Tears of Elikia by Ghislaine Sabiti

Tears of Elikia, ink, oil on deconstructed canvas, 8×62 inches, 2023

Through the braiding and deconstructed canvas Sabiti is talking about the life of a community, friendship and transformation. Elikia means in lingala hope, so it is Tears of Hope. What life teaches us every day. The students in the IRISE show her how resilient they are and no matter what you are going through life you may have tears, tears of hope, tears of pain, tears of courage, tears of faith, tears of strength, tears of incertitude. Therefore, you are always moving to a new path. No matter what has happened to you in the past or what is going on in your life right now, it has no power to keep you from having an amazingly good future.

Ghislaine Sabiti is a French-American Congolese-born artist and teacher who is currently based in New York. Raised on the outskirts of Paris, France, Sabiti studied fine art at Atelier Chantier du Coq, and graduated with honors studying fashion design at Atelier Chardon Savard in Paris. In her work, she focuses on the technical form used in both African and European arts, in which stresses both form and color. Being an award winning artist, Sabiti’s work has been exhibited and commissioned internationally throughout all of France and the U.S. within multiple galleries and art museums.