My name is Candice Tavares I am a visual artist and woodworker focusing on art that celebrates Black beauty, love, and culture. I have always been creative but leaned more into it as a way to cope with my emotions around covid19 and racial injustice. Creating started as a healthy way to release negative emotions, but I found what was most helpful for me was to focus on joy!
My passion is uplifting Black people through creating positive, emotionally captivating images that celebrate our communities and culture. I love to challenge negative narratives by depicting Black people in loving exchanges, a hug or kiss from parent to child, the embrace of a partner, or the embrace of oneself.
I like to highlight the way that light hits brown skin and the multitude of browns that can make up one beautiful human face by using an abstract color blocking technique. I also pay heavy attention to the detail in natural Black hair and prefer to use wood stain rather than paint in my wooden pieces to maintain the natural grain of the wood as a nod to the natural beauty each of us possess. It is always my hope that when people see my art they feel a spark of joy, seen and affirmed.