Abayomi’s first journey to Africa led her to Dakar, Senegal, and onward to Gorée Island, a place where tourists gathered to capture its beauty, bathed in soft hues of pink, blue, and yellow. Yet no amount of color could conceal the painful legacy embedded in the island’s history: the last sights, sounds, and sensations experienced by enslaved people before being forced away from home. Standing at the Door of No Return, Abayomi felt an overwhelming sadness, imagining that some of her ancestors who may have passed through were torn from their families, stripped of their names, and cast into an ocean of uncertainty.

For her, the doors of Gorée became portals of memory, embodying the violent severing of African people from their land, language, and lineage, while also standing as a site of resistance against colonial rule and slavery. Stepping onto the island’s shores inspired her to explore the yearning for belonging, for learning histories, and for preserving cultural identity. This experience affirmed her commitment to creating art that speaks to loss, memory, and the possibilities for healing that emerge when we look back in order to move forward.