My thesis project centers on a comic featuring Helena, a young Black vigilante who slays monsters as a way of coping with the trauma of losing her parents. The work explores how she manages her grief in a way that makes fantasy a tool for survival and empowerment. Helena exists across time, space, and medium, reflecting the complexity and limitlessness of Black identity.
The exhibition is meant to serve as an immersive environment that invites interaction. CNC chairs, a rug, and a table create a home-like setting where viewers can sit and read the comic while facing a glowing neon sword modeled after Helena’s weapon. The installation is inspired by Derrick Adams’s “The Holdout” and Francesc Ruiz’s “Paris Newsstand.”
Additional elements include paintings of Helena as both a knight and as Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a historical Black woman who navigated enslavement and visibility. Alongside variant comic panel prints, an interactive magnetic comic panel, music via a QR code paired with an iPod mirror, a movie cut-out board, and other 3D elements referenced from the comic. Together, these works invite viewers to engage and inhabit a world where Black imagination is expansive, interactive, and unapologetically powerful.
Material: Neon, Enameled Metal, Oil on Canvas, Risograph, Synthetic Hair, and Faux Branch
