grandmother’s breads. Not only were they juggling the demands of running their own businesses, they also had homes to run as well. I learned a lot about work ethic, perseverance, and taking care of family by watching my grandma and all the women who she worked with balance the many aspects of their lives. These early examples gave me an immense admiration and respect for women.

As a person with African heritage living in the diaspora, my work tries to honor Black women both on the continent and in the diaspora. This newest piece of mine – It’s A Balancing Act”- is an acknowledgement of my deepest respect for the women on the African continent. Those women who came before me, paving the way for me to be here today, and those who continue to raise the next generation of amazing women, I say “Ayekoo”.

“It’s a Balancing Act” was a labor of love to create. This is a large piece in which I used some appliqué techniques I hadn’t tried before. This piece is part of my Joy of Everyday Living series. I’ve come to a place in my art practice where everything I create has a big chunk of myself in it. I pour my soul into my work. Every piece I make has to mean something to me. And I won’t have it any other way.

Friend, I hope you enjoyed learning the story behind – “It’s a Balancing Act”. If you’re interested in acquiring this piece, contact me here.

Warmest Regards,

Hey Friend, The Joy of Living is found in simple everyday things. Yet these moments come and go so fast that it’s easy to forget them and to focus on the unpleasant moments which somehow, tend to linger in our minds longer than the joyous ones do. When someone says something to you and it makes you light up with a smile, how long does it last? Think about it. Really. How long do you wear a grin on your face all lit up about something or someone? Not very long. Right?

Yep. That’s exactly what I mean when I say joy is fleeting unless you capture it.

In this new piece of work titled – “All Lit Up”, I capture the joy on the face of a young woman with threads and inks on cotton fabric.

Firstly, the twinkle in her eye, and the creasing at the corners of her eyes as she’s all lit up, reveals her inner emotions.

All Lit Up – Hair Styling

Furthermore, in “All Lit Up”, the subject is wearing an updo hairstyle. High hairstyles towering on top of the head have been a part of African traditional coiffure for ages.

Most importantly, the head being the most elevated part of the human being is believed to be the closest part of our bodies to the Divine, the heavens or the gods. Therefore, the higher your hairstyle, the more easily you can communicate with the Divine. (Similar reasoning behind wearing elaborate hats)

In “All Lit Up”,I decorated the hairstyle with cowries. Cowries are the yellow/orange oval shapes you see hanging from the hair. Cowries are the shells of a variety of small sea snails (between 1-4 inches in size), which are found in the coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

In appearance, cowries look like porcelain. As a result, the original word for porcelain in the Italian language is similar to the word for cowries. The variety of cowrie shells called the golden cowrie was worn by royalty in the Pacific Islands. Until the 19th century, the money cowrie (a yellow variety) was used as currency in Africa, Asia, and other places.

Understanding Cowries

Moreover, in Africa, not only were cowrie shells used as currency, they were also used as body adornment, jewelry, hair decorations, sewn into clothing and more. As a result, wearing money (cowrie shells) on your body was definitely a status statement.

Although cowrie shells are no longer used as money, their relevance as a symbol of wealth is still appreciated today. For example, in Ghana, my native country, the national currency is the Cedi. Cedi is the name for cowrie in one of the most widely spoken local languages of Ghana – Twi.

In conclusion, I’m happy to present “All Lit Up” to you. It is beautifully adorned inside out. Outside, with her beautifully adorned hair and clothes. And inside, with her brilliant smile that radiates out, capturing a moment of joy.

This piece is part of the Joy of Living series (explore the series).

Warmest Regards,

Hey friend, I’m so excited to share with you that I’ve started working on another series of artworks. I’m calling this series the Joy of Living. Oh you can’t possibly imagine how much joy it brings me to finally get the works in this series out into the world.

This has been a long time coming and I’m glad that I can begin sharing what I’ve been working on for so long. Here’s how this series started.

The Pandemic

Friend, I know you’re familiar with the devastation the pandemic caused all around the world. Beyond the death toll, isolation, and lockdown, it also led to so much uncertainty. Moreover, for me personally, it resulted in a lot of self-reflection.

When you’re constantly surrounded by death, news of death, and fear of death, it does something to your psyche. Let me tell you. My constant awareness of death and the possibility of death from the coronavirus, did something to me.

Each time I saw the tally of how many had died from the virus, how many mass graves had to be dug to bury the dead, it made me question what the meaning of life is. When I thought about people not being able to kiss their loved ones goodbye, touch them or see their faces, I wondered.

Surrounded by so much death, I reflected on life. During this time, I also thought about my own mortality. Life seemed short. I pondered, I wondered and I contemplated about life. Although death was the instigator of my introspection, I couldn’t dwell only on death. I focused on life. Because I don’t know how it feels like to die but I know what it is like to live.

What is it like to live, though? Did I really know?

The Joy of Living

I concluded that to live, we must delight in simply being alive. We must delight that we get to do the things life affords us to do. The simple joys of everyday living. We get to do them only because we have life. So, I set out to capture the joy of living everyday life – the antithesis of death.

What defines death is life – the life we lived.

When we’re dead and gone, all that our loved ones hold on to and cherish are the memories of things that brought us joy. The places we went to that made us happy and the people with whom we surrounded ourselves. Yes, the belly laugh that made us double over. The slight smile from the corner of the lips. Dancing to music you barely know, yet you’re totally enjoying. Eating food that brings you comfort and puts a smile on your face.

So, I’m capturing all of them in this new series of works.

Life is fleeting. It’s a gift that’s made up of very teeny tiny moments of joy. Each one is so easily missed unless we intentionally pay attention. We miss a lot when we focus ahead instead of enjoying the present.

Life is in the present. Death is in the future.

Introducing a New Series

Therefore, may I present to you the Joy of Living – capturing the fleeting joys in everyday life.

Check out the works in the Joy of Living series:

1. All Lit Up
2. Breaking Bread
3. It’s A Balancing Act
4. Joy
5. Bubbly
6. Radiance
7. Free Spirit
8. A Spring in My Step
9. Dancing Queen in Little Accra

Warmest regards,