Shaniqwa Porter is this week's guest on "Meet the Artist." Porter's use of bright primary colors, screams for your attention and her dripping pastels and earth tones, keep you engaged with the canvas.

Porter, born and raised in Rockford, is inspired by female empowerment and dedicated to self-love and self-reflection.

She is an only child of a single mother. She drew early inspirations from her mom, aunt and grandmother. She dabbled in early works doodling on papers and bedazzling kids’ shoes.

“I just paint from my experience and what I come from and how I view the world, which is from a black woman’s standpoint,” Porter said.

Porter began painting two years ago during a period of depression. She turned on some music one night and painted the figure of a woman.

Her work is mostly bold portraits of strong and proud figures. Her body of work brings to mind the surrealism of Salvador Dali, the female strength and inner struggles of Frida Kahlo, and the pop portraiture of Kehinde Wiley.

Porter’s previous shows include the Vibe Life Expo at Rivets Stadium in Loves Park in May 2019.

Shaniqwa visited the Register Star newsroom two weeks ago for this podcast.

More information
Rockford Register Star: www.rrstar.com
Host and producer: Scott P. Yates; 815-987-1348; syates@rrstar.com; @scottpyates
Shaniqwa Porter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callmesalsa
Background music:
From https://filmmusic.io:
"Dream Catcher" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)