Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariyah Higgins.
Hi Mariyah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always had a love for visual art. As a child, it was my main interest in and out of school. After attempting to pursue visual arts through a magnet program in high school (2009) and being rejected, I stopped practicing for a long time until a few months after I had my daughter in 2018. I needed an outlet for depression. What began as an expressive outlet, grew into full passion. Teaching myself along the way, my most common subject has been depicting women of color against abstract and vibrant in color backgrounds with spiritual significance to my personal journey but relatable to most of my peers and others. Inspired by written and spoken word, my mother was heavily into poetry, when I was young so I believe that fuels my influence to incorporate words, lyrics and verbal ideas into my visual pieces. My work has been featured in numerous shows and exhibitions in Louisville, KY and surrounding cities like Roots 101, Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, LouRae Gallery, and The Historic Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center in Lexington. Apart from acrylic on canvas, my other mediums include modeling paste, clay and customizing shoes and clothes as wearable fashion has also become a passion of mine.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Pursuing art as a passion is never hard. Especially for those who create and appreciate it. We see it and engage in it every day in some way. For those that attempt to pursue it as a living, I do not believe it is hardly ever a smooth as we’d like because art is subjective. Finding those who appreciate or find significance in what you’ve manifested can be considered a challenge. For me personally, my obstacles have been finding community and resources to be a part of that support the endeavors and growth of the art industry and myself as an individual. Although those resources are there, you have to put in effort to seek out likewise community of people and interests and be intentional about building relationships with those who have similar goals. A more personal challenge I faced in the beginning is not seeing anyone wo was successful in doing what I was doing as a hobby or just personal leisure. Sometimes we doubt ourselves until we have evidence of what’s possible.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a painter and my main form of creating has been acrylic on stretched canvas work. Painting black women against backgrounds that are abstract, vibrant and most times include some form of natural element. I have been moving for some time now into the space adding texture and depth to my paintings using not only modeling paste and clay, but really anything I can touch and add onto the canvas. I like to make things you can feel by looking visually and physically. I’ve also began experimenting with clothing design, pairing and reworking my artwork onto hoodies, jackets, pants, etc. and customizing shoes. I’m most proud of my variety of ways I choose to create. I like that I let my work be moved by what I feel along with my growth in certain skill sets.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was very observant and soft spoken. The youngest of 3 kids, I preferred to listen and see more than talk and ask questions. I had a love for drawing and was heavily into reading. As I mentioned before, my mother was very into reading and writing poetry and music in our household, so I leaned a lot onto these things for leisure and escape. I didn’t grow up very privileged, and my mother and siblings and I moved from place to place often. I would have preferred to be in the shadows most of the time. Things that brought me out of my shell were joining groups in school like key club, step team track, anything I could do to stay active. My parents also kept me in church a lot of the time. I sung in the choir and was a part of numerous children’s groups. In my house, if you had any free time, it would be filled with being active in school or church.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Mari_yahtheartist
- Facebook: Mari’Yah Cheyanne
- TikTok: @Mari_Yahtheartist
