^{blurrr (Watercolor, yellow ink, colored pencil, embroidery floss, acrylic paint) / Angelique Spence}

As time drags on, I can feel myself gradually changing. Favorite foods taste bitter now and I'm meeting new people. Nothing feels wrong, just different. This piece is an acknowledgment of a state of limbo I enter from time to time. It's like feeling the push and pull of change but still being very connected to the person you once were. Almost like a filler episode on a season of your life.

As a Black woman in America, people frequently stereotype and ostracize me. So much so that I started to question what people see when they look at me. Do they see the outspoken girl and kind soul I have grown to love? Or an exotic animal to make into a coat? I suppose I am being a bit dramatic. But as everybody does, I just yearn to be seen and loved for qualities other than the stereotypes people see on TV. It is painful to understand that in some people's minds, I am Black before I am human.