2 MIN READ
I watched the recent US inauguration, I could not articulate how I felt. Particularly in light of all that went down on Jan 6 and last year’s civil unrest.
While scrolling through my Instagram feed one of my favorite artists posted the image of this painting which somehow embodied everything I was feeling.
The artist is Kadir Nelson and the painting he posted, “Sweet Liberty”. A rush of emotion took over me as I saw my little self in the image.
“Sweet Liberty” courtesy www.kadirnelson.com
I thought of the dream that I had been sold growing up. That America is a place of opportunity for its folk. A place where you can make it if you worked hard (like my parents had done). Growing up as a black girl in America in the ‘80s and ‘90s I always felt overlooked. The feeling of not being good enough permeated my soul. The lack of representation on my tv did not help much either.
The painting evokes so many sentiments, something Nelson is clever at in his work. A prominent African American artist who has been featured on the cover of The New Yorker magazine, garnered many awards and did the artwork for a Drake album usually depicts historical accounts and valiant subjects.
For this particular painting the central character is a little black girl delicately propping up an American flag. She stands tall with reserve, a little sadness in her eyes and a timid smile. Nelson artfully conveys the pain of America’s past. The blue flower nestled in her hair representing hope and promise of its future. Her rolled up sleeves representing the hard work of her ancestors. These themes crystalized for me at the inauguration when the 22-year-old African American poet Amanda Gorman recited her work christened “The Hill we climb”. In it Gorman declares,
“we the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting to one.”
Seeing this young woman in her canary tailored coat and braids crowned with a touch of red, articulate what she too has experienced through such a moving poem surprisingly gave me hope. That in the future, little black girls will have the representation that I craved growing up.
I ended up reposting Nelson’s image. It supposed everything that I felt about what had transpired in the last month in my beloved America. How I felt about my own “Sweet Liberty”.
Thank you Kadir Nelson!
Black girls and young women face insurmountable odds in America. I have donated to a fund that I hold dear called The Black Girl Freedom Fund. The fund will support work that advances the wellbeing of Black girls and their families, including work that centers and advances the power of Black girls through organizing, asset mapping, capacity-building, legal advocacy, and narrative work that seeks to shift structural violence enacted against Black girls.
Little me, NYC circa 1983
WHERE TO FIND THE ARTISTS
Find out more about - WWW.KADIRNELSON.COM
Find out more about - AMANDA GORMAN
See Amanda Gorman in - VOGUE MAGAZINE
HOW TO SUPPORT BLACK GIRLS
Support and donate - WWW.1BILLION4BLACKGIRLS.ORG
Tell us what you think of Kadir Nelson’s painting or tell us what you thought of Amada Gorman’s poem. Share in the comments!