S.TOXOSI

SAUDADE TOXOSI (GYPSYBIRD UROBOROS*)

SAUDADE TOXOSI IS A PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL VISUAL ARTIST ENGAGED IN A MEDITATIVE PROCESS OF SELECTING AND ORGANIZING FOUND IMAGES THAT ARTICULATE HER THOUGHTS ABOUT THE “NEW INDIGENOUS AFRICAN'' EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.  THROUGH IMAGE PAIRINGS IN HER PROJECT EQUINOX 1600 TOXOSI HAS INFORMED SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VISUAL AND NARRATIVE STATEMENTS OF OUR TIME NOTABLY SAMORA PINDERHUGHES RITUALS OF ABOLITION, 2022; BRADFORD YOUNG BLACK HISTORY WRITTEN BY, 2021, BEYONCÉ’S  LEMONADE, 2016, AND ARTHUR JAFA’S LOVE IS THE MESSAGE…, 2016 IN WHICH  TOXOSI CONTRIBUTED TO THE VISUAL FOUNDATIONS OF THESE WORKS.

IN 2020 SAUDADE WAS NAMED A DISTINGUISHED FELLOW BY HAMBIDGE CENTER FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA. SHE HAS SHOWN HER ART GLOBALLY AT NORVAL FOUNDATION IN SOUTH AFRICA, HORDALAND KUNSTSENTER, NORWAY AND BONNEFANTENMUSEUM, MAASTRICHT NETHERLANDS. TOXOSI HAS RECEIVED THE BIPOC GUEST CURATORIAL AWARD AT DUNEDIN FINE ARTS CENTER IN DUNEDIN, FLORIDA.

ARTIST STATEMENT 

saudade toxosi is a psycho-spiritualist visual artist that engages in a meditative process. This process is ritual centric, experiential and encouraged by my ancestors teachings from West and Central Africa. These natural and spiritual teachings are Ifa, Vodou and Bantu-Kongo cosmologies that express how life came to exist on earth as well as life's interconnectedness to all beings seen and unseen throughout lifetimes. I am articulating the traveling spirit body that is walking through the physical and spiritual worlds by way of intersecting points called the "crossroads".

The interplay between the human body and nature symbolizes oneness with ecologies and all beings. These geographies and entities gesture towards human form through codes where visual sound echoes within a shared static universe. Thus, experiencing and feeling each image as familiar while embracing its multi-layered context that is cinematic and poetic as an articulation of ancestral wisdoms that is refreshed and producing a renewed potential for viewing self and world

With this, I am building upon the principle of a KiKongo expression  ... "to unearth that yet unknown dimension" within oneself alongside nature and interspecies teachers that evolve, guide and represent familial lineages in their environments and shared communities. By intricately working as a painter through abstraction, image making and video art my works are collaged and reflected in simplified patterns and sequences that encourage mental and emotional inner sensitivities that shift the imagination towards remembering natures, humanity and the supernatural that sparks conversations around one's interconnections to all living beings.  

ART DIRECTION + CREATIVE CONSULTING* VISUAL RESEARCH* GALLERY CURATION

S.TOXOSI WILL: PROVIDE CREATIVE COUNSEL VIA EMAIL, VIDEO AND VOICE CALLS, OR IN PERSON TO DESIGN, IMPROVE AND ADVISE ON THE ARTISTIC, AESTHETIC AND CREATIVE QUALITY OF EVENTS, CAMPAIGNS, FILMS, PUBLIC SPACES AND MORE. I AM ADEPT AT COLLABORATING WITH OTHER PROFESSIONALS, FINDING CREATIVE SOLUTIONS, AND PRODUCING NEW IDEAS BY WAY OF LEADING IN ARTISTIC DIRECTION AND ORGANIZING FLUID CREATIVITY. I WILL PROVIDE FOCUSED SESSIONS AND REVIEW EXISTING PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS TO ENSURE THAT

*CREATIVITY AND ARTISTIC VISION IS ALIVE, FRESH AND INCLUSIVE.

*ALL RATES VARY UPON CREATIVE NEEDS.

*AN INITIAL PHONE OR ZOOM MEETING IS $125.00 FOR AN HOUR.

*RATES FOR START UPS AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION ARE CONSIDERED UPON REQUEST.