Protected

Written By Kaliah Hekima

Protected, Chalk Pastel and Charcoal, 11x14, 2025

“Protected depicts a figure resting vulnerably beside a powerful white tiger. It holds both softness and strength in quiet harmony, emphasizing that true protection is both fierce and tender.”

—Kaliah Hekima

Kaliah Hekima

Kaliah is a multidisciplinary artist and healer who alchemizes pain into power. Her work is a deeply emotional offering—soft, sacred, and unflinching. Through painting, poetry, and performance, she channels stories of survival, sensuality, and self-reclamation. Kaliah draws from ancestral memory, embodied ritual, and the beauty found in rest and release. Her art centers Black femmes in their full expression—tender, defiant, divine. Each piece is both a prayer and a mirror that invites readers and viewers to return home to themselves.

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