Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilNuméros2Trans'ArtsInterview with Harmonia Rosales

Texte intégral

Fig. 1: Harmonia Rosales

Fig. 1: Harmonia Rosales

Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales

1Born in Chicago in 1984 to a Cuban father and a Jamaican mother, Harmonia Rosales is now based in Los Angeles and works at the crossroads of Afro-Cuban mythology, Christian iconography, and European art history, reimagining classical compositions to center Black women and diasporic narratives.

2Largely self-taught, Rosales has mastered Renaissance and Baroque techniques, grounding a visionary practice that blends technical precision with mythic scope. By bringing together the languages of the Old Masters and the cosmologies of the African diaspora, she constructs an alternative visual canon in which divinity, creation, and beauty are recast through Black experience.

3Her Memorial to Enslaved Persons at King’s Chapel in Boston (2025) exemplifies her commitment to rewriting the visual and spiritual foundations of Western art. In her recent book The Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic (W.W. Norton, 2025), Rosales extends that vision into narrative form, offering a journey “back to who we are.” Her long-standing exploration of the Orishas – deities of the Yoruba tradition – embodies her belief in the power of myth and imagination to repair and re-envision collective memory.

Clémentine Tholas: Harmonia, can you give me more details about your artistic training and how you developed your practice?

Harmonia Rosales: Im actually self-taught. I did not attend art school but I did grow up with a mother who painted. She was a source of inspiration because she practiced oil painting and I sat under her art table. She allowed me to play with her little oil paints and that’s how I was exposed to art. Ever since I could remember, I always wanted to create. However, in my family, especially having a Cuban father who was all about education, art was not considered a career but a hobby. Eventually, I started my art career in my early 30s, after a divorce and being back home with my parents with two kids from whom I had to provide. At that time, I felt that everything was disrupted, and I had not painted in three years, but I was looking for a way to find happiness. I needed to find my voice through art and creativity and I went back to the Art Institute of Chicago with my daughter, who was seven at the time, to share with her these artworks that fascinated me when I was a child. I wanted to show her that looking at paintings shared similarities with storytelling and that you could find many stories in these masterpieces of the Renaissance I fell in love with. We were going from room to room, and I explained to her the very details of these figurative works and their intricacy of the hair flow, the layers of the skin and the veins and so forth. I was describing how beautiful Eurocentric beauty was and my daughter was extremely quiet. When I asked her if she did not like these paintings, she answered “They don’t look like me.” It was the simple realization of a seven-year-old and I became aware that I never asked myself these questions because I was fed with these images without questioning them. However, as a mother, I really wanted to take her somewhere in that museum where she could see her beautiful brown skin, but there was no such a room in the entire museum. Being unable to solve this problem for my child made me feel very small.

And I also started remembering how I conformed to what society was sculpting me out to be. For instance, by straightening my hair, I accepted to wear a mask of conformity. So suddenly, it came to me that the stories told in cultural institutions were based on erasure as they were fostering a dominant discourse. And as a consequence, I was erasing my own identity because it was not talked about or displayed. I therefore felt I had to paint a world where my daughter belonged. I told her “There are Gods and Goddesses that look just like you. During my childhood, I was told by my grandmother about the Orishas and other African gods.” Indeed, she has passed down to me an oral mythology, but the term is inadequate and I should say Afro-pantheology because millions of people still follow these beliefs. The African Diaspora holds its histories and spirituality within these stories which are all-encompassing. And it is kept alive through memory. I decided to paint these stories from a female lens and reframe the place of women in these mythologies where women are usually second tier to the male figures. I wanted to balance the scales and tell the stories of people who had been either erased or demonized. I decided to make them mainstream by reimaging them in connection with Renaissance works, Greek mythology and biblical stories.

Fig. 2: Harmonia Rosales, Eve & The Orishas, 2023

Fig. 2: Harmonia Rosales, Eve & The Orishas, 2023

Oil and 24k gold leaf on wood panel, 122 x 152 cm

Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales

  • 1 Harmonia Rosales, The Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic, New York W.W. Norton, 2025.

C.T.: Religious art is extremely present everywhere in Europe, in religious sites and in museums in general. Religious imagery forms part of a shared cultural unconscious, one largely shaped by visions that remain unwelcoming to non-European cultures. You’ve just published the book The Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic.1 It is quite a different experience from painting. Is it a way to materialize this oral legacy you inherited from your family? Does this book project make you an educator?

H.R.: The book happened all organically. It began with painting the tales that I remembered, and I started conducting research, but very quickly, the research part became more important than the painting part. As I accumulated material, I realized I wanted to fill the gap of these forgotten archives. I wanted Black youth to have access to this knowledge in school. I wanted to give a new perspective on the history of the diaspora because we are taught that our stories begin in chains, and we don’t see ourselves in divinity. Our brilliance is only tokenized. And if we don’t build a positive image, how are other people going to perceive us? I started thinking that we needed something like an overarching narrative, and I considered the story structure of Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a model. The overarching narrative I wanted to develop could be how these Black gods became masked and lost. My painting and my book are designed to make this easily understandable.

C.T.: The more I meet with artists, the more I understand that research is crucial in their practice and that they tend to be historians as well. Do you have the feeling that the writing experience also changed the way you are painting?

H.R.: No, I actually wrote in the same way I paint. Even though it’s very different, there is a feeling of overexposure when you write. However, as I previously explained I do things organically. I’m already orally telling these stories when I’m displaying my artwork. So I wanted to write as naturally as I talk. There was a storytelling tradition in my family already and I used this experience. This story is vast and integrates many layers which give you access to a deeper meaning. The book integrates multiple layers, just like my painting.

Fig. 3: Harmonia Rosales, Oranmiyan’s Legacy, 2024

Fig. 3: Harmonia Rosales, Oranmiyan’s Legacy, 2024

Oil and 24k gold leaf on wood panel 152 x 183 cm

Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales

C.T.: Who is your target readership? Adults or/ and children?

H.R.: Anyone. The book was designed for the diaspora to connect back to the roots. People from the diaspora are constantly being separated, caught up in the smoke and mirrors. Some are even scared to define themselves as African Americans and refuse to reclaim their African roots. Instead of struggling with labels (Black, African American, and so on), people from the diaspora should concentrate on actually fighting back more with intellect rather than aggression. It is crucial to putting our stories into the school system. I would love my book to be studied in K-12; I would probably have to write a different version, but the current one already works for some age ranges. My wish is to see these stories taught in schools, in high school or in college. Yet, it should be fascinating to just make any reader discover this is a Black mythology, which they have not experienced. My stories in my book are the odysseys being remade and it is also a way to offer a fresh perspective on our origins.

C.T.: Was it easy to find a publisher and convince people with the project?

  • 2 Unbound, in King’s Chapel in Boston, was inaugurated in September 2025. King’s Chapel devoted a web (...)

H.R.: It can be tricky to propose a project that is different from what you usually do because people project expectations on you. I am an independent artist, and I have created my own team because I want to be able to do things organically. If I want to sculpt and people question my ability to do it because this is not what I usually do, I want to be able to stand for myself and say “Yes, I sculpt.” I was actually able to produce the Unbound statue in Boston.2 With The Chronicles of Ori, I’m trying to integrate the stories of our African roots into the canon. I led research and interacted with academics, for instance, Helen Morales who specializes in the classics at UC Santa Barbara. At some point, I discussed my project with a very well-known publishing house that loved the project and worked with me for nine months to see if it should remain an individual project or a collective project. The drawback was that they don’t print images, and the book could not work without the images. They offed to have an illustrated cover, but it was not enough. The Gods across the Atlantic have become whitewashed and the images to be integrated in the book would re-equilibrate this vision and produce a book in which the diaspora would visually be brought back to its roots and not look Caucasian. So I started working with a literary agent who advised me to consider another publisher, W.W. Norton, who was interested in using the illustrations that I had created. Norton was previously committed to publish a book on the same subject but there was a lot of language barrier because the author was using a lot of African terms which were confusing for an English-speaking readership, and it was difficult for a mainstream audience to get into these stories. Norton really loved my concept because it can reach out to everybody, and they can understand it. It is important to convey the idea that the story told in my book is not a reinvention or a transformation but it’s going back to things that existed before. I am transforming the vision not transforming the history.

Fig. 4: Harmonia Rosales, Portrait of Eve, 2021

Fig. 4: Harmonia Rosales, Portrait of Eve, 2021

Oil and 24K gold leaf on wood Panel, 91 x 91 cm

Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales

C.T.: Can you tell me more about the statuary project you completed in Boston as it is very accessible to general public?

  • 3 Harmonia Rosales, Oya’s Betrayal, 2020. Oil paint on wood panel with iron oxide and 24k gold leaf, (...)

H.R.: I like my art in general to be accessible. Yet, as an artist I have to earn a living. Therefore, I have rules I want my collectors to follow: I don’t redo a painting at all or redo a story and if people purchase one of my artworks, they need to agree to let me use it for museum exhibitions, they need to allow the piece they buy to be displayed to the public. They have to agree that the piece will be away from their house for months at a time. I always keep museums display in mind. I don’t produce many pieces per year, there is a waiting list to purchase my work, and I prioritize museums. One of my greatest emotions was being acquired by the Smithsonian Institution even if Oya’s Betrayal (2020) is not constantly on display.3 Moreover, I don’t do any commission work unless it is public and aligns with my message.

At some point, I felt the desire to create sculptures, which was surprising to my team because my practice is based on painting, and I received an email from MASS Design telling me they were looking for artists for King’s Chapel in Boston. They wanted to create a memorial for the 219 enslaved individuals who helped build the church and who were part of the congregation. They thought of me because my visual aesthetic would work perfectly with the church and asked me to create a proposal. I saw this opportunity as my chance to do a sculpture. I was given free range and could do whatever I wanted. They sent me images of the church so that I could grasp the environment. I created a mock-up with a 3D version of the sculpture and a drawing for their ceiling which really inspired me due to its proportions. My husband was not convinced that I would be given permission to paint the ceiling of one of the oldest churches in Boston. I submitted two proposals: one for a statue and one for the ceiling and, instead of picking one, they selected both. After this validation, I did a maquette for them which they loved. During this project, I learned something about myself: I can sculpt faster than I can paint. So it was a learning process. I also visited the site to learn more about the particular story of the church and discover the place myself. So going there, sitting on the pews where these enslaved people were forced to sit without being able to communicate with the congregation made me understand how they felt. They had to sit on benches so short and uncomfortable that their knees were pressed right up against the front. Even if the church was beautiful, it was like being in a cage. That is how I started thinking of a gilded cage in which they were trapped like birds prevented from flying freely. I wanted to play with this concept. So the woman in the front is a 14-foot statue, the bronze statue of a Black woman dressed in historical attire, yet she is not represented as an enslaved person. She is free and appears to be a kind of matriarch of the diaspora. She is emptying out this last cage and, as the birds are flying, she’s talking to one of them which has flown out and is perched on top of the cage. She has this very stoic look, no head wrap and her natural hair is right out. She is talking to the bird which represents the diaspora, as if she was saying “I’m holding the weight of what happened here so you don’t have to carry it and you can use your wings to fly away.” For the ceiling, the idea was to rip the top off and create a sky with characters looking below, and communicating with everyone below, opening cages for 219 birds representing the 219 enslaved people. To create the statue, I worked with a foundry in Los Angeles, because I live and work there […] and it’s the big news. I first worked with a water-based clay because I had a tight deadline and then they cast it in bronze. I worked with a welder who did the skeleton, then I sculpted the piece. I wanted to work closely with the people from the foundry.

As the Chronicles of Ori book tour continues, I want to expand my practice to sculpture and installation into the larger exhibition that will accompany the book. Now that I have opened myself up to sculpture, I just wanted to keep going. I’ve been working on busts of the gods and creating masks, like a mask of Mary or Saint Peter, as part of an immersive installation. I’m working mainly with oil-based clay, which lets me add a lot of fine detail. Usually, I start from one of my paintings: I’ll take a portion of a figure and then sculpt it in three dimensions. The process feels very natural to me, almost easier than I expected. I plan to cast the pieces in bronze and experiment with surface textures, fabrics, and finishes. I’ve sculpted in wood before, and I’d love to work with stone or marble one day, but right now time is a real constraint. Clay is simply the fastest and most flexible medium for me. Once it’s cast, it still feels solid and precious, so it’s the best option for this stage of my practice. Recently I’ve also been exploring other materials, resin mixed with marble dust, because it behaves like marble but can be molded and polished.

C.T: Do you have any local project in the Los Angeles area?

  • 4 Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages, Getty Center, Los Angeles, January 27–April 1 (...)

H.R.: Yes, I am preparing a collaboration with the Getty Center in Los Angeles, for the exhibition “Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages” starting in January 2026.4 I actually applied to partake in a project about Virgin Mary and met with the Getty teams at my studio so that they could discover my work. Eventually, the Mary exhibition did not go through, but the museum board decided to work with me anyway for a project about Creation. My artworks are going to be presented in conversation with the pieces display for the exhibition at the Getty Center.

I also have another project in the South, which is linked to my concern to educate and share: I am creating a residency program to help younger artists. My team and I have been looking at large properties around Atlanta to create an incubator where self-taught artists, like myself, can develop their practice. It will be aimed at people who did not go to the prestigious art schools. I want to offer creative workshops and also offer units where people can benefit from longer stays.

C.T.: It reminds me of Titus Kaphar’s program in New Haven and the community of artists he created to support people who are not part of elite programs. Can you think of someone who really inspired you in your artistic development? An artist? A professor?

H.R.: Absolutely, my high school art teacher, Mr. Danielson! He was an artist and a teacher who took art very seriously and he was extremely strict. And I remember a lot of people did not like him because of that. I thought that his class was going to easy, but he was a tough person. I remember the first grade I got from him was a D. I told my mother that I did not want to go back there. She told me that I was probably not putting in the effort and that Mr. Danielson noticed it. She made me take the class again and warned me to listen to everything the teacher said and follow his rules. It was very difficult for me because I hated high school. But I took his class again, listened and cared this time and he gave me an A.  Not only did he give me an A, but he said “You know what, I’ve taught you everything I know. You have a talent, and I have a professor friend at the community college. I can write your recommendation so that you can take the rest of your classes over there to learn more about art”. The idea of working with a professor in a college environment was wonderful because it meant attaining freedom with art. So I think that Mr. Danielson was definitely the catalyst for my career, besides my mother. 

Fig. 5: Harmonia Rosales, Oshun Osogbo, 2023

Fig. 5: Harmonia Rosales, Oshun Osogbo, 2023

Oil, 24k gold leaf, and iron oxide on Wood Panel, 122 x 152 cm

Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales

Haut de page

Notes

1 Harmonia Rosales, The Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic, New York W.W. Norton, 2025.

2 Unbound, in King’s Chapel in Boston, was inaugurated in September 2025. King’s Chapel devoted a website to the project and the memorial: memorial.kings-chapel.org/about-the-memorial.

3 Harmonia Rosales, Oya’s Betrayal, 2020. Oil paint on wood panel with iron oxide and 24k gold leaf, 59.7 × 90.2 cm. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington. nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2021.66.

4 Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages, Getty Center, Los Angeles, January 27–April 19, 2026.

Haut de page

Table des illustrations

Titre Fig. 1: Harmonia Rosales
Crédits Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
URL http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/docannexe/image/27751/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 85k
Titre Fig. 2: Harmonia Rosales, Eve & The Orishas, 2023
Légende Oil and 24k gold leaf on wood panel, 122 x 152 cm
Crédits Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
URL http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/docannexe/image/27751/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 276k
Titre Fig. 3: Harmonia Rosales, Oranmiyan’s Legacy, 2024
Légende Oil and 24k gold leaf on wood panel 152 x 183 cm
Crédits Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
URL http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/docannexe/image/27751/img-3.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 184k
Titre Fig. 4: Harmonia Rosales, Portrait of Eve, 2021
Légende Oil and 24K gold leaf on wood Panel, 91 x 91 cm
Crédits Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
URL http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/docannexe/image/27751/img-4.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 103k
Titre Fig. 5: Harmonia Rosales, Oshun Osogbo, 2023
Légende Oil, 24k gold leaf, and iron oxide on Wood Panel, 122 x 152 cm
URL http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/docannexe/image/27751/img-5.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 235k
Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence électronique

Clémentine Tholas, « Interview with Harmonia Rosales »Transatlantica [En ligne], 2 | 2025, mis en ligne le 28 décembre 2025, consulté le 16 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/27751 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15i2g

Haut de page

Auteur

Clémentine Tholas

Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

Articles du même auteur

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont susceptibles d’être soumis à des autorisations d’usage spécifiques.

Haut de page
Search OpenEdition Search

You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search