MutShat Shemsut lives and creates in the Bronx, NY. She began her visual artistry with quilts, as a member of the Harlem Girls Quilting Circle. Her work has been featured at the Frank H. William Caribbean Cultural Center, the Cork Gallery, Avery Fisher Hall; the Countee Cullen Library and other venues in and around Harlem. Her quilt, Fourth Dimension, was one of the Harlem Girls Quilting Circle pieces featured in The Quilter Magazine (March 2006).
Today, as a mixed-media artist, she primarily uses, acrylic paints, white and black ink, gemstones, fabric, shells and ephemera on canvas. MutShat also likes to upcycle items such as the netted bags fruit comes in and plastic bottle tops. She is known to add machine and hand-sewn elements to canvas. Her spirituality, connection to the earth and to the cosmos informs a body of work that reflects her role as a Kemetic energy medicine healer and teacher, level 2 Kundalini Yoga teacher and foot reflexology practitioner catering to underserved communities. She facilitates SacredArt and yoga workshops as well as art workshops that incorporate meditation and writing—she earned a Master of Science in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Afro-American studies at Boston University.
Artist Statement: I love creating art that gives off a certain vibration, an uplifting vibration. I do this with a foundation of paper strips containing words that affirm and elevate while also serving as substrate, strengthening the canvas. My use of color speaks to specific energy centers within and around the human body. The gemstones, beautiful on their own, also serve that purpose. Inspiration comes from the world of spirit and my practice and my desire to assist individuals on their spiritual path. You will see peeks into the vastness of space in my work, as I am a big fan of science fiction and fact. I think of Samuel R. Delany’s Dalgren and Octavia Butler’s work and the speculative fiction of Dark Matter. I close my eyes and see the stars and planets and I am in awe of the fact that the cosmos is within us all and that we can vibrate it. It is a subtheme that runs through a lot of my work.

MutShat Shemsut-Gianprem Kaur
Inlightart108@gmail.com