- This is my favorite painting ever because a couple things.

First thing, it looks really good.

(laughs) It's Shakira and some kids from Colombia.

All the handprints are my handprints, and the painting was made in college.

(Anamarie blowing) It's just a constant reminder of all of the work that it took.

(gentle music) It's fun seeing myself use paint and try to layer all this paint, and then now I'm using photographs and hair and just all kinds of stuff.

"The Home of Joy" will be my first solo show.

With joy, I think a lot about hair, whether it be just looking good or whether it be a form of self-care.

I decided to use a lot of Kanekalon hair and different things out of the beauty supply store like earrings or barrettes, beads, hair rollers, hairpins.

I am in a process of using these materials to make art but kind of take them out of their context.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (package crinkling) The relationship that I have with hair braiding is, it's a love.

I feel like if you need a braider, someone knows a braider, if you know how to braid, you're always trying to reach out to community and let the community know that you have those gifted hands and that talent.

(soft intriguing music) It's called "My Work Hair."

"My Work Hair" is in the show for a lot of reasons.

It's in the show just to show off hair, show off braids, show off how strong it is because the piece is only held up by hair.

The process of braiding in general is just such a love-binding process.

That one is called "Music History" because it shows that a lot of things inform joy.

I just really wanted to pinpoint that because music is something we all enjoy.

Music is a way I found joy in making the work too.

Music really got me through a lot of my studio sessions, the studio sessions I may not have wanted to be in the studio.

The tanks are all under a series called "In Living Hair."

"In Living Hair" is about how culture is a living thing.

They change with their environment.

(soft intriguing music continues) My goals as an artist, number one, I feel like, is to play and to keep playing and to keep showing how far play can get you.

This painting is called "El Guajiro."

It means "a farmer."

It's like a personality in Cuba, and mariposas are the national flower for Cuba.

A lot of this is just kind of like, he's just like, "Here, here's my identity.

These are the things that I'm prideful in."

Another goal that I have as an artist is to properly represent myself.

(gentle enchanting music) It's something that I really just wanna hone in on.

How do I represent myself in different situations, in different places, different galleries?

Does my work change?

Why does it have to change?

And I want those things to be trackable for other people that come after me because being an interdisciplinary artist sometimes is really hard 'cause it's like, "Well, what do you do?

Are you a painter?

Are you a photographer?"

For my practice, it depends on what I'm teaching.

So if I am teaching about music, I might be learning how to sing or hiring a choir to properly represent what it is to me.

- [Announcer] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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