"Imagine you want to walk in the exhibition but they won't let you in"

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The opening of this project. Similar to Mussorgsky's Pictures (Maurice Ravel's transcription) the work starts with an opening solo and from there the colors begin to blend into one another ultimately creating the framework of this project.

A feeling of oppression breaking with the hope of expression.

While working on this piece, my initial goal was to align each movement closely—minute by minute—with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. In this movement, however, I allowed myself to move away from that structure. Black love and unity hold profound power within the Black community, and with Kerry James Marshall’s Slow Dance as my visual inspiration, I wanted to give this idea space to breathe.

Like the painting, the music unfolds as a slow dance between two souls. The music builds off this riff, The Hope Theme, that is a prayer given to the two souls. As the world turns and its pressures accumulate, the couple continues to move together—remaining present, connected, and rooted in love through hardship and uncertainty. The title of the work comes from James Baldwin’s words: “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things that you do not see.” This movement reflects love as awareness, care, and shared growth. Dedicated to my partner and to all who feel this sentiment of love being a dance that isn’t bound to the rhythm of the world but to the rhythms of their hearts.

“The Bydlo” movement

The Bydlo movement depicts cattle moving a cart in a slow persistent way- its constant and unnerving. With my movement I was inspired by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s street art series Stop Telling Women to Smile, a powerful set of women murals about street harassment. I saw a version of this outside of the Hilton Hotel, a line of women with their natural emotion all the way down the street, constant and unnerving. The words “stop telling women to smile” being painted on the side of the long mural symbolized a persistent and powerful shout for change. This movement is based on the four women mentioned in Nina Simone’s Four Women and is dedicated to my mother, sisters, nieces, and all black women who have impacted me.

“Samuel & Schmuyle” movement

A silent movement, a memory of art erased by prejudice, classism, and the oppression of Black people across time. Imagine the melodies never sung, the chorales that might have risen, voices stilled before they could soar. What might have been, if only these sounds had lived?

“ Catacombs” movement

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This movement lives in a place that does not exist. Through this project, countless ideas and symbols emerged, one of the most persistent being the desire to turn back time—to offer someone a happy ending. A question came to mind when dealing with catacombs movement. How do you honor those that we’ve lost? Grief is an interesting concept in the culture; we celebrate those we’ve lost- we ask questions about what we could have done to help. IDuring this project, a thought resurfaced—one that had lingered with me for years but only fully took shape here: What if Breonna Taylor could sleep? 

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Breonna, based on the work by Amy Sherald is a lullaby dedicated to Breonna Taylor, a soul that lost her life to police brutality after officers forced entry into her home in Louisville, KY. The piece never reaches volume above a forte, to symbolize staying in this dreamworld, a world of peace and freedom. Constantly there's a feeling of uncertainty, knowing that the dream may come to an end at any moment. Eventually, we awaken, but traces of the dream linger, leaving behind a quiet, unresolved echo of what could have been. 

“ The Great Gates of Kiev” movement

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This groundwork of this piece began with Alma Thomas’s work The Eclipse, a depiction of said event with every color working in harmony to bring the phenomenon to life so it was fitting that the work would be the ending of this project. When I saw the work in the Smithsonian I was amazed at the sheer beauty of the work.

For Mussorgsky’s Pictures, The Great Gate of Kiev rang the sounds of hope, community, and freedom. That is what I felt with Thomas’s work. Soulstice is the feeling of hope and promise within the black community. Using the opening of America the Beautiful as the groundwork of the piece, I wanted to capture a feeling of what hope could feel like- as if it was the sun peering from the horizon. The music builds and builds using the colors and themes of different movements to pay homage to every facet of black life I wanted to illustrate. There’s an understanding of struggle and hardship yet the music continues to build until the return of America the Beautiful. The piece ends with a prayer, similar to Love is an Offering, a prayer of peace and unity. Throughout this work I wanted to highlight black life and this last movement represented one thing that we all have in this community: resilience. As the prayer continues, the sound becomes stronger, the colors become bolder and the soul begins to rise. The prayer turns into a testimony. 

The Gnome by Mussorgsky illustrated a disgruntled figure not fitting of society's image. The original is fast, aggressive and intense. For me I wanted to highlight a group of individuals that were and to a certain extent like gnomes, African Americans in the blue collar work force. This movement is built as an intense hymn- based on "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair". The movement is relentless and harsh with only a brief moment of relief. Dedicated to my father and to all the countless African Americans who worked their entire lives to make their dreams and others dreams happen.

“The Tulleries” movement

With a Afro-Latin & Gospel blend, Playas Garden- based on Tony WHLGN's "Untitled"- is a response to children playing-imagining themselves as different things. Featuring only woodwinds and percussion, Playas Garden grows with intensity, colors, and technique. Similar to The Tulleries it is playful and lively. 

“The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” movement

This movement parallels Mussorgsky’s Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. While studying the original costume sketches, I knew I wanted to draw inspiration from designs rooted in Black life and visual culture. I initially explored architecture and building forms, but the most immediate source revealed itself in a familiar ritual: getting a haircut.

In many Black barbershops, there hangs a worn, slightly blurry poster of hairstyles—Black men and boys serving as the models for these designs. Most are variations on a close cut or bald head, yet their presence carries weight. The Black barbershop and salon function as cornerstones of community development, especially for youth. They are loud, crowded, and chaotic spaces, but they are also sites of storytelling, debate, mentorship, and collective reflection.

This movement is an ode to that environment, translated through the language of bebop and Afro-Latin jazz—music that mirrors the energy, rhythm, and layered conversations of the shop itself.

“ Limoges. The Market” movement

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Since its unveiling, Lady Liberty has stood as a beacon of hope, welcoming immigrants with the promise of new beginnings. Inspired by Sydney James’s The Girl with the D Earring, I imagined a city alive with color, movement, and voices—immigrants telling their stories on every corner, in every street.

This movement moves like the city itself: vibrant, layered, and full of conversation. Drawing from Tito Fuentes, Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, and other global sounds, the music fuses styles and rhythms into a tapestry where everyone can find a place, a story, a heartbeat.

“ The Hut on Baba Yaga” movement

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Mussorgsky’s Baba Yaga depicts a witch’s clock through fast, relentless motion, much like Gnomus. In Russian folklore, Baba Yaga exists between good and evil, though she is most often portrayed as monstrous—flying in a wooden mortar, wielding a pestle, and dwelling deep in the forest in a hut balanced on chicken legs.

This movement led me to consider how this figure appears across cultures. Within Black culture, Baba Yaga transforms into the boogeyman—a dark, ancestral presence used to warn, discipline, and protect, carrying fear as a form of survival. This reimagining is passed down through storytelling, sound, and memory.

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My Boogieman- which is based off of two works by Jean-Michel Basquiat- draws from both Mussorgsky’s original work and this Black cultural lineage. He is a creature of dark soul, spiritually and musically rooted in the grittiest edges of funk—where groove, swagger, and danger coexist. This monster moves with charisma, a fear-eating, boogie-walking gangster shaped by rhythm and ancestral weight. The movement closes with a return of the promenade, as the darkest musical colors become saturated with sound, energy, and embodied power.