This work is part of a collection titled the “Pineapple Metaphor: Expanding the Narrative.” It represents a celebration of turning pain into purpose. I tell stories as a way to heal and ignite intuitive power. My work peels back the layers of racial trauma, using art and the pineapple to navigate the core of our collective being. I seek to reclaim and honor narratives that have been silenced. This piece and the others in the collection invite audiences into conversations regarding mental health specifically in the Black community, exploring ways that people and communities have responded to trauma, surviving, and striving toward an excellent fruit, which in the end, happens to be themselves.