Terrell Washington Anansi Artist of Change I am influenced by Warhol, Picasso, Jean-Paul Basquiat. Ndebele art, Romare Bearden, Martha Graham, African movements and time cycles, Alice Walker, foriegn films,Truman Capote, Martin Luther King, Jr, surrealistic art, Grace Jones, afro futuristic art, foriegn films and the common sense chapters and the uncommon storylines of human beings. Living a life as an artist since my teens in the 1960’s, I have been influenced by Prince, New Journalism, punk and funk rapping, Gil Scott Heron, Miles Davis, world religions and personal spirituality, sustainability. In an attempt to find my authentic self, at 19 I ran to San Franscisco, to my expressive land of freedom...to only return to be born again at the age of 26. I began to redefine my experiences, recycle my knowledge of being creatively free and life experiences of being a hair designer, street performer, dancer, model and club kid. I became a sustainable, recycle artist of life, as I recycled the pain and joys of the storyline, the flow of my life. I inherited the awareness the art of recycling from being raised with my grandparents former farm people, now teachers who survived the Great Depression and I had landed in the Land of Great Expression. I began to upcycle the stories and wisdom of my grandparents, the lessons in being sacred and loving into a way of being, a way to change the world, a way to change myself. I embraced my duty as a gatekeeper, a watcher and storyteller, of my african tradition. I allowed myself to explore the idea of becoming more a holistic person by putting all of the pieces of the puzzle of my life’s journey into a narrative of alignment and purpose. My purpose, as a gatekeeper and seer, was to fine tune the true vision of my voice, as an artist and a human being and use the results for the improvement of the society. I learned to collaborate to enhance and support the value of my voice, as well as the voices of those I collaborated with. I call my art Tribal Neo Pop Art. I am a Graphic Scatter. I use tribal colors and storytelling graphics in a modern pop culture voice. My medium is Mixed Media, a combination of acrylic paint, pen and ink, color pencils, wax pencils, L A Times newspaper on wood, recycled canvases, along with bark, leaves and recycled frames. I explore traditional and mystical archetypes, personal as well as universal challenge our known myths with text written and text suggested in colorful compositions, in constructs which honor ideas and images illustrating life in spiritual terms. This images are ritual, storytelling, ceremonies and rites of passage, dance steps in faith and memories in sacred references. I began my journey as a serious sustainable visual artist making art of pressed bark, leaves and cardboard on canvas and recycle frames to daily newspaper on canvas and recycled wood. It is a continuous circle of physical and spiritual human life. It is my personal and sacred challenge to make meaningful, fine art out of discarded memories, newspaper headlines, people’s belongings and histories. I allow the recycled bark, paper and cardboard, fabric and wood to talk to me and dream with me, dictate with spirit in co-creation. I then colorize and assemble my three/free dimensional art. I seal my sculpture with a non-fired glaze in a final attempt to create a modern quilting. I am a revolutionary artist who has become an evolutionary artist of social change.
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I am influenced by Langston Hughes, Bob Dylan, Trent, Seal and C.C.Music Factory, sex and cyclic love, Enya Melodies, Kate Bush and fusion music, Mandela and Grease...the Talking Heads what my family gave spiritually and culturally, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my family, continue the family legacy in a modern way. Grandfather and grandmother were a cappella gospel music teachers, my mother was a gospel singer and my aunt sang jazz clubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as being a gospel singer herself. I lived in a bell jar of sacred voices of expression and emotions. I realized at an early age, my gift was to speak the gospel of humanity, as the human story around me unfolded, played itself out in conversations, words thrown in mid-air or grounded in the midst of a human story looking for healing. I learned to speak the words, paint the pictures, living a life of being a little tribal, organic and land based in my philosophies while integrating be-bop, hip-hop, pop life into cultural textures, bright colors of life that help to create spiritual stories of the web of life that have an eye on the past, the present and the upcoming future. Many of my art pieces have two, three or four dates of completion on an individual artwork. I usually commit to working on multiple pieces of art at the same time. Sometimes an individual series or multiple series are in the making at the same time. I relate to the world in all time or dream time. All aspects of a story contribute to exploring and identifying new and old truths of the human story being revealed, coming from spirit passing through me. It is a joining, a journey of observation, a perspective response and another opportunity to complete another chapter of our human story coming from the circle of life. I am influenced by the meeting of and modeling for Imogen Cunningham, knowing Sylvester and the Cockettes, listening to RedBone, Sly and the Family Stone, eastern melodies, exploring aboriginal art, women’s literature, gay literature, black literature, five years of being the lead singer and lyricist of the band Black Moses Supreme, working with Tim Carmody participating in photography modeling, creating a graphic novel, learning to carve and print linoleum blocks and collaborating on installations, individual and joint projects, three years of writing for Goodmenproject (goodmenproject.com) writing about the modern man’s position in our modern society, being in an artist collective(Mystic Arts) for four years where I embraced hand-painted clothing and being a part of the management team to support the artists. I am influenced by sustainability in modern life, my dedication to attaining the equality of human rights, my spiritual journey of meditation and prayer, including being a spoken word artist using East Indian music, sound healers, music beats, being a father of a daughter who under the age of five years old was taking two hour naps which allowed me the chance to start a journey of making meaningful art out of discarded memories, people’s belongings and human stories using recycled bark, the L A Times newspaper, packing paper, cardboard, fabric, wood and recycled canvases. My daughter is now thirty three and I was thirty six when she was born. This act of self healing has become my daily ritual I still do every day, I am turning the pages of our society’s pages in order to create a society of solution, multi-colored, multi-racial, gender fluid, eco-friendly, as a sustainable artist, while being love in action. I celebrate my human story and the sacred stories of human life.
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Terrell Anansi Dreaming of Freedom 2018 Mixed Media 30”x40”
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Detail: Dreaming of Freedom
Dreaming of Freedom I am here, looking, waiting and wanting for justice to be the common mode of living, just like the way we trust our breath to be there. I want it to be a given, not just a desire. I am dreaming of the freedom of my voice, my way of living and I am willing to accept respect and acts of love giving without asking a soul. I am calling for the conversations of clarity, content and compassion. I want the truth and the beauty of freedom to be heard. I want to hear the songs of freedom, hold the hands that will sustain me. I have a dream of hope. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Altar of Faith, 2018, Mixed Media, 29”x48”
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Detail: Altar of Faith
Altars of Faith I find those altars of faith in every corner of my being‌within every reach of my open hand, an open ear, a willing heart or in the chambers of an evolved mind. I am aware of the sacredness of my personal faith, the tool I use to generate the energy of love, the energy of healing. I am clear within my being, I have come to this planet to be of service to my humanity, to exercise my free will to be love in action, to be a part to the solotion to bring peace to myself and then the world. I am a living altar of faith. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Beyond Time, 2009, Mixed Media, 18”x48”
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Detail: Beyond Time
Beyond Time I am the past, the present and the future. I am beyond time. I am an echo of dreamtime, the heart of the matter, an echo of life. Remenber my story, my song that I sing, Remember my notes of loving, my notes of awareness. My voice is endless and as homeless as the moon. I will live in the light of the night and the light of the day. I will rise and set your sun. I will be your moon and your stars, I am eternal as the test of time. I am.TWA
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Terrell Anansi Lady on the Shore 2018 Mixed Media 30”x45”
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Detail: Lady on the Shore
Lady on the Shore She stands waiting for the water of life to touch her, waiting for it to allow her to drink, slowly, take in the taste of life as if it were her's to keep. She stands on the shoreline every day...at the same time and same place. She has made it a ritual to come to this spot, this sacred space in order to remind herself of her own internal sense of self worth. Her hair flowing, her locks of hair holding the paragraphs and the pages of her story. She knows deep within, her story will soon be told. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Saving Grace 2015 Mixed Media 36”x48”
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Detail: Saving Grace
Saving Grace The morning sun has risen and I am amazed at the grace of the coming day. It is a good day to be present for the light of the day. It is a good day to step into the possibilities of this upcoming day. It is a good day to be in the flow and the being of life. It is a good day to know the strength of the light of the day. The grace of the day has allowed me to know serenity and given me the time to see the sacredness of the breath of life and the being of life. I surrender to flow of my life’s story. I stand in gratitude and in love, in the power of love and compassion that sustains me. This place of belonging is my saving grace. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Art of Unity 2019 Mixed Media 30”x40”
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Detail: Art of Unity
Art of Unity There is a warring of the spirit swimming in the air of our modern world. We are living in the division of the personal self and the universal self. We need to heal the divide and it is time to come together, unified in a new way of loving. This is a calling for a conversation, a calling for a high, high invocation, transcending blues songs full of apologies. This is a calling for a chance for change, a chance for healing. And, the healing will come with each step we take, alone and together. The healing will come. We have been waiting all of our lives, this moment to come because it is time for a new way of being a modern art of living. It is an art of unity. We as a people have a birthing dream and the healing will come. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Self Portrait 2009 Mixed Media 30”x40”
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Detail: Self Portrait
Self Portrait I am bruised, but I am not broken, as I walk through my life’s journey, I have had many pathways that have created the story of my human journey. With every step, my eyes have become secure in seeing the lessons unfolding before my very eyes. I have learned to use my third eye to discover the thread of development of my internal human story, going from the bottom to the top. I sing blues songs, jazz tunes, poetic, spoken words over hip-hop and be-bop...and rock and roll melodies, punk and funk testimonies, always going back to love became that is my ritual of living. I walk with the notes of loving, the reggae of Bob Marley sewn to the soles of my feet. My sounds of wisdom, have served me a full plate of emotions like laughter, rising and falling I tumble and I am bruised, but I am not broken. TWA 19
Terrell Anansi Look What They Have Done 2015 Mixed Media 30”x36”
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Detail: Look What They Have Done
Look What They Have Done The earth is our mother. We must take care of her and Mother Earth is crying tears of hurricanes and storms of water. She is bleeding oil‌ and we are not satisfied. We are stripping her forests, her oceans and rivers. She cries as the ice on the North Pole becomes less stable and her animals are wandering around in deep concerned. Her species of this planet are dying from the pure sport of game hunters. It hurts my heart what man has done to the earth. Man has not given the earth her mercy. Where is the respect for the Mother who has gladly housed us, fed us? We are visitors in her house and we are bad company and we could be overstaying our stay. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Echoes and Ashes 2018 Mixed Media 36”x48”
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Detail: Echoes and Ashes
Echoes and Ashes The echoes within her mind cloud her reality. She cannot think clearly and wishes for the echoes to stop reeling the story of trauma and drama. She just wants to be free...free of the pain, the lost, broken promises and the lies that leave her empty. She just wants new echoes to come and replace the old ones that are crying for a time of rebirthing and releasing. This is a time of transformation, a rising to be free and change the old echoes into distant memories. It is time to bask in the sunlight of the new echoes of love and light, possibilities of change and upcoming solutions that will change her life and her living. These are the changing faces looking for a stable, sacred face of authenticity. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Times of Her Life 2014 Mixed Media 36”x48”
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Detail: Times of Her Life
Times of Her Life She is sitting in the midst of her power, wondering where it is coming from and where does it go. It seems to leave her from time to time. She gets temporally lost in her loneliness. But it returns, at unexpected times. She is sometimes surprised at its leaving and coming back to her. She has learned to sit with herself in order to know herself, so much better. She feels the more she knows of herself; she will be able to support herself and all of her dreams. She is sitting in her power and surrendering to the story of herself and her power. Being able to claim and name her power so she may rise because the time is now. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Rights Considered 2015 Mixed Media 11”x48”
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Detail: Rights Considered
Rights Considered I am considering what are my rights, as a human being, as a spiritual being. I have the right to breath in the beauty and joy of my present life and I know it is a gift to have my breath. By divine right, I have my life and I know it is sacred, but sometimes I just forget in the midst of my brokenness. I forget I have a divine right to be love unfolding, as I dance in the circle of life. I have a divine right to be a compassionate human being. I have a divine right to be a gift to life. I have the right to love and be loved. I have the right to be more today than I was yesterday. I have the divine right to have my rights considered and so it is. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Craving Equality 2013 Mixed Media 24”x36”
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Detail: Craving Equality
Craving Equality I want to be seen as my authentic self and I am craving equality. I want to stand next to you, meet you eye to eye maybe we would talk for hours. You can tell me your secrets and I will share with you mine and we will laugh together because we made a contract to love each other with equal dedication to being present for each other. I see you. You see me. Is that equality? Are we looking in a mirror or are you the person I have been waiting to trust with my heart, my life? I am just craving equality. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Music Man 2016 Mixed Media 18”x36”
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Detail: Music Man
Music Man The music that is playing in my head is asking for freedom, wants to aid me in telling my story, the lyrics of my songs. I will sing for you for our exchange of emotional abundance and sometimes money. And, I will sing in order to release my soul and allow myself to become free. Play those notes of loving and notes that play the strings of your heart. Hear the music of the music man...the music of the heart, music of serenading me until I cradle inside myself into a new reality. I will become someone...as long as I am playing my song, my music. I am the Music Man. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Stories 2017 24”x36”
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Detail: Stories
Stories Every human has a story, a journey to be documented by our actions and the footprints we leave behind. Stories and tales of how we are living life flowing out of us like a river looking for a home. Our dreams and hopes are cradled in our stories. Our footprints and flights of fancy are laced in our stories. A monologue or a dialogue is a story unfolding. The lines of poem, play, a movie, a television show or even cable tv are documented stories of our existence. Our stories keep us alive and allow stories to be told and remembered, his story, her story or even their story. Stories are our echoes of existence. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Resurrection 2018 Mixed Media 24”x36”
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Detail: Resurrection
Resurrection We all want to be born again, each morning rising, each day of the year. We all want a second chance, a little do over‌ a little more time to climb the mountain and live in moments being a part of the sky. We want freedom to speak, creative, exist in order to be present for the gifting of living life in the alignment with child wonder. Our souls are crying to be born again, to become alive again as its pure and true self. I have not known freedom for far too long and it has caused me to become resurrected as my authentic self...and each day, in resurrection, I get the opportunity to be born again in new hope and abundance. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Woman in Mid-Air 2013 Mixed Media 24”x36”
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Detail: Woman in Mid-Air
Woman in Mid-Air She is dancing above the clouds, hair flowing with the wind, body and soul plain out of reach of any hands or minds of destruction. She is her own woman, sitting in the presence of Mother Gaia. They are meeting in midair. They are committed to their contract of collaboration, a beautiful exchange of energy. She feels the honor lingering in the air. The freshness of the water against her face, mingling within every strand of her hair causes her body and spirit to become calm...and releases all resistance to fear and lack. She has found peace in mid-air. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Role of a Writer 2018 Mixed Media 28”x34”
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Detail: Role of a Writer
Role of a Writer A writer is a storyteller, a person who documents the existence of the human race. A writer is a designer and reporter of the human story. A writer expresses the range of emotions of the society, tells the stories of intimacy and human madness. The writer is the crow living on the edge of the society, watching and waiting to speak the truth seen by being an observer and the watcher. The writer speaks to keep the human story moving forward with a strong sense of why history is connected to the present and the future. The role of the writer is to see and be. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Seriously 2010 Mixed Media 15”x30”
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Detail: Seriously
Seriously Life is to be taken seriously, because it is a gift. Seriously. I know that I am a dreamer and I vision in large picturesque scenes of people dancing through their pain and singers telling stories of rising above it all. I dream of hope and world peace and I want to be taken seriously. I give my time because breath and time have been given to me. I value human and animal life. I honor the planet and I think it deserves respect. I honor women and children because all lives matter. I honor people of color and people of various sexual orientations. I am a man of love and I believe in social justice. I am a dreamer; a man of service and I want to be taken seriously. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Change 2019 Mixed Media 24”x25.5”
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Detail: Change
Change Nothing ever stays the same, because we live in the flow of change. Yesterday turns into today and each sunrise has a different glow of light. Today will eventually turn into history, as today reaches for the windows of the future. I always try to be more than I was yesterday, outside of my moments standing still. You cannot stop change. It is always active, in continuous motion as we speak. Each day is different, because of the cycle of change. So, I have learned to surrender to change. Change is seen each morning that we rise to be present for the gifting of life. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Soul Spirit 2016 Mixed Media 16”x20”
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Detail: Soul Spirit
Soul Spirit You are a gift to the world. Your soul/spirit knows your human story and celebrates the beauty of you being manifested as your human self. Our bodies are the sacred place of dwelling for our soul and our spirit and comes to this world to enhance and embrace the journey of human life. Remember to honor the flow of life and the being of life, being love in action, thought and purpose. Remember to love the one you are with, yourself and all others who touch your life. Respect the soul/spirit, or we are connected to the Greater Spirit of Creation. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Home for She 2019 Mixed Media 14”x18”
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Detail: Home for She
Home for She She needs a place where she can feel safe. She needs a home for She, not a home just for He, but a home for She. In time, hopefully there would be a place where She could live safely with, He in the House of We. A home is to be shared...our earthly home and our personal home. Home is where the heart and soul lives, where our dreams live. Home is a place of safety, a place of belonging. Home is where the heart and dreams reside. Home is where our secrets, wants and wishes blow through the rooms of our House of We. We want to come home. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Visions 2019 Mixed Media 18”x22.5”
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Detail: Visions
Visions I have visions of everyone being of worth. I have a vision of being able to change the world so we can all live in a personal place of belonging. In my dreams, I have visions of rising about the challenges of life with clear visions of living happily, being equal together as we work together. I have day and night dream visions of being and living in a house of unity and abundance in our modern world, I vision us knowing how to make peace on earth a reality as we are being in conversations of compassion and healing. I have visions of us rising up, grounded in hope. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Spirit Man 2005 Mixed Media 24”x30”
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Detail: Spirit Man
Spirit Man I am a Man of Spirit, a man who has made a contract with his higher power to be dedicated to being, a Man of the Love. I have a contract to use my gifts to enhance and support the planet. I came to the planet to give and live as a man of compassion and solution. I am here to be of service to the wellbeing of myself, my gift and the people of the planet. I am here to be the rock that holds sacred space on the beach of life. I am a spirit living in a human body and must speak my words and do my deeds so I can treat life with respect, something so needed in this modern world. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Modern Voice 2012 Mixed Media, Tryptic 30”x40”
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Detail: Modern Voice
Modern Voice I am a voice of the past, present and future, a voice based in eternity. I am a modern, sacred voice. I am the voice of the ancestors, the angels of mercy and the birds of freedom...a freedom fighter black bird singing in the dead of the night. I will sing until we have peaceful morning light, we will have another chance to be more this day than we were yesterday, be another birthing of our spirits while being housed in our human bodies. Our spirits and the elements of this earth, they want us to sing a song of earthing to allow the healing to come. We will come into alignment and sing and speak the birthing song, in our modern voices and the healing will come. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Queen 2016 Mixed Media 24”x38”
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Detail: Queen
Queen I am Queen because you have crowned me with the privilege to take a ring of promise, a sacred contract. You have held me in this sacred space, and I say thank you. I will serve you as you serve me. I bow to you, as your Queen. Know the power of my feminine wisdom and my woman magic. I know the levels of energy that create this thing called life., the power of birthing that comes through me, monthly. It sometimes stays in conception for nine months, to only pass through me. Protect me as your Queen. Respect me as the other spectrum of power in our saced alignment of the divine masculine and the divine feminine. We are united in the cause of balance and shared power. In unity, we are so much stronger. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Spirit 2018 Mixed Media 15”x36”
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Detail: Spirit
Spirit We are living in an opening portal of transformation, with a focused intention to be trading places for something better. We are looking for new truths, answers of revelations, birthing stories of our human race. We are at the doorsteps of the opening of an evolution. It is a time to be the ascending spirits of love, rivers of singing waters, tasting like the sweet water of life... the cool waters of waterfalls cleansing our souls. It is time to come clean be ancient in these modern times. It is a time to name spirit as the originator of life. We have been given life and we must give back in order to continue the circle and the flow of life. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Bird 2018 Mixed Media 18”x36”
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Detail: Bird
Bird I want to be as free as the bird flying above my head, as free as the hummingbird finding its nectar. I want to spread my wings and know sky and clouds, freedom. I want to know the wind as my friend and supporter. I want to know the beauty of flight. I want you to know my colors and the span of my wings. I will sing for you, be beautiful for you. I will remind you of the sacredness of life and living. Through the beating of my wings, you know the sounds of silence and power. I will soar as you watch in wonder. I want to be a bird in freedom, in comfort in mid-air. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Art House 2017 Mixed Media 15”x29”
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Detail: Art House
Art House This house is a source of creation. In this house, to create is to be sacred. Honor the art of manifestation. Honor the house of trusting you will find beauty in everything you see and feel. It is a gift. Know the possibilities of what could be created and what will pass through you as inspiration. Allow the art of creation to know your heart. Sit at the table and be fed the nourishment given to you at the Art House. We tell stories. We paint, sing, write and perform, document our Art of Living. We heal from being in a pathway of transformational healing, using our art of living that creates a place of belonging. TWA
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Terrell Anansi I am Human 2018 Mixed Media 8”x34”
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Detail: I am Human
I am Human I am a spiritual being living in a human body. I have come from source energy to be here physically as a human being. I am a spiritual being, here to be of service to the people of this planet, here on this human planet to be of service to my human journey. I am a human story unfolding as I take my steps, reach my arms open wide in certainty. My journey as a human will be one of being worthy to be able to reach my dreams of being evolutionary, compassionate and humble to receive this gift called life. I am a grateful human being. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Fire Stick 2018 Mixed Media, 4 Views 5”x19”
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Detail: Fire Stick
Fire Stick My colors are red, yellow, orange and firelight. I am the flame of life. I am the light of the pathway. I am burning for you and your story. Remember‌ to follow the light. My light is filled with patience, hope and charity. My fire is the flame of light and love unfolding. Trust me and help me to light up the world, awaken the sleepers who are dreaming of the light. The energy of my colors warms you and ignites you to be awakened. I am the light...the energy of love. TWA
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Terrell Anansi Leaning Lady 2016 Mixed Media 11.5”x24”
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Detail: Leaning Lady
Leaning Lady Her body is arched, leaning toward you so she may hear all that you may say. She is there for you, waiting in anticipation. Speak the truths of your mind and heart. Tell her a story of rising above, a heroic story of transformation. She will hold space for you and applaud you as you bow gracefully. I come from a lineage of being of service. It is an honor to give. It is an honor to allow life to be. I will lean into your story and hear the lyrics of your personal song as I hold sacred space for you and your legacy. I am still waiting to you to lean for me. TWA
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Terrell Anansi A Modern Man 2016 Mixed Media 18�x36�
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Detail: A Modern Man
A Modern Man As a Modern Man and an Artist of Change, a Sustainable Artist, I believe in not being faceless, having the creative responsibility to be able to communicate and facilitate love and mutual understanding, sacred support for every human on the planet. I intend to be an echo, a voice, a painting, a poem, a mirror of wanting and a song of freedom for all of us to remember who we really are, in these troubling Modern Times, remembering we are tribal people and we are love incarnated. TWA
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