My work explores the belief that the future is not something we wait for, it is something we step into. Through painting, sculpture, and mixed media, I focus on moments of lift, launch, and becoming, using imagination as a form of propulsion.

My ongoing body of work, Launch Day, captures figures suspended in mid-motion—leaping, floating, or poised just before takeoff. These moments represent the point where belief outweighs fear. By centering young figures, particularly from Black and marginalized communities, I present the future as present, embodied, and already in motion. Throughout the work, everyday objects such as soda bottles, paper planes, blow dryers, bicycles, and street fixtures are transformed into tools of flight.

Their familiarity emphasizes that the future is built not only through advanced technology, but through creativity, resourcefulness, and the ability to reimagine what is already within reach. Gravity functions as a metaphor for inherited limitations, while flight symbolizes agency and self determination.

Through Launch Day, I claim the future as something we actively create. The work asserts that the future is ours, not by waiting for permission, but by having the vision and courage to launch. These three pieces invites you into that journey!

Instagram: @ahkeemshaw