Sovereign reinterprets sixteen sculptures of ancient Kemetic deities, each cast from the bodies of contemporary Black queer men. By using living people as the source for the sculptures and the photo composites, the work refuses the detachment and distance often placed between mythic representation and the present-day Black experience. These images reference more than just history. They animate it. They transform the sculptures into dynamic embodiments of cosmic authority and divine presence rooted in African mythology.
Sovereign positions Black queer bodies as sites of sacred knowledge, beauty, and futurity. These images invite the viewer to consider how mythology is not fixed in the past but constantly reshaped through those who inherit, practice, and reimagine it. Sovereign brings ancient lineage and stories into contemporary space, linking Blackness to power, technology, spirituality, and creative self-definition. The work challenges the narratives that have historically erased Black queer people from visual, cultural, and religious/spiritual representation, and instead asserts them as central, radiant, and sovereign beings.
Kemetic Deities Represented: Ra, Ptah, Nu, Geb, Sobek, Maahus, Hapi, Apuat, Khepera, Miau, Khonsu, Serq, Tehuti-Maa, Hapi, Uatcha, Amun
Sculpture Models: Mikael, Marques, Elon, Robert, Michael Curry, Jerry, Antonio L., Weslee, Waverly, Shederick, Hasani, Emeka, Anthony, Marcus Gilmore, Emerald, Marsalis
This project is in collaboration with Rainbow Serpent and their Myth-Science of the Gate Keepers project.
