Dawn Okoro: Capturing Life's Fantasies

"Animadversion"

"Oil and Acrylic on Canvas"

Rarely do women artists come along who capture our fantasies or gain our attention in the way the Dawn Okoro has. It doesn't matter if it's the bold strokes on a canvas or pen and ink to paper, Dawn is quickly becoming a force and a legend in her own right with her extensive collection of sculptures, paintings and photography.

Dawn has shown several collections of her work at several of the worlds most prestigious galleries in which her work has been extensively dissected, debated and discussed in the press, yet she remains one of the art worlds rising stars. Okoro injects her own personal history and the daily lives of women into each piece that she creates, thus giving the viewer a miniature peek at our lives and lifestyles.

Artist, Dawn Okoro

My blog is dedicated to "The Afro and All of it's Magnificent Glory" and Dawn has a wealth of beautiful prints that I could feature here on a daily basis.  When we think of our beauty we should bask in the delight of self-love which is a personal affirmation of self-worth that we all must embrace, caress and protect, not the definitions that others have of us, and Dawn Okoro's paintings validates our inherit beauty in our own imagery.

People often tell us to pursue the things we love doing and to do them so well no one can take their eyes off us and we'll be rewarded accordingly and Dawn Okoro is doing just that, creating paintings that are so beautiful patrons can't take their eyes off of them. To learn more about this artist click on the link.
To purchase her work, click on the link.

Need To Hear: Esperanza Spalding's "Chamber Music Society" and Les Nubians' "Nü Revolution"

"The Cover of Esperanza Spaldings New CD"

New Music! New Music! There's nothing like new music especially when it comes from some of our favorites. My music life will be complete if Lauryn Hills drops a new album within the coming months, but I will definately be checking out new music by these three women.

First up is the beautiful and talented bassist Esperanza Spalding serving it to us Jazz lovers in a way that only she can. With a voice that serenades the listener in a multi-lingual lyrical display of Portuguese and English, Esperanza has what it takes to transcend generations and cross cultural barriers with her music alone. Chamber Music Society will be available for sale on August 17, 2010. To hear samples, click on the link.


Listen to their reasons for creating the new music for "Nü Revolution."

The singing group, Les Nubians which consist of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart will bless us with new music titled "Nü Revolution" which will be released in September 2010. If you remember their international hit, "Makeda" then you know the duo never disappoints with their jazzy, and sophisticated style of R&B that is combined with both French and Cameroonian lyrics. Personally, when it comes to A cappella, no one does A cappella better than Les Nubians and En Vogue. Check out their website for new updates.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

Talk about a treat first we have a new song by Lauryn Hill titled "Repercussions" that somehow surfaces on the web and now Afripop Magazine has video of her performing in Rwanda talk about excitement. It's a clear indication that Lauryn's fans are patiently waiting for new music. I know I am! Thanks to those wonderful 'Afropolitans' over at Afripop Magazine for the link.

Check out the videos of her at the country's 7Th annual Pan-African Dance and Music Festival (FESPAD).

I'm Back!!!

So much has happened while I was gone. Let's see Mel (Mad Max) Gibson was secretly recorded by his former love muffin and some people got angry about it. Hm-mm, would we have known any of this had she not recorded it to seek revenge? Would it have mattered if he was not well known? Who cares because I don't, I don't answer to the N-word so he wasn't talking to me or about me.

I sneaked on my daughters computer from time to time because she brought her own and our hotels had great Wi-Fi. My "Crackberry" kept me connected to Twitter which I like again, until the people I've chosen to follow start with the ignorance.

Miss Chilli of TLC.

Lifestyle Guru and Event Planner, David Tutera.

The Essence Music Festival rocked and so did Miss Janet Jackson...Miss Jackson was too much! I've been going for the past nine years and still could not hit all of the events in the city that went on. I wanted to go to the Carols Daughter events , but would have died from heat stroke because the lines were long and in that heat we would have died. It was hotter than hell, but I'm use to the heat and humidity.

Montreux Jazz Festival blew the city off the charts with their phenomenal line up as usual. And to top it off we still didn't make it to New York. My girls have a trip planed for April to see their father and I hope to fly with them to visit the city and see if I like it enough to live there.

Scenes from the recent Dakar Fashion week.


   Models wearing the designs of Martinique born designer,
   Paul Hervé.

Next up, Fashion Weeks galore! I don't plan on buying any Haute Couture (unless I make my own) any time soon, but Africa Fashion Week in NY rocked and so did Senegal Fashion Week in Dakar. Dakar Fashion Week took place from July 13 to 20, the event featured African artists who wowed the crowd with their vivid colors and innovative designs. Who needs VOGUE to tell them what's fashionable or not? Africa doesn't need them!The great Canadian photographer Finbarr O'Reilly captured this prestigious event .


How was your Summer so far?  I want to thank all new readers while I was away for befriending the Blog.  Merci beaucoup!