Framing Belonging: Black Girls in Art Spaces

Bridging culture with art, Kaci Merriwether Hawkins cultivates a community for Black artists and appreciators. As Merriwether-Hawkins attended various art events and began documenting them online, she realized just how many of her followers rarely even knew these experiences were being hosted around them. She decided to bring it upon herself to make content that directed individuals to such events. However, the work felt “empty” and she wanted to take it a step forward: “I understood what it was like to be Black in a predominantly white art space – I’ve experienced that as a consumer and a creator myself.” ”I was like, It’s not enough to just show people where the art is, let’s help them get there, and, when they get there, let’s make sure that they’re comfortable while they’re there.”

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Art as Protest, Art as Healing: Inside the Aravani Art Project

Art is a vessel that reclaims and rewrites the world around us. The Aravani Art Project homes in on this fact, using art as a method to bring the voices from the LGBTQIA+ and transgender community to light. Hosted by both trans and cis women, their mission is to use various art projects in the surrounding community to “reclaim” these spaces from the rising “discrimination, stigma, and systemic inequality” in India.

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Amy Sherald’s Take on Censorship

Amy Sherald is famously known for portrait of Michelle Obama – becoming one of the first Black artists to receive presidential portrait commissions from the National Portrait Gallery. Her work nowadays currently sells for upwards of 4.2 million; however, she does not take this influence lightly. Sherald’s role in the community is much more than an artist. She stands as a leader in the world of arts, unafraid of letting her voice and message speak out even when putting her own exhibition at stake.

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