Fly High is a series I created as an ode to Bessie Coleman. Coleman was the first African American and Native American woman to earn an international pilot’s license. In 1921, after being denied access to flight schools in the United States, Coleman traveled to France to receive her certification which was an achievement that marked both personal triumph and collective breakthrough. The composition of this piece is dominated by layered blues and white, evoking both the sky and the ocean that she would travel within and above. These tones shift between depth and openness, suggesting not only elevation, but the emotional and physical weight of pursuing what was once out of reach. Embedded in the texture which I call tiles are paper airplanes which are markers of accomplishments of early flight, imagination, and the act of becoming. They reference both the simplicity of first gestures toward the sky and the magnitude of what Coleman achieved in redefining who could occupy it. In honoring Bessie Coleman, this work reflects on flight not only as a physical act, but as a declaration; the insistence on rising, even when the world denies you the sky you must always remember to Fly High.