Trans Forming Liberty, 2024

Arewà Basit: My name is Arewà Basit. I am so honored to be a muse of Amy Sherald's.

When I see this, I see all of the years being told that I had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And when I found the truest meaning of what that pledge is, I see this version of Lady Liberty. And it's really just a lady who is empowered, empowering, and represents the fullness of what liberty and justice could give and what it can mean.

It's really, really wild, because I model. I'm a singer, I'm an artist, and so I'm very comfortable being in front of audiences and performing and to be completely honest, when I see this image, I see myself, I truly see myself, which is remarkable. What I'm seeing and feeling in this that I think excites me and makes me want to celebrate myself being perceived in this way is a pride. A full pride and acceptance of oneself.

And there are some moments where I think the world tries to tell us that being proud is a negative thing. Whether that be because of legislation, or the administration or other social systems that will try to tell me that I shouldn't be proud of who I am, I can always look back to this image and be reminded that the lack of pride will never serve me like the pride serves me.