Answering the “What Ifs?”
Exploring different possibilities, both in life and in art, is something that Amanda loves to achieve in her paintings. Asking questions, and finding answers, is a key theme throughout much of her work.
Indeed, it was the central focus of her “The Core Essence” exhibit.
“A lot of my artwork is answering ‘what if’ questions, and my question was, ‘What if each planet was ruled by a black goddess? What would she look like?’ As I started researching different planets, different goddesses, different stories, and mythologies, I really got into it, and it made me think about the idea of the dark night of the soul, a deep depression that people go through, and I also went through that. Dealing with depression, I discovered different aspects of my own personality that I was afraid to use in the past, but needed them to pull myself out of a dark time in my life. That is what the planet goddesses represent for me: the process of becoming ruler over your own emotions, thoughts, and actions to eventually recognize your personal power.”
But more than anything else, people are what inspires Amanda, both the people she knows and the ones she reads about.
“If you could see me right now, I’m in a room surrounded by piles of books. I can definitely say Alice in Wonderland inspires me. I read it as an adult — I didn’t even read it as a kid — but I think that book is so great. I believe that a lot of authors, especially writers of fiction, aren’t writing at face value. There’s always a message hidden inside that story, and I just loved trying to decode the symbolism from Lewis Caroll in Alice in Wonderland.
“I was part of the Votes for Women interview series, and it was so deep, and we talked a lot about my views on voting at the time. That conversation inspired me to really study more about the history of voting and women’s voting. At that time, I was really just — to be honest — didn’t know about the history. I found so many stories about Black women and women in general in Nashville who were instrumental in that process to further women’s voting rights. I did hand sketches, but I was inspired to do a bigger piece that basically depicts women going up a spiral staircase. It has the banner “Lifting as We Climb,” which was the motto for the National Association of Colored Women, founded in 1896. I was really excited about that.
“In the way that authors tie lessons into their stories, I intend to tie lessons into my art to inspire the viewers to research more about the subject matter that I paint,” Amanda said.