AUGUST 2026: Keenashae Pennicooke

Aldrin Badiola

— 3 min read
Share
"...the more I think I know something, it gets more complex and unknowable. Human minds cannot understand the mystique of infinity. We can only keep looking at it from one small perspective at a time."

For August's Maryland Artist of the Month, Artists from Maryland is featuring Keenashae Pennicooke! Below, you will find her art, and her artist's statement.

Keenashae Pennicooke draws from nature and source. She will take you on a journey, wherever your heart desires, wherever your mental treasures can buy.

Honest in my unknowing, Spirit Matters

This is my peace piece, “Honest in my unknowing, Spirit Matters.” It reflects my own spiritual journey with finding and creating a sense of self, and by extension, discovering the world around me. At the very top of the piece is an alien creature representing Terra Mater (the Greek personification of earth) overlooking land and water, but looking into you as well. On her face is a bird, a dove spread out; I thought of the power of speech and flight. A mouth with a tongue made of green leaves showing my own mythologized version of my ancestors and their connection to the natural world around them through eating light. This mixed media piece is a traveling journey across one's consciousness with a clear message and reminder of transcendent love. In the center, the heart of the piece, is an open book with the plain message to wake up to the true nature of our souls. I stood alone in a sea of beings and felt the world turn beneath me. I am a fugitive in this universe trapped in a cycle of life and death with a legion of beings, I have taken my pilgrimage and I am still making meanings and seeking signs.
This is my peace piece, “Honest in my unknowing, Spirit Matters.” It reflects my own spiritual journey with finding and creating a sense of self, and by extension, discovering the world around me. At the very top of the piece is an alien creature representing Terra Mater (the Greek personification of earth) overlooking land and water, but looking into you as well. On her face is a bird, a dove spread out; I thought of the power of speech and flight. A mouth with a tongue made of green leaves showing my own mythologized version of my ancestors and their connection to the natural world around them through eating light. This mixed media piece is a traveling journey across one's consciousness with a clear message and reminder of transcendent love. In the center, the heart of the piece, is an open book with the plain message to wake up to the true nature of our souls. I stood alone in a sea of beings and felt the world turn beneath me. I am a fugitive in this universe trapped in a cycle of life and death with a legion of beings, I have taken my pilgrimage and I am still making meanings and seeking signs.

//

The piece was done so long ago that I can't exactly pinpoint what I was feeling when creating it; I made so many mistakes in the process I was sure that I would never let "Spirit Matters" see the light of day. But things change, and now I'm looking to really connect with those who appreciate my art.

The piece is very personal and was meant to be the doodle for another project I'm working on called Cosmogenesis. I wanted to explore the beginning of the conceivable universe, if there is such a thing as ‘the beginning’ through mythological, cosmological and ecological perspectives. I started first with the seed, and tried to have it look like the seed that unfurls in the ground, within the deep dark soil of Terra Mater. I have a mouth with a tongue made of leaves, symbolizing my own journey into eating light, reflecting my ancestors (plants). The being that shapes into land and water is an alien figure/spirit that looks over us all; it is as much foreign to the piece as it is at home. I urge everyone who witnesses this work to embody their truest being and awaken. As the piece says: "what they have made you is not who you are," "you are your own savior". Spirit matters more than anything. This work emerged entirely from my own vision of love. Everyone has a connection to the spiritual; though many are not aware of their own soul—their guiding force throughout this realm. To be aware is to live in the attempt of hope in a seemingly collapsing world. When I look around I see a deeply profound disconnect between people and the land with people and the water, with people and their food and tongue. I understand everything in life isn't a matter of choice. In this surreal world, I paint an image of what I see, of the magic and spirit I witness on the day-to-day.

"Spirit Matters" is about submission to the universe: I do not know everything and I let it go. In fact, the more I think I know something, it gets more complex and unknowable. Human minds cannot understand the mystique of infinity. We can only keep looking at it from one small perspective at a time. It’s okay not knowing—may we seek meaning within each other, and create understanding. I explored the intersection of sacred bodies/beings through the feminine. My objective was to make something that stays and lingers in the depths of one's perception of life and living.

In my art, I replicate memories and dreams that are altars to cosmic and terrestrial growth. When people see my art, I want them to remember a distant dream. Eternity lives in spirit; this piece shows that our bodies and the land are portals. Through a simple seed, we can rise above and touch the infinite reflections of ourselves; we can eat stars in liminal spaces, across boundaries of time and even culture. We are never separate from earth, from our environment, from the animals, we belong to them as much as they belong to us.