Marinda: There is an unmistakable connection between art and its impact on society.

Including how we interact with, gain a better understanding of, generate conversations through art.

It can all lead to gaining greater influence from and empathy for others.

Monica: Because sometimes art is powerful when it communicates a message it's not a bright cherrie you know just a pretty picture.

There's a purpose for all of it... and up to this point in time, this is just what I've done.

Marinda: Many perceptions of beauty are guided by the prevailing culture.

Through her artistry and dentistry.

Dr Monica Crooks creates, expands, preserves and redefines the norms of how we view culture and beauty through art.

Monica: I paint things that are uplifting and beautiful and bold and colorful and bright and free and hopefully things that would bring joy to the person viewing them...

I think that if I were to distill what I do down, what I paint is beauty period.

That's what I try to depict in everything that I paint.

So am I preserving anything?

Yes, beauty.

And they happen to be beautiful black faces right now.

Marinda: Dr Monica Crooks'’s art, shows an undeniable look at beauty in its many forms, while also discovering her own reflection of beauty within her work.

Monica: I liked doing faces and I used to do faces of women.

And my dad said to me, he says, "Why are you always drawing white faces?"

He said that.

"Why do you always draw white people?"...

I don't know.

I didn't know at the time, um, I think now in retrospect, it's because it was a time in history where magazines did not, I use magazines for my subject matter and magazines did not depict pictures of black anybody...

I was trying to think of what?

What is unifying about us as African-Americans, it's not really skin color because we run the gamut from snow white to, Ebony black.

Um, but probably the thing that is most unifying is hair texture.

We all have different hair, so no two African-Americans have the same type of hair either.

That's another thing, you know, but some people have the ability to sculpt their hair and I mean, cut it into shapes.

I mean, Grace Jones was famous for that... you know these big angular shapes that she could create and the hair just it's like weightless.

It just stands on end and you can do things with it.

Which is amazing.

So the other reason that I wanted to do that show is some of us, And I'm going to say myself included didn't grow up proud of our hair.

You know, when I grew up, I wanted the hair my little friends could roll out of bed, shake, just go.

And my hair wasn't like that because my hair had a mind of its own and how it was going to look that day very much dependent upon the weather.

I want people to see black and beauty as synonymous, just like any other races.

Okay, no one is better or worse than the other.

There are beautiful and less beautiful in every genre of everything in the world.

Okay.

But I embrace the opportunity to paint beautiful black faces... Marinda: Beauty can be defined as a combination of qualities of shape, color, and form.

To senses, intellect and even an attractiveness of feminine and masculine traits.

Within every piece Dr Crooks creates she captures the many expressions and representations of beauty that can sometimes be overlooked.

Monica: ...I think it, it's beautiful to call attention to it and it's beautiful to be able to say that beauty doesn't have one definition.

Marinda: Doctor Crooks says Art helps us to define who we are or perhaps what we hope to represent as human beings.

Monica: it is an expression of who we are as a people.

Human beings.

I mean, an expression of our existence on this earth and it's representation of that experience, the human spirit is not limited.

People are always surprised.

Oh, you can do this.

Is there anything you can't do?

No, there's nothing I can't do.

If I put my mind and my Passion behind it.

And this is true for everybody.

I happened thankfully to have been raised by parents who instilled that in me from the time I can remember, you can do anything.

If anyone else can do it in this world, you can do it too.

I mean, there's nothing really pastel about my work.

It's bright, colorful, strong.

It's it's layers and layers of color on top of color.

It's uninhibited.

It's free.

It's unafraid because I mean, with paint, if you don't like it, just paint over it.

It's no big deal.

It's Fearless... it's accidental discoveries in life and embracing them.

And then.

Seeing how far you can run with it.

I, you know, I don't happen to believe in reincarnation.

I think we got one time on this planet, you know, one shot and then I want to graduate on to bigger and better things.

And I want to squeeze everything I can out of this existence.

So maybe my art is a reflection of that...