We need more Blart!!

Black art

Creative chronicles

In a world where art expression is a part of our daily lives, as an artist, it is becoming increasingly challenging to stand out, let alone have your work noticed. But why do some artists get the recognition more than others, even when the medium is the same or of an entirely different form? 

“Art is not a luxury. The artist is so necessary in our lives. The artist explains to us, or at least asks the questions which must be asked.”

— Maya Angelou

Visibility. Access. Education.

We are in the most stimulating generation of our time. The birth of the internet has granted us access to vast amounts of information, allowing us to spread such across the globe. And in the process, exchanging cultures with one another. Being a black person (specifically in the US), our culture is one that can't be looked over nor go without acknowledgment. The underlying truth is as a people we have been very influential in the how the world perceives art whether, through our fashion styles, cinema, music and literature. There is not one form of art that we have not pioneered nor heavily influenced.

Discovering expression

 Being a poet, when I read the works of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, it encouraged me to find my own creative writing voice. It took me time to understand these creative waves of telling my journey as a woman as a BLACK WOMAN as a sister, a friend, more importantly as an artist. I found that I have control in how I tell the world who I am, where I've been and where I am going. 

Our ability to tell our stories, living our truths through visuals, literature, dance, music, poetry is the pinnacle of self expression. Our forefathers have fought for not just for our rights and freedoms but our expression. Prominent artists such as Michael Jackson, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, Lena Horne, Jean Baptiste Basquiat, Willi Ninja, Spike Lee not only influenced but shifted the paradigm in how we view art. They leave a legacy of works that is still sparking imagination in the storytelling of Black artists today.

There is a call happening now, for our generation to heed. Originality has become myth. From Hollywood's writing strikes to cancel culture. We have New writers in storyboard rooms, new producers, sculptors, painters and fashion designers alike. We have the power to create the stories we deem worth telling through our lens. As you flow through your day to day, take a breath & deep dive with an unfamiliar artist. Listen to their latest single, watch interviews and podcasts, pull up to a performance, immerse yourself in the open creative spaces to find you're in wanderlust; whether as an artist or enthusiast there's something for everyone to feel and know. There is something electrifying in the impact that art makes on us when we are experiencing life's highs and lows. 

Tip the scale

It's a Spectrum. Like everything synonymous with life and its ebbs and flows. Black Art is one and the same. Our experiences across many walks of life take one form or another, all meant to leave a meaningful positive or negative impact. In this balance to want to see this come into fruition we have to see it.

Mainstream media has pushed many agenda based artists in our view that have become repetitive in the portrayal of Black Americans in few perspectives that are falsely characterized or just simply untrue. Knowing innately that there's more that meets the eye to us spiritually , philosophically, emotionally, and beyond. What is needed now is a shift in perspectives there are so many new voices that are less renowned because of visibility, access and education. We have been blessed with these God-given gifts to share amongst ourselves as well as the rest of the world. Let's see them.

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