Harmonia Rosales: Artist Talk and Book Signing in Conversation with Adama Delphine Fawundu

Join us for a celebration of the debut book from renowned American artist Harmonia Rosales – Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic.

In this stunning literary and visual work, Rosales reimagines the West African myths of her childhood, presenting the ancient stories of the Orishas in a powerful new format. Traditionally passed down through oral storytelling, these rich tales are now brought to life in a narrative structure that blends ancestral wisdom with Rosales’s artistic vision.

A modern retelling of Yoruba cosmology, Chronicles of Ori expands themes of creation, struggle, and transformation. The book draws profound connections between African folklore and global religious traditions, offering readers a culturally rooted and globally resonant journey. Rosales’s work is as visually arresting as it is narratively compelling.

Whether you are a lover of mythology, a student of African diasporic traditions, or a fan of Harmonia Rosales’s artwork, this event is not to be missed!

Image credit: Book cover featuring Portrait of Eve, Harmonia Rosales, 2021, Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales.

Harmonia Rosales is a Chicago-born Afro-Cuban American artist whose work reimagines Western art through the lens of Black female empowerment and African mythology. Inspired by a childhood visit to the Art Institute of Chicago and later, her daughter's realization that Renaissance figures lacked representation of people who look like them, Rosales began using Renaissance and Baroque styles to highlight Black protagonists and West African deities known as Orishas.

Since 2017, her art has challenged Eurocentric ideals of beauty and power, while honoring the enduring spirit of the Yoruba religion through the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. In her stunning debut book, Chronicles of Ori, Rosales retells African myths in a sweeping narrative that spans from creation to colonialism, woven with parables, resistance, and destiny. Vividly brought to life by her artwork, Chronicles of Ori is a powerful debut that will enlighten and inspire readers for years to come.

Adama Delphine Fawundu is a Brooklyn-based visual artist of Mende, Bubi, and Krim ancestry. Her practice engages themes of ancestral technology, intelligence, memory, and radical imagination. She has exhibited internationally, including at the 36th São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, the Congo Biennial (2025), and the inaugural Malta Biennial (2024). Her current solo exhibition is on view at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (September 13, 2025 - June 14, 2026). Fawundu is the co-author of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.

She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, CatchLight Fellowship, Anonymous Was A Woman Award, and the Rema Hort Mann Artist Grant. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, Bryn Mawr College, Norton Museum of Art, and the David C. Driskell Center. She is also an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University.

Photo credit: Amal Buford