About Me

My name is Queen Sheps’ Nzinga (a.k.a.: Wendy Maxwell). I’m a womb warrior that honors the regalness of her blood, her ancestral roots and her legacy of revolution and resistance. Empirically I claim singing, writing, painting, poetry, and spoken word as first choices for artistic expression. I’m also a linguist, mother of two, grandmother, and activist -amongst other things-.

Of Jamaican decent, born in San José Costa Rica and raised in the Garveyite Community of Puerto Limón, I acknowledge: evolution = change = revolution, and like many others before me, personal struggle leeds me to self-empowerment, and so today I strive for social equality for all by challenging communities, society, and the world to examine the true nature of our condition.

Of this condition Afrikan womben and womben of Afrikan descent have a shorter end of the stick. Our demonized beauty, compared to standards that are foreign to our natural selves, allows little room for self-love and appreciation in a struggle for personal survival and that of your generations to come.

The root cause of this is the same as everything else. Poverty, war, racism, homophobia, sexism, and all forms of oppression are deeply rooted in and fueled by greed and lust for power and monopoly of life sustaining resources.

“Menstrual blood is special because it carries in it a living being. It works like a tree. Before bearing fruit, a tree must first bear flowers. Menstrual blood is like the flower: it must emerge before the fruit – the baby – can be born. Childbirth is like a tree finally bearing its fruit, which the woman then gathers”

-An elder of the Beng people of Africa’s Ivory Coast explains what his people believe about menstruation.

In art I found my healing space to speak about. My art is about my personal life experiences lived from childhood to date. It is not only important to have the power to recognize, express and share these experiences, but also to recognize that mine is not an isolated reality. Throughout my life I have become convinced that all womben are or have been at some point, victims of some type of violence.

I began painting and experimenting with Menstrual Blood in 2003, reclaiming my birthright to venerate and celebrate the gift of CreOshun that has been endowed to me by the Most High Creatress/Creator and the long lineage of wise womben that presided me.

Blood has allowed me to re-dis-cover or un-cover my self-love and power within. It is that power that I seek out and channel into expressiveness of thoughts and emotions that represent joy, pain, relief, frustration, triumph, empowerment or powerlessness in my life. It is also the healing voice of my ancestors who have chosen me to speak through me. Only recently I decided to share this part of my life with the world and I do so with love. So please enjoy.

WARNING!!! You may find Queen Nzinga’s radical points of view offensive. For this she offers no apologies.

“A moralist has no place in an art gallery”
– Han Suyin

This website presents a alternative view of life, and a message to all sisters and brothers from all over the world for the re-examination of our individual roles in the perpetuation of our oppression and other societal ailments.