I never learned how to be adequately black. I never learned how to be black at all.

I'm a sponge for historical images of black people and black history on film.

There was a manifesto in the late '60s/early '70s, and it basically laid out what 'black art' was and that it should embrace black history and black culture. There were all these rules - I was shocked, when I found it in a book, that it even existed, that it would demarcate these artists.

Once you open up the Pandora's box of race and gender... you're never done.

I was making big paintings with mythological themes. When I started painting black figures, the white professors were relieved, and the black students were like, 'She's on our side.' These are the kinds of issues that a white male artist just doesn't have to deal with.

I don't know how much I believe in redemptive stories, even though people want them and strive for them.