Creating Lion’s Roar, Lover’s Whisper

When I began working on Lion’s Roar, Lover’s Whisper, I knew it had to be more than an artwork. It had to be a site—a place where presence, honesty, and intimacy could live in clay.

The work took shape tile by tile. One hundred handmade stoneware tiles, each carrying its own weight, surface, and gesture, came together to form a whole. As I carved, glazed, and fired, I thought about the body—its strength, its fragility, its traces. Clay, after all, remembers everything: the pressure of a fingertip, the pull of a tool, the way a glaze changes the surface.

This installation embodies themes that have been central to my practice for years: reverence, erotic honesty, and radical acceptance. Each tile is both fragment and chorus, part of something larger than itself. Together, they build a wall of presence—one that refuses erasure, one that reclaims queer erotic energy as sacred rather than scandalous.

The title, Lion’s Roar, Lover’s Whisper, speaks to that duality: the fierce and the tender, the bold and the vulnerable. I wanted the work to hold both energies at once, because that’s what queer life feels like—resilient and soft, powerful and intimate.

Installed at Michigan Central this past week as part of Season Fair’s Special Projects (Detroit, 2025), the piece also speaks to place. Detroit is a city of reinvention, of resilience, of making and remaking. To show this work here is to honor that spirit, to situate queer presence within the city’s ongoing story of transformation.

Ultimately, Lion’s Roar, Lover’s Whisper is a ritual. It asks viewers to pause, to lean in, to feel the surface of fired clay as if it were skin. It asks us to see queer embodiment not as something hidden, but as something sacred, resilient, and healing.

For me, it is both roar and whisper—an offering of love, honesty, and permanence in clay.

A special thanks to Peter Souza who is both my husband and partner in all our endeavors. This work would not have materialized without his help and guidance. And a special thanks to Amani Olu for believing in our vision and including this piece in the fair.

Lion's Roar Lover's Whisper Bisque Tiles

Lion's Roar Lover's Whisper in glaze room awaiting background glaze

Lion's Roar Lover's Whisper in studio with Peter studying tiles

Lion's Roar Lover's Whisper in studio with Peter final layout complete

Lion's Roar Lover's Whisper in studio with Peter installed at Season Fair from Sept 25-Sept 28 2025