Pag Black
Eco-friendly Mixed Media Artist
Pag Black is the artistic identity of Dr. Pandwe Gibson, who is a New Orleans–born mixed-media artist, real estate developer, and sustainability visionary whose work exists at the intersection of humanity, memory, and environmental justice. Her practice is guided by a profound belief that art is a “gallery of emotion and expression,” where every piece carries a story far beyond the frame. Drawing from a global life lived across continents, cultures, and communities, Pag Black creates textured assemblages and paintings that weave together historical artifacts, elemental materials, and deeply personal narratives.
Her artistic process is rooted in immersing herself in place, people, and purpose. Whether incorporating minerals, wood, textiles, metal, or reclaimed technological components, she constructs layered works that examine both the fragility and resilience of the human condition. Sustainability, homelessness, and affordable housing—issues she champions as a developer and ecopreneur—surface throughout her artwork as recurring themes. Many pieces contain materials or motifs sourced from countries she has lived in, collaborated with, or studied, creating a global dialogue within the canvas.
Her widely acclaimed assemblage Sunflowers on My Mind Floating in a River under Clear Skies exemplifies this approach. Developed during a pivotal period in her life, the work fuses personal transformation with worldwide conversations around sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Through intentional textures, colors, and materials, she bridges the intimate with the geopolitical, the organic with the technological, and individual legacy with collective responsibility.
Pag Black’s storytelling is equally powerful. Each of her works is accompanied by an origin narrative, often epic, intercontinental, and historically grounded, that illuminates its underlying message. These stories draw connections between social movements, diasporic histories, spiritual practices, and ecological futures, turning every artwork into a map of lived experience and emotional truth.
Her art has garnered the attention of major institutions and collectors, including a $150,000 acquisition by the archdiocese and a $125,000 purchase by a private collector. Her upcoming exhibitions, Bit Basel 2025, Marrakesh 2026, and the 2026 Venice Biennale night under the overarching theme “Fingerprints for Humanity,” a body of work exploring the imprints individuals and societies leave on the world, and the moral imagination required to build a more sustainable, compassionate future.
As both an artist and a global thought leader in sustainability, Pag Black occupies a singular space in contemporary art. Her work challenges viewers to consider not only the beauty before
them, but the systems, stories, and shared responsibilities woven within. Through her art, she offers a pathway that’s visionary, textural, and profoundly human toward a future shaped by creativity, reverence, and transformation.
Artist Statement
My work is a sanctuary for stories of people, places, struggles, memories, and the fragile beauty of our shared humanity. I create art as a form of testimony. Every piece I make is a layered conversation between what the world has shown me and what I hope the world can become.
As a mixed-media artist, I build with materials that have lived other lives, wood worn by time, minerals pulled from ancient earth, technological fragments shaped by modern industry, and textiles carried across borders. These objects hold histories, and when I assemble them, they become part of a new narrative. My practice is grounded in sustainability and justice because I believe the materials we choose, and the stories we tell, can either harm or heal the world around us.
I often say that my art is a “gallery of emotion and expression,” because each work begins with a feeling: the ache of displacement, the quiet resilience of communities, the urgency of protecting our planet, the universal desire to be seen and valued. I have drawn inspiration from my travels across Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, Central and South America, and from the cities and neighborhoods shaped by inequality, innovation, and hope. These global dialogues live inside the textures of my work.
My pieces are designed to function on multiple levels. From a distance, they invite the viewer into color, rhythm, and form. Up close, they reveal intricate details, symbols, fragments, minerals, and objects that carry cultural or historical significance. Each element is intentional. My work asks audiences to consider how personal stories intersect with global issues such as homelessness, affordability, migration, environmental collapse, and the human cost of progress.
Art is my way of leaving fingerprints, evidence of what I have seen, what I have lived, and what I long for. The series Fingerprints for Humanity reflects my belief that creativity is a form of civic responsibility. I want my art to inspire reflection, spark dialogue, and encourage action. I want it to remind viewers that we are all connected, and that the choices we make leave marks on one another and on the Earth we share.
Ultimately, my work is a commitment: to honor the past, confront the present, and imagine a future where humanity and sustainability are not competing interests but inseparable truths.