The Contemporary Art Modern Project's May exhibition: Postcards from The Artist with a group exhibition featuring works from: Laetitia Adam- Rabel , Milton Bowens  and  Olabode Tomisin.  Each of these artists creates work explaining their journeys through life and the art world brimming with lived experience, ancestral and historical experiences inherited. The history of an individual is deeply connected to the stories passed down, the experiences encountered and witnessed and the interpreter of all of the above. Identity is a condition constantly influx, due to not just the external world and its ever revolving revolt of both history and perception, but also due to time, and the experiences that come with time. The optimistic child full of imagination and dreams can often become the bogged down adult witnessing not only the loss of innocence in imagination, but also the burden of an imposed identity. What is left is a quagmire of opinions, voices, disagreements, all swarming to remove the identity one lives, the history one lives. Responding to this, these artists lay before the viewer both history lived and inherited, as evidence of how that history, that postcard from the moment effects the artist and becomes the inspiration behind the work. 

Join us in this Q&A as the artists delve into their respective experiences with the environment that surrounds them and its impact on their internal world. 

Milton Bowens. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner- Afro Classical, 2024. Mixed media on canvas. 18 x 14 inches.

This exhibition is titled “Postcards From the Artist” as a way to check in with where you are in your life and creative practice. What does this particular moment feel like for you, and how did it shape the works you chose to share or created for this exhibition?

LAETI ADAM-RABEL: The best word for me to describe this particular time in my life is “surreal”. The climate I was creating these pieces in, politically, relationally, and personally, was and continues to be one which required me to draw from inner strength of which I just didn’t have enough reserves. So, this time forced me to look outside myself and to become more spiritual and deepen and widen my relationship with the divine.

MILTON BOWENS: For me, this moment feels uniquely special because I was able to display some works from a few previous collections and some new pieces created just for this occasion and it feels good to see the connections between the pieces. It’s almost like the works are having a long conversation. 

OLOBODE TOMISIN: This exhibition has led me to showcasing large piece portraits and the intimate miniature pieces on the Identity series, each acting like a visual postcard of my evolving sense of self and interest in culture and community. Together they map out a journey of my roots and where I've been. ancestral memories, tribal markings, vibrant textiles, western influence and where I’m going, deeper into identity, color, and form.

Each of your works reflects on identity as a layered and deeply personal subject matter. In what ways has making this work helped you understand or reclaim parts of your identity that may have felt misunderstood, erased, or simplified by others?

LAR: In making these works, I began to see many patterns, toxic dynamics, that I had tolerated for many years, from people in different areas of my life. As I watched many memes, as inspiration for “Social Archetypes”, I began to realize that many issues that I had internalized and even adopted as my own, were actually reactions to other people’s unkind actions towards me. This unintentional therapy, which could be misconstrued as doomscrolling, was actually a lifeline that helped me say “enough!” and become bolder and unapologetic about my true, and whole identity.


MB: Since I choose to work with history as my primary subject matter,  all my work allows me to explore, express, and take deep dives into a wide variety of emotions and perspectives. I don’t really give much thought to how others who view my work might think I’m feeling, because it’s not about how I feel, it’s history. It’s about how does the truth make the viewer feel. I only paint the truth. 

OT:  I feel like this body of work has made me appreciate my culture even more thanks to the in depth research and ancestral stories I've been able to discover about tribal marks, its significance and the beauty that lies behind its creation. 

It has also helped me value my culture more and given me a reason to share with the world the beauty that lies in the little things we ignore and how Art serves as a tool to convey the message.

Art can serve as a protector of memory and resistance. What does it mean to you to make work that holds space for your personal story while also participating in larger histories, both in the current sociocultural context and within ancestral knowledge?

LAR: Making work that serves as a historical marker, personally and socially gives my work so much more meaning and validates me not just as an artist, but also as a human being and an archivist. Even though my works are small in stature, they feel big for holding so much space symbolically.

MB: To be honest I made a decision as an artist many years ago that I wanted to paint to educate and not just create works that would simply decorate. Although my work is very personal, my objective is to use my work to preserve my culture-the joys and pains-to bring visuals to our oral traditions and to document those achievements that some work overtime to erase and dismiss as insignificant. 

OT: Over the years, Art has been used to reflect stories, history, occurrences and it continues to amplify storytelling from an Artist’s point of view in various dimensions. It gives us the opportunity as creatives to carve a statement in our signature about how history can be depicted from the mind of the Artist. I always love the privilege of sharing work that preserves the culture and history behind telling our stories as Africans.

Laeti Adam-Rabel.  Social Archetype 3, 2025. Polystyrene print; Acrilic paint chips, embroidery floss, and recycled plastic on watercolor paper. 6 x 4 inches.

Your visual languages are rich with symbolism through your material choices. What materials or symbols did you intentionally choose to portray for this exhibition? And what stories or meanings do they carry for you? 

LAR: My works are mostly made with simple materials and this speaks to my cultural heritage. As an immigrant from a country, often mocked as the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, I am honoring my Haitian heritage by being resourceful. Haitians have a long history of making do with very little and making beautiful work from scarcity. In that vein, I often use repurposed materials or inexpensive ones in my work. However, having lived in the United States longer than I did in Haiti, I am also aware that I live in one of the richest countries, albeit not the most socially equitable. So in that light, I do throw in the gold leaf and other fine materials, such beads, and gold lamé fabric. Some of the works themselves bear witness to that dichotomy in their form, for example, the balance scale in “Poetic Justice” and the hot air balloon with a gold-plated plaster “brick” in lieu of a basket.


MB: I love this question because I use a lot of intentional symbols and objects in my work, especially my larger pieces, like the use of tally marks (the oldest method of recording or keeping track of time) and train tracks (suggesting the journey the work is taking the viewer on). The use of 5 and 10 embedded into my work, the ropes that run across the tops of certain pieces, or the crowns that adorn chosen icons-it all has meaning. At first glance, a lot of the objects and symbols may seem random in nature, but it’s all very calculated and layered with meaning. 

OT: Having done my research on African culture and fashion, I decided to tell stories on my cultural background (Yoruba culture) about a particular subject which is tribal scarifications and what they signify. I also merged fashion with it in order to portray our African textiles as a symbol of creativity alongside western cultural trends, seeing that the world is now a global village and everyone is embracing fashion trends from all over. It became a great combination for me to tell stories about my culture and showcase to the world how our Culture mixes with the world and how impactful each culture can influence another. It simply means that we’re all meant to complement each other in various forms.

How do you balance beauty and vulnerability in your work? Is there power for you in inviting viewers into something that might be tender or difficult?

LAR: I think people are most beautiful when we are vulnerable and I definitely think that allowing viewers to peek in at my vulnerability gives me power. I am in control when I allow someone into what would otherwise be an intimate moment. It’s not about voyeurism, but rather about an invitation into my humanity.

MB: For me, it’s all about trusting truth and honesty. I don’t paint my opinion, I paint historical facts and facts can be stubborn things for some viewers of my work. Thelonious Monk once said about his music that it was “ugly beauty” every note you hear won’t be pretty, but the whole composition will be beautiful. 

OT: I use vibrant colors and stylized form to draw viewers in. The tribal marks usually are a means to kickstart the conversation and expressions to tell stories and reveal vulnerability. That tension between the eye catching beauty and the quiet curiosity, sometimes fragile emotions, creates space for empathy. Inviting people into those moments is powerful. It reminds us that strength and sensitivity coexist, and that being seen in our vulnerability can be its own act of resilience.

Olabode tomisin. Code of indentity 2, 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 60 x 48 in.

As Black artists from different cultural backgrounds, how do you stay grounded in your roots while navigating the evolving context of contemporary art? How do your roots guide your innovation?

LAR: My Caribbean roots inform my use of materials and my use of symbolism. However, my works are a complete departure from traditional Haitian art.

MB: I’ve come to truly appreciate the choice I made to deal with history as my primary subject matter because it allows me to visit with my ancestors daily. I’m blessed with having some of the greatest minds, talents, and mentors of all time guiding me and my creative practice, it’s an amazing feeling. As far as navigating the contemporary world or market, I believe there’s nothing more powerful than a great story. I pride myself on being a great storyteller. Collectors aren’t collecting Warhol simply because they love Campbell’s Soup, they are collecting the story Warhol created by painting those soup cans. 
 

I paint powerful stories and someday the contemporary art world will get them or maybe they won’t, but it doesn’t make the stories I’m painting any less compelling, interesting and beautiful. 

OT: I think it’s purely about being more intentional while researching as an artist. Always ask yourself the tough questions? How can I improve myself, my work? Where do I go next? How do I evolve as an Artist? When you look back at the work you did years ago and see how much you’ve grown from that point? That way you have start to have a clear vision of where to thread next.

I believe that every artist has a story to tell, for me as a Black Artist, I weave my stories around the beauty within my culture and how it inspires positivity and confidence within our society at large.

So much of this show is about being seen. What’s one thing you hope viewers truly see when standing in front of your work?

LAR: I hope viewers are faced with our similarities, across color spectrums, rather than our differences. Scientifically, we are more similar across so called racial groups than we are similar within these groups. I hope people see themselves in my work.

MB: The Beauty of Truth, “Black Is Beautiful”.

OT: I hope that viewers are able to see beyond the colours, I hope they see the stories behind the characters, their individual and collective confidence, their beauty and their journey.

If you could send a postcard from this very moment in your life to your younger self or to the next generation of artists, what would it say?

LAR: A postcard to my younger self would say “The struggles will all be worth it. Keep going!”




MB: You don’t have to have it all figured out right now… I've never seen a statue of an art critic erected in front of a museum! Keep working till it feels good to you. 

OT: It would say “never give up, never stop trying…if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough”.

Artist Specific Questions:

Laeti Adam-Rabel

Laetitia Adam- Rabel. Milk Bath, 2024. Polymer Clay, Synthetic Hair, Plaster, Gold Lead and Acrylic Paint. 11 x 3 x 4 IN.

Your pieces feel deeply tied to transformation. As someone whose practice shifts between different mediums and emotions, what did it feel like to slow down and speak from exactly where you are now? And what did this exhibition allow you to honor in yourself?

LAR: That is a very perceptive question, as I believe I am going through an intense state of metamorphosis with a steep learning curve. And yes, I had to slow down and pause for hours and weeks and months, to create these pieces. This process allowed me to learn to be patient with myself as I was going through so many things, I had no choice but to create at a slower pace than usual. But I learned that I can stay the course and not lose interest if a work takes longer than I would like. 

Milton Bowens

Milton Bowens, "Etta - All Blues Ain't Blue," 2025. Mixed Media on canvas. 14 x 11 in. 

Your work layers text, color, and history in ways that feel both immediate and timeless. When you say, “The only way I know how to protect Black history is to continue to make it,” is there any particular moment or memory from your own life that you are fiercely  protecting? 

MB: My right to exist as an unapologetic BLACK ARTIST.

Olabode Tomisin

Oluwatomisin Olabode. Fragments of Identity 1, 2025. Acrylic on strawboard. 7 1/2 × 7 1/2 in.

Your portraits blend traditional elements with vibrant modernity, speaking powerfully to a layered sense of self. In your series Fragments of Identity, what part of your identity felt most boldly explored?

OT: In this series, the most boldly explored facet was my ancestral voice. Specifically on how our cultural tribal marks and textile motifs carry stories of resilience, memory, and belonging. So by abstracting these traditional symbols in a contemporary, vibrant context, I reclaimed the power of my lineage and invited viewers into that dialogue between past and present.