Artist: R.V. Monroe (Robert & Venice Monroe)
Medium: Laser engraving on natural wood, mounted on hand-painted wood panels within a custom wood frame using authentic West African wax fabric
Dimensions: 12 inch x 12 inch
 
Description:
 
The Light Was Always Speaking is a visual hymn—an invitation to stillness, to remembrance, to return. The woman at its center sits calmly among the trees, cross-legged, eyes closed—not in search of answers, but in quiet conversation with something older than language. Above her, a spiral of light glows like a sacred whisper. Around her, open books rest like offerings. Nothing here is random. Everything listens.
 
The engraving is encircled by vibrant, authentic West African wax fabric—sunburst and sacred pattern. It pulses with rhythm, with ancestry, with echoes of markets and mothers. This cloth is not background—it’s breath. It’s tradition. It’s proof that beauty, like knowledge, is passed hand to hand, soul to soul.
 
Created by R.V. Monroe—the shared hand of Robert and Venice Monroe—this work blends precision and presence. Robert engraves the figure with reverence and memory. Venice grounds her in balance, emotion, and the framing of story. Together, they create a scene not of fantasy, but of deep, living truth.
 
The Light Was Always Speaking reminds us: wisdom doesn’t come rushing in. It’s been here, quietly waiting—for us to sit, to breathe, to remember that we were never alone.