B.L.A.C.K

B.L.A.C.K. Believing Love’s Actual Capabilities Keep

To be a black person in America, it’s so necessary to have an unwavering sense of optimism and faith through whatever and to live in the notion of we-gone-be-alright. Just simply to “be” is so much more tasking, because of the color of our skin. Paraphrasing the title acronym B.L.A.C.K., we’re continually struggling through holding fast to the idea that the power of love conquers all and never fades or weakens. Pulling from childhood memories of persons known and imagined, I’ve depicted characters exuding heroism, in spite of the perceived normalcy in everyday situations. My use of exaggerating the mouth and lips as focal points is not only a celebration of our larger features (in comparison to the European standard), but also a subtle reference to the psychological impact of the coronavirus pandemic of the two previous years, with most people encountering each other wearing masks and mouth coverings and after restrictions being lightened and lifted and masks coming off, we’re basically meeting people anew having never seen their mouths before.