Eleisha Faith & Tonisha Hope McCorkle: Twin Magic
Baltimore-based twins Eleisha Faith McCorkle and Tonisha Hope McCorkle create work together that speaks to the candid, yet uncanny truth of black life, while simultaneously severing from a cyclical narrative deeply rooted in pain and disenfranchisement.
How did your creative journey begin?
Our creative journey began in the kitchen when we were just eight years old. It was our first form of collaboration, we worked together on dinners, catered spreads, and created new recipes. During this point of our childhood, we were living in a single-parent household, our mother was disabled, and she passed her culinary skills as a former caterer down to us. We were able to express ourselves, our souls, and our family’s history through our cooking.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
We find inspiration in our lives and the elements that raised and made us. Soul food, nature, our hair, and other black rituals are very important to our practice. It’s a spiritual process really, being informed by the things that feed and nourish us inspires us to produce work that reflects our lives. Our journeys are also a source of inspiration, we tend to do research on our own lives and engage with what has or needs to be healed and channel that through our work. Our biggest passion is telling our stories, black stories, and healing by example in order to share some light and uplift our people.
How has your work evolved over the last few years?
We have been creating art for over a decade, it first began separately, with Hope finding a home in painting and ceramics and Faith going into printmaking, drawing, and digital media. We created our own work this way for a while, and it wasn’t until we were in our last year at NYU that we decided to form our collective, collaborating on scrolls using collage to tell stories together. We realized that we were saying similar things in different mediums and as we came together, the work and stories grew beyond our control. It was destined to happen.
What does a typical day in the studio look like for you, and how has your art practice grown or changed?
A typical day in the studio starts with self-care and setting the environment! We have separate studios now, but our routines are pretty similar. Lighting incense, praying, meditating, stretching, playing inspiring tunes, and dancing around. We usually brainstorm separately then come together and decide on a piece to begin. There’s usually a lot of play and food involved as well. We also acknowledge that rest is very important, so our pieces will be complete when our energy is replenished (naps are essential!) The practice has grown from us feeling as though we have to “finish” our work like it’s an assignment, to have our pieces speak for themselves by letting us know when the message is clear and the story is complete.
Which experiences have impacted your work as an artist?
All of them really. Our work is informed by our beings and what we’ve seen and experienced. At 17, we lost our mother to the rare lung condition of Sarcoidosis. Witnessing her strength and resilience as a single parent going through so much on her own empowered us and our journeys to keep going. We honor the black mother and archetype in our work and heal our grief and loss. Our mother told us to never stop sharing our stories. She gave us the names Hope and Faith and the rest is history.
Forming our collective in 2020, we were heavily affected by the repeated narrative of Black bodies being negatively depicted in the media. Our work serves as reminders that we are of light, love, power, and spirit. We work to share stories of resilience and strength, with vibrant hues and symbolic imagery. We heal by example and in healing our beings, it shows in our work and we work to heal others.
How has social media impacted your art career?
Honestly, it’s been hard to keep up with all the things to do as artists- creating the work, remembering to post, replying to people, etc., on top of the other things we have to do throughout the day. We are very hermit-like and are juuust beginning to get the hang of the flow of it. Regardless, creating pages for our collective on social media has helped us share our work with the world and we have gotten so much support! We have connected with people all over and have received commissions and plenty of opportunities through social media. It’s also been an awesome network to support and share other black creatives and happenings.
What are your future goals and aspirations?
Our collective mission is to uplift and engage with all who encounter our work. We hope you leave with a little more magic after experiencing our stories. Career-wise, Hope is working towards becoming an Art Therapist, aiming to integrate her knowledge of psychology and experience with the arts to promote healing in ourselves, the youth, and our communities. She is currently an overnight chat specialist for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, saving lives and helping those in need of mental health first aid. Faith is working towards becoming an Independent Curator and Program Coordinator for galleries and museums, creating access and interactive experiences for black stories and workshops centered around grief, spirit, and power to thrive.
We are both youth art instructors who are still learning new things! Hope is studying more about the mind, early childhood behaviors, oil painting, movement therapy, and Faith learning music production, performance, and crocheting. We aspire to continue healing, learning, and growing so that we may continue sharing our light and giving back to our community.
Website: www.hopeandfaith.art
Instagram: @hopeandfaith.art