The art world can seem very white, depending on where you're looking. So can the Catholic church, where, when I was a little girl, my Cuban and Dominican relatives would take me on rare Sunday mornings.

The churches we went to were boring, and painfully white. Everyone spoke Spanish, a language my entire family speaks fluently, but which I'm not great at. I would often tune out and gaze at the (very white) art that decorated the windows of the church. I didn't see myself, a Black Latina, reflected there, and I couldn't articulate why I felt like I didn't belong. These were my "people," and yet, they all looked and spoke like they were from a different universe.

Georgia-based artist Zahira Kelly’s work places Black women, Negras, at the center of historically white Catholic symbols. A Black Dominicana, Kelly has been drawing since she was "able to hold a pencil," and has been making custom art for underrepresented Black girls for the past couple of years. Her work highlights the magic of Black women, painting them as celestial princesses who know they're too good for you.

I spoke to Kelly over email about navigating through the art world as a Black Latina, how "AfroLatinx" has become a colorist term, decolonizing nudes, and why Cardi B would be perfect for the role of Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn.