Destiny (11” x 14”)
Photography, Digital Collage 2018
Destiny (2018) is a metaphorical snapshot of the African Diaspora’s future: Black people truly understanding that we are inherently beautiful, inherently powerful and inherently free….us, joyfully unencumbered in the Cosmos, the place whence everything comes.
Destiny is a multidimensional retroactive astral projection from the future: a realization that existence is timeless; an understanding by Black people that we are the origin of the Universe’s expression in human form; and sublime, conscious movement toward what lies Beyond.
www.awocenter.org
C. PETERS
Cobalt Meets the Dyson Sphere (11” x 14”)
Photography, Digital Collage 2018
Cobalt Meets the Dyson Sphere” is a speculative triptych tracing Africa’s role in tech-driven exploitation and cosmic possibility. It begins in the present, where children from the DRC are forced to mine cobalt for Silicon Valley; shifts to a near future where they demand accountability; and culminates in a far future where African resources power a Dyson Sphere—suggesting a future where the Continent fuels not just devices, but humanity’s cosmic evolution.
GRACE CHUNG
The Cure (13” x 19”)
Photography 2024
In Kindia, Guinea, a baby receives life-saving antivenom at a clinic run by the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation, an international organization of doctors and scientists working to treat snakebite in West Africa.
Climate change is increasing human-snake encounters, exacerbating snakebite, a neglected tropical disease that disproportionately affects poor, rural communities like Kindia. Despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, Africa faces some of the most severe consequences of climate change, worsening health crises like snakebite.
www.awocenter.org
GRACE CHUNG
Causus Cocktail (13” x 19”)
Photography
2024
A Guinean herpetologist extracts venom from a wild spotted night adder for research purposes.
Because venom composition can vary even between individuals of the same species, continued research is critical to better understand the biochemical properties of these venoms and their medical effects on snakebite victims.
Snake Wrangler (13” x 19”)
Photography 2024
Alpha Baldé, a Guinean herpetologist, artfully wrangles a forest cobra whose venom was collected for research purposes.
Safely handling venomous snakes is a skill necessary for studying venom biology and snake ecology.
Soft Citadels (20” x 12” x 34”)
Weaponized Pollution (24” x 36”) Glazed mid-fire ceramic Spray Paint on Canvas 2024 2025
One could say my life was predestined by my Chinese name, (“chén yuán”), meaning “fountainhead” or “source of water.” Given life’s aquatic origins, my sculpture practice recontextualizes the fountainhead as a life source and home for myself and other oceanic creatures.
In Soft Citadels, I reference the protective homes that corals and anemones create for young fish and invertebrates.
A statement piece about how Black neighborhoods have been redlined into industrial areas, and how Black people endure higher levels of pollution
www.awocenter.org
Asphalt Summer (24” x 24”)
Acrylic paint pen on canvas 2025
Asphalt Summer” captures the tangible heat of the urban heat island eKect, depicting children playing under a relentless sun while their grandmother seeks meager respite.
The direct gaze of one child challenges the viewer to acknowledge the sweltering reality that our increasingly technological landscapes have on surrounding communities of color.
Valley of tech delight (24” x 28”)
Embellished Print 2025
Valley of tech delight is a painting spotlighting the displacement of the unfortunate. I’m emphasizing a city that prides itself on a team logo but yet ignoring the underbelly of San Jose. To see the unhoused and shark fans cross paths on Santa Clara St in San Jose is strange to me, two classes of people colliding for a split second on the sidewalk.
Paranoid Freak (18” x 30”) Acrylic Paint 2021
The amount of fear based information and algorithms feeding it to us on our phones can trigger society very easily.
Numbers of the dead and who to blame it on was all that was talked about on the news during covid, and all we could do was panic.
And I’m still baffled that in a time of crises the biggest worry or priority of a percentage of people was having enough toilet paper to wipe their asses.
www.awocenter.org
Moonlite Tales
MAY 16 | VR Exhibition 2025
Inspired by Nigeria’s tradition of gathering under the moonlight to share ancestral stories, Moonlite Tales is a surreal revival of oral storytelling. Beneath a sculpted sky, visitors become children again, listening as myth and memory ripple across glowing portals and dreamwalls.
The gallery is grown, not built—its arches flow like ancient bark, its violet sap floor gleams with echoes of time. A spiraling canopy recalls sacred trees, carved with starlit wisdom. Guided by moonlight, each story unfolds in rhythm, inviting visitors to step into a living dream—where the past hums, the future whispers, and memory breathes beneath the stars.
Curated by Samuel D. Higgwe, and 3D modeled under his guidance by Blac Onyx Studios and brought to life in Unreal Engine 5. Guided by moonlight, visitors explore glowing portals where stories awaken.
OUR MISSION @ AWỌ
It is our mission to create engaging opportunities for historically unheard or misrepresented stories to be shared, expressed and celebrated. .
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408-601-0364 | 1484 Pollard Road Suite 242. Los Gatos, CA 95032
“At AWỌ, we believe awareness, education, and connection can spark collective action and healing,”
- Folake Phillips, Founder and Executive Director AWO
Upcoming Event:
AR WORKSHOP | AFRICA DAY MUSIC CONCERT
Animate African butterfly pecies with mobile AR in a joyful outdoor setting, celebrating climate, culture and joy.
SAINT JAMES PARK, 148 N 2ND ST www.awocenter.org .
3:30 - 7:00 PM
MAY 25 | AFRICA DAY SAN JOSE
