I am because we are/ Mama’s Day E-card (2016)

Melanie Cervantes
12″ x 12″ digital graphic, Mama’s Day e-card I created for the 2016 Strong Families project, March 2016

This piece celebrates Karissa Lewis. Karissa is the Director of Programs for the Center for Third World Organizing and is active in the #blacklivesmatter Bay Area Chapter as well as tending to a beautiful urban farm in East Oakland which she cares for with her partner and daughter. Karissa and her daughter Kyla, who is a young activist as well, have beautiful, fun and joyful relationship and this year I want to celebrate the light and love I see between them. I include the Nguni Bantu term of Ubuntu, translated into English, here because I feel it reflects their dynamic interdependent relationship.