Renée Stout encourages empowerment, spiritual healing, and self-examination (for you and herself) in works like this self-portrait, in which she appears amid symbols of Kongolese culture and beliefs. The nkisi figure on the left holds spiritually charged materials; the numeric patterns relate to numerology, the idea that numbers have meaning and power; the mask is used in the practice of Voodoo, an often misunderstood religion. They all play a strong role in the culture of African descendants in New Orleans and Haiti.
