Listen to Sade

This piece is both a personal homage and a cultural tribute. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, my mother and my uncle were devoted fans of Sade. Her voice floated through our home on quiet mornings and late nights, a soundtrack to everyday life. As a kid I did not fully understand it. The tempos felt slow. The lyrics felt grown. Years later I returned to those records as an adult and finally heard what they had been trying to show me. Grace. Restraint. Honesty. Sade became one of my favorite artists and this work is dedicated to my mother and my uncle, who have both passed on, but left me the gift of her music.

Talented, beautiful, and passionate, Sade embodies qualities we love in a woman and an artist. Her velvet tone and introspective writing have guided generations of lovers and thinkers. This artwork draws from the visual language of 1980s tour merchandise and features a reworked image of her likeness from 1988. On the lower left sleeve I placed a track listing from the album Stronger Than Pride, anchoring the piece in the era that first framed my earliest memories of her sound.

The design is clean and intentional. Minimal typography lets the portrait breathe. The palette nods to stage light and album print while the composition balances intimacy and icon. I wanted the viewer to feel both the closeness of a favorite song played in a living room and the magnitude of a legend who shaped global culture.

To extend the installation beyond the wall, I printed and hand sewed denim pillows that carry a simple directive. Listen to Sade. They invite you to sit with the work, to slow your pulse, to let the music and the memory do their quiet work. The denim grounds the piece in everyday material while the message turns the gallery into a listening room.

This is an homage to an artist who continues to define elegance and sincerity. It is also a thank you to the two people who pressed play in my childhood and set a frequency that still guides me. Music keeps time. Memory keeps meaning. This piece holds both.