Artist in Residence with the Anchorage Museum
So, this happened! Follow my story at the museum’s blog.
Hayes is now reconnecting with the personal art practice she put on hold after leaving art school. She has been working primarily in sketchbooks and digital collage, creating images that evoke her love of Black speculative fiction and Black American folktales. Inspired by writers like Helen Oyeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia Butler, and Maya Angelou, as well as mythology and fairytales, Hayes creates dreamlike images that speak about Black identity and liberation. Often featuring Black femme or nonbinary characters in states of repose or abandon, her collages emanate a sense of peacefulness and possibility.