SUNI MULLEN

STATEMENT |  Invested in the alienated parts of myself, I have leaned into trusting the direction my work takes. Often with a humorous and vengeful spirit, I implore an adamancy of intentional conviction. The result not only addresses the viewers but myself as well. They offer moments of recovery to gain the power needed to armor oneself with psychological and spiritual aptitude. Spending numerous hours locating how to address “what would I do if there were no repercussions for my actions?”I am interested in all the ways I can liberate my thinking so that my imagination aligns with my critical ability to negotiate when to land a blow and rumble bellies with laughter. This toggle back and forth is considered under a bright light of scrutiny.    Discussions on agency circulate much of my work because so much is policed. On the canvas, the policing stops, and I become the maker of my world, and this is what I am aggressively interested in to place, to apply, and to visualize worlds that exist theoretically–  expounding upon them in the physical world through  discussions, paintings, writings, videos, and other mediums that prove themselves necessary to articulate, “I control the plot here” as an act of rebellion in sterile temples of whiteness as a base. I often think to myself, “What if the base is me?”    Trust offers reliability. Reliability anchors itself with the confidence to know it will get done and can get done. I challenge my reliability by surrendering to my impulses coupled with research, to expose vulnerably my agency–  becoming who I need to evolve to get the message out: “come on nigga, you can do it.” I must change the world within myself as an acting vessel for change, not as kumbaya, but as seizing by any means necessary, “ a proportionate share of the power vested and collected in the structure of America.” In Defense of Self Defense by Huey P Newton, he goes on to express, “unarmed people are slaves or are subject to slavery at any given moment.” This rising theme is to rid my ideas of Western thought by causing mayhem in pursuit of Black peace.