Behind The Bloom

RUFF PETALS

I am Lateefah Ruff Taylor, a visual artist born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. I graduated from Arts High School, a place that held my earliest dreams even when my world outside was heavy.

I didn’t grow up in galleries or museums.

I grew up in the kind of places where survival was the first language, where children grew up too fast, and where art became the lifeline I didn’t even realize I was holding on to.

My story is proof that beauty can bloom in the cracks no one expected to grow anything.

From watching my mother fight battles she never deserved, to losing people I loved before I even understood the meaning of loss, to raising myself long before I should have had to, every stroke I paint carries a piece of that journey.

Ruff Petals was born from that place.

Born from healing.

Born from chaos.

Born from stillness.

Born from color showing up in my life right when everything felt grey.

For sixteen years I put down my paintbrush, until life brought me back to it. Until art became the thing that saved me.

But this isn’t just my story. It’s ours.

Because anyone who walks through life feeling unseen, unheard, underestimated, or overlooked will find a reflection of themselves here. Anyone who has ever had to be strong before they were ever allowed to be soft. Anyone who has ever bloomed in soil that wasn’t designed to hold them.

My art is not meant to be looked at. It is meant to be lived with.

Every canvas, poster, puzzle, hoodie, mug, every petal, every face is a reminder that you survived things nobody applauded you for. You kept going on days nobody saw you. You blossomed without permission. And that makes you art too.

I create for the ones who were told to be strong before they ever got to be kids. For the ones raising families while trying to heal themselves. For the dreamers who didn’t have a blueprint but built one anyway. For the people choosing faith over fear even when both feel heavy.

If you’re here, you’re family.

You’re my muse.🎨 When you support this work, you are watering seeds that were planted through pain, prayer, and purpose.

Thank you for being part of this bloom.

May every piece remind you of who you really are. You were never meant to blend in. You were born to stand out. To blossom. To be seen.

Welcome to Ruff Petals, where culture blooms, healing breathes, and art is life.🌻