akua studio
Alexis Akua (b. 1999, Jacksonville, Florida) is a visual artist, writer and herbalist with Caribbean and West African roots.
She studied Fine Art at Parsons School of Design, Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art and Plant Medicine at Indigi Golden Herbal Academy. In 2022, she was an environmental artist and writer in residence at Fernland Studios. Her artwork has been included in solo and group exhibitions in Florida, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Toronto and London.
akua studio is her independent art practice in painting, fiber, collage and assemblage. These mediums are influenced by her research in ethnoecology as a descendent of Black farmers in the southeastern United States.
Her work engages natural pigments, textiles and found objects to uncover the mythical dimension of the natural world. She finds the most magic in the technologies of storytelling, poetics and land cultivation.
Through these mediums, she seeks to weave the threads of her diverse ancestral lineages and reawaken indigenous knowledge. Each painting and tapestry is a symbolic emblem honoring the historical connection that native cultures have developed with their local environment.
The primary goal of her work is to use creative inquiry to encourage holistic connection with the ecosystem on the foundation of spiritual science. She is focused on themes of origin, enchantment, ecological restoration and the role that narrative plays in constructing our collective worldview.
As an earth steward, she approaches art through the lens of ancient memory. This process is infused with her deep reverence for the coevolutionary relationship between humans and other living organisms.