HI, I’M RAPH
Haitian-American artist, cultural educator, transformative leadership practitioner, and creator of The Color Pilgrimage.
I create to reclaim and celebrate the power of the Divine Feminine across cultures, rooted in my Haitian-Catholic heritage, the Black Madonna, and the African diaspora spiritual tradition. My work blends spiritual symbolism, psychedelic history, and transformative leadership into bold, contemporary pieces that speak to our shared human experience.
The Color Pilgrimage is a seven-color healing curriculum built from original Black Madonna paintings, African diaspora spiritual tradition, psychedelic history, and transformative leadership theory. It lives on TikTok, Substack, and in 1:1 coaching containers.
WHY THE BLACK MADONNA?
My mother gave me a Black Madonna prayer card and told me to keep it on the dashboard of my car when I first moved to Vermont September 2020. I didn't think much of it. Then on June 15th, 2022, after installing my first mural, Black Freedom, Black Madonna & The Black Child of Hope, I found the prayer card she had gifted me. The Black Madonna had been on the dashboard the whole time. I was always meant to bring her to life. Ever since, I have dedicated my creative voice to her — as devotion, as lineage, as the work I was born to do.
MAJOR WORKS & EXPERIENCES
2021: Generator MakerSpace Artist-in-Residency
2022: "Black Freedom, Black Madonna & The Black Child of Hope" mural for Burlington's 2nd Annual Juneteenth Festival.
2025: Keynote Speaker, “The Art of Midwifing” for Imagery International 17th Annual Conference, Awakening and Illuminating Our World with Imagery.
2025: Healing Arts Practitioner, Experience the Black Madonna: Parented by the Black Madonna — an intimate healing retreat with Dr. Christena Cleveland, social psychologist, public theologian, and author of God Is a Black Woman.
Recent Works Include:
2022-2023: SEABA Residency mural series
2023: Burlington Jazz Fest 40 Digital Poster Illustration of Lakecia Benjamin & collaborative mural for Flynn Center
2023: Conscious Feminine vinyl-mural series
2023: Waterbury Anti-Racism Coalition (WAARC) community mural "Madonna’s Earth"
2024: VT Public’s ‘Art From Every Corner’ collaboration series, "VT Sonder"
2024: Burlington Jazz Fest 41 Digital Poster Illustration of Adi Oasis for Flynn Center
2025: “Why We March”, collaborative social justice mural with Haitian Artist, Julio Desmont and Howard Center
2026: All the Rivers, digital poster illustration for benefit concert supporting Vermont's immigrant community at the Flynn Center
PRESS
Generator VT. “Black Freedom, Black Madonna, & the Black Child of Hope.” Generator Makerspace, 16 Aug. 2022.
Polston, Pamela. On a Burlington Mural, a Black Madonna Conveys Liberation and Love , Aug. 2022.
“Juneteenth Brought a New Mural to the Fletcher Free Library.” Facebook, Fletcher Free Library , 22 June 2022.
Murphy, Rory. “On a Mural in Burlington, a Black Madonna Conveys Liberation and Love.” NJ News Update, 3 Aug. 2022
Hyde, Marlon. “Vermont Edition: What to See This Winter at Local Museums, from Rare Keith Harings to New Artists.” Vermont Edition, Vermont Public Radio, 18 Jan. 2023.
Fisher, April. Raphaella Brice: The Artist behind the Fletcher Free Library Black Madonna Mural, Burlington Free Press, 3 Apr. 2023.
Fisher, April. “Raphaella Brice: The Artist behind the Fletcher Free Library Mural on Her Rise to Success.” Burlington Free Press, 14 Apr. 2023.
Black Freedom, Black Madonna & the Black Child of Hope | Burlington City Arts. Home | Burlington City Arts.
Scagliotti, L. Burlington artist, design chosen for Waterbury Community Mural project — Waterbury Roundabout. Waterbury Roundabout. 25 May 2023.
Costello, Damian. “The Black Madonna makes her mark in the least religious state in the US”National Catholic Reporter, 21 Oct. 2023.
Costello, Damian. “Mary and the Art of Mothering.” VT Catholic, pp. 20–21, Dec. 2023.
Costello, Damian. “Mary and the Art of Mothering.” Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vermont Catholic , 18 Jan. 2023.
Vermont Public. Art From Every Corner: Introducing ‘Vermont Sonder,’ by Raphaella Brice [Video]. YouTube. 11 March 2024
Owens, M. (2024, March 11). Art From Every Corner: Introducing ‘Vermont Sonder,’ by Raphaella Brice. Vermont Public. 11 March 2024
