Harmonia Rosales
Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
Renowned artist Harmonia Rosales is embarking on her highly anticipated debut book tour for Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic, a richly layered literary extension of her visual work reimagining African mythology. The book, set for release on October 14, builds upon Rosales’ long-standing exploration of the Orishas—deities of the Yoruba tradition—through her signature fusion of classical technique and Afrofuturist storytelling.
For years, Rosales has used the canvas to challenge Eurocentric ideals of divinity, beauty, and power. Her work recasts Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces with Black protagonists, reclaiming a space in Western art history that has long excluded the Black experience. That journey began with a simple but profound observation from her daughter: “They don’t look like me.” It was a moment that crystallized the absence—and urgent need—for representation within traditional art historical narratives.
Since 2017, Rosales has turned that absence into a bold visual language—one that not only centers West African spirituality but also traces its survival through colonization, enslavement, and the transatlantic slave trade. Chronicles of Ori carries that vision onto the page, weaving together cosmology, memory, and imagination to forge a mythology rooted in the African diaspora.“What I’m really doing is constructing a larger Black mythology—or better yet, Afropantheology,” Rosales explains. “A place where stories, spirituality, and history are one. During colonization, the Orishas were masked under Catholic saints as a means of survival. I chose to work in a classical European style to reclaim the visual space where they were once hidden. It’s not about imitation; it’s about transformation.”
Oranmiyan’s Legacy by Harmonia Rosales.
Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
In both her paintings and her book, Rosales practices what she calls figurative realism with purpose: inserting Black gods, Black stories, and Black imagination into a canon that has excluded them for centuries. She doesn’t limit herself to one medium—she paints, she sculpts, and now, she writes. Her artistry is about boundary-pushing, truth-telling, and creating spaces for stories that have long been silenced.
The emotional weight of her work lies in its storytelling. Every figure, gesture, and symbol in her paintings is layered with myth, memory, and lived experience. “I paint the Orishas not as distant gods but as deeply human—mothers, warriors, lovers, protectors. Their stories hold both beauty and pain, survival and divinity,” Rosales says. “This isn’t just about looking back. It’s about reclaiming memory to repair trauma and move forward.”
Collectors of Rosales’s work range from celebrities like LeBron James and Nas to art curators, scholars, and first-time collectors. Yet the draw isn’t status—it’s preservation. For many, acquiring her work is a conscious act of ensuring that these images and stories endure in the cultural canon. “My collectors aren’t just buying paintings,” Rosales shares. “They’re participating in a legacy, helping to embed these narratives in history.”
Eve and the Orishas by Harmonia Rosales.
Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
With Chronicles of Ori, Rosales extends that legacy. The book delves into the mythological and spiritual roots of the Orishas, following their journey from West African cosmologies, across the Atlantic, and into the diasporic experience. It’s a work that reaches across time and space, refusing to let the story begin in chains.“Too often, Black stories are told as if they begin with oppression. But our origins are rooted in brilliance, in divinity,” Rosales says. “I wanted to create a mythology that centers that, something expansive enough to give the Black diaspora a foundation of strength and wonder.”
She approached the book as she would a painting—layer by layer—crafting a narrative that spans continents and centuries. It is at once historical and imaginative, deeply rooted and wildly visionary.“Some of the most powerful moments in the book are when myth and history collide,” Rosales notes. “An Orisha steps into a scene of enslavement and transforms how we see it. Those moments remind us that the gods were with us. They crossed oceans with us. And they still speak to us today.”
The Chronicles of Ori book tour kicks off in September with major stops including the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Perez Art Museum Miami, and The National Gallery in the UK. Along the way, Rosales will be joined by special guests and fellow creatives, including friend and collector Bozoma Saint John in Atlanta, curator and author Kimberly Drew in London, and acclaimed textile artist Bisa Butler in Washington, D.C.
Chronicles of Ori is now available for pre-order.
Courtesy of Harmonia Rosales
But Chronicles of Ori is just one part of Rosales’ growing cultural imprint. Earlier this year, she unveiled a major public sculpture at King’s Chapel in Boston, honoring over 219 enslaved individuals connected to the church’s history. In January 2026, she will exhibit at the Getty Center in Los Angeles in Beginnings: The Story of Creation in the Middle Ages, where her paintings will appear in dialogue with rare medieval manuscripts. “It’s powerful to see this message reflected across so many platforms—sacred spaces, books, and museums,” she says. “Because the fight has always been about inserting our stories into the Western canon. Our history doesn’t begin with enslavement. It begins in cosmology, in brilliance, in myth.”
Chronicles of Ori is now available for pre-order. The book tour will also be open to the public in Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Memphis.