My work is a meditation on legacy, movement, and cultural reclamation. As a filmmaker, writer, and collage artist, I’m drawn to the layered nature of storytelling—how memory, rhythm, and ancestry intersect to shape the present. I create intricate paper mosaics using rare, recycled, and handmade materials—Egyptian papyrus, copper, gold leaf, and found objects—to honor the overlooked and celebrate the Black body in motion. Movement is at the heart of everything I make. I’m especially inspired by dancers—their grace, resilience, and ability to embody freedom through form. My background in theater and film deeply informs my visual art: each piece is a scene, a breath, a narrative in fragments. I build by cutting, layering, and arranging paper like a choreographer staging a silent ballet. Through my art, I aim to amplify the stories of women, of ancestors, of children, of icons forgotten by history. I create to remember, to heal, and to envision a future where joy, beauty, and Black imagination are centered without compromise. — Jennia Fredrique Aponte