Afro-Cuban American artist Harmonia Rosales is among those seeking to radically change this centering of Western ideologies as standard. A selection of her work in this vein is currently on display in the exhibition “Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative” at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta. (A version of the exhibition was first shown last year at the AD&A Museum at the University of California, Santa-Barbara.)

On August 18, Afro-Cuban artist Harmonia Rosales opened her Master Narrative exhibition in Atlanta. Held at the iconic Spelman Museum of Fine Art, her work connects the stories and characters of the Yorùbá religion, Greco-Roman mythology, and Christianity with the artistic techniques of the Renaissance era. The Los Angeles-based painter spoke with ESSENCE about her new exhibition, the bridge between religion and her art, why she creates in the style of European Old Masters, and more.

Andrews has long considered the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art as a place where “you can go see a solo exhibition of an artist perhaps who has not gotten her due with history until that exhibition, or an artist who is just about to blow up in the art world,” she said. In 2018, Deborah Roberts had a solo show there, while Afro-Cuban artist Harmonia Rosales’s traveling solo show will open at the museum on August 18.

Thursday, Aug. 17 was opening night for the latest exhibition at the Spelman Museum of Fine Art, “Master Narrative” by artist Harmonia Rosales. The collection presents a reimagination of traditional icon paintings, infusing them with the rich imagery of Yoruba/Ifa culture and religion. I am lucky to know that I can trace my ancestry back to Yorubaland and am a Ifa practitioner. Ifa is a faith system with roots in Yorubaland.

The word “renaissance” this year has seen quite a — well, renaissance, thanks to Queen Bey. But it’s nothing new for one Los Angeles-based artist for whom Renaissance-era art is a muse. Rich brown skin covers the bodies in Harmonia Rosales’ stunning Master Narrative, a traveling exhibit at the Spelman College Museum of Fine art last August through November. A re-imagining of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and an ode to the Yorùbá gods of West African spiritual traditions, it’s a reflection of her own journey to self-love as an Afro-Cuban woman. With its centering of Eve as an ancestral collective, it also reflects the resilience of those traditions — once lost in and muddied by Atlantic waters, now retrieved by innate recollection and, ultimately, one’s understanding of the God within.

History is embedded in the thick stone walls of King’s Chapel, founded in 1686 as the first Anglican congregation in New England and later as the first Unitarian Christian church in the United States. For more than 300 years, that story included its share of devout ministers, wealthy benefactors, and famous parishioners from Boston’s past. Now, the story is expanding…

The Unitarian congregation that still worships in the chapel has approved the installation of a memorial project that will transform the old stone building with painting and sculpture, and create a “living” fund to extend the congregation's reach further into underserved communities of Boston. Harmonia Rosales, an Afro-Cuban artist who was selected to create the memorial, tells a similar story. In a video of the proposed memorial produced by MASS Design Group, Rosales says she was a classically trained painter who loved museums — until her five-year-old daughter pointed out that she was not depicted in those paintings…

Now on exhibit at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, the large 2017 painting "The Birth of Oshun" depicts a beguiling Black woman perched atop a large scalloped shell that appears to have risen from the sea. She is flanked by what appear to be similarly otherworldly men and women, floating among peacock feathers and flower-patterned fabric...

An exhibition of detailed and luminously colored paintings in the Renaissance style that has “taken the art world by storm” is now on display at the Brooks...

Exclusive to Vogue Scandinavia, created by artist Harmonia Rosales and director Jonas Bang, Birth of Oshun elaborates on the question that is core to Rosales' works: 'Why have we accepted Eurocentric perceptions of beauty and historical narratives for so long?'...

For religious Christians, Christmas is all about Jesus Christ. But his mother Mary was busy, too, giving birth. Over the centuries, Mary became one of the most popular figures of Christendom. Yet she appears in only a handful of pages in the Gospels. Visualizing the Virgin Mary...

The Brooks' latest exhibit, Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative, has received national attention and is a must-see. Afterward, plan to attend the upcoming talk with Dr. Roberto Strongman, who will discuss how Rosales’ work creates a relationship between acculturation and deculturation when combining classical European portraiture with Black mythologies...

Vessels. Vessels used to carry. Vessels used to conceal. Vessels fascinate Harmonia Rosales (b. Chicago, 1984). Ships brought enslaved Africans to the Americas. The ships were vessels. The enslaved carried their religion along, quickly learning to hide it in order to protect themselves...