Before The Beginning (I've Seen You Before series), 2025

Ayo Rasaki

Ballpoint pen, ink, and acrylic on Archival paper

36 X 48 inches

This piece reflects on who we were before awareness drew its
boundaries, before our limitations were named, before the world
began to define what was possible. It recalls a time when our
knowing was pure and whole, when we understood ourselves and all
we could become. In those moments, we felt as blessed and powerful
as the saints, not by striving, but simply by being.

The figure sits on a thronelike chair, calm yet commanding. A small
white terrier rests on her lap, its head tilted slightly, as though
aware of being observed. Her gaze meets the viewer’s without
hesitation, steady, knowing, untouched by doubt. Around her head
glows a halo fingerprint, a mark of identity and divinity intertwined.
It becomes both symbol and signature, a reminder that the sacred
once lived, and still lives, within us.

This work is not about who she became. It is about who she was
before she forgot.