Powerful Lessons on Race, Identity, and Inclusion from 4 Incredible Artists
By Stacey Lindsay
What is great art? This question is as audacious as it is amorphous. The answer, which varies person to person and artist to artist, is inherently personal. We beg to argue that a great piece of art evokes a sense of discovery. It makes you feel as if you are the first to experience it and that it was made just for you.
Morgan Cooper from the Gifted Project. Photo courtesy of Jaimie Milner @jmilner @thegiftedblkmen. Available for purchase at @tappancollective.
The question we prefer is: What makes great art? The answer, we believe, is courage. As we admire the works of these four featured artists—Jonah Larson, Jaimie Miller, Nneka Jones, and Calida Garcia Rawles—of varying genres and backgrounds, reverence and promise prevail. We envision each of them culling their own life experiences to create pieces that seek truths, unlock hope, and extend grace. “I get inspired to crochet simply by the beauty of the art, the therapeutic effect it has on me, and the ability for it to make others happy,” crochet artist, Jonah Larson, told us.
Art also begs questions of ourselves and our society. It presents new paths and possibilities. As the savage killings of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other Black Americans continue to fuel a need for racial justice in America, we are faced with the need to look deeper and wider. Art has a way of jolting complacency and making us do so.
Artists and creatives also have the unparalleled ability to provide unique approaches to solving the most pressing global issues. As Upstart Co-Lab founding partner, Laura Callanan, told us in a 2019 interview, there is a well of potential that can only be released by creatives, which is why she and her team connect impact capital to the creative sector. “If we can infuse values around equity and inclusion and sustainability now,” Callanan says, “as the creative economy grows, those values will grow too.”
The incredible artists we feature here explore the most important stories about our world today. They educate and reflect hope. And whether intentional or not, these artists create pieces so compelling they make you feel as though you are the first to see them.
Photographer Jaimie Milner pores over the intricacies and vulnerabilities of what it means to be human. Her photography (seen above) simultaneously illuminates the souls of its subjects and arrests its viewers. As a student at University of Southern California, Milner became invested in the impact the media’s portrayal of race, gender, and sexuality has on society. Today she dedicates her creative energy to making people feel seen and empowered. Many of her shots capture long stares and smiles that extend the earth. Milner also started The Gifted Project, a creative movement that celebrates and honors Black men. “It’s a platform for progression,” she says in an Instagram video. “It’s a platform for people to have pride in themselves. To change and move forward in a new direction.”
See more of Jaimie Milner’s work at: @jmilner and @thegiftedblkmen.
Mixed media artist and activist Nneka Jones weaves together unexpected items and textures to create works that arrest, incite, and ultimately engage. Her pieces, which range from embroidered portraits to oil and acrylic paintings to photography, serve as platforms that raise awareness about critical social issues, such as race, sexual abuse, and human trafficking. The subjects of Nneka Jones’s work stare at you; their faces charged with emotion and layered with story. She states that her work is rooted in her Trinbagonian background. “For the past few years, I have been using Art as a channel to create a more intimate connection between the melting pot that is the Caribbean and the rest of the world,” Jones writes on her site. In one set of works, Jones employs the use of bullseyes and targets over young girls’ faces, illuminating their vulnerability that is preyed upon by. Her work is an important call for action.
See more of Nneka Jones’ work at: @artyouhungry.
One of the most profound facets of Los Angeles-based Calida Garcia Rawles’ work is the fluidity and abundance of emotion. Rawles paints African-American women and men immersed in crystalline indigo and turquoise waters, surrounded by billows of lights. The element is charged with beauty and fear. As stated on Rawles’ site, “water a spiritually healing element for all people” yet there are also “historical connotations to racial exclusion and cultural fears.” Rawles’ paintings, which employ elements of photorealism and ethereal abstract art, captivate, celebrate, and ultimately educate.
See more of Calida Garcia Rawles’ work at: @calidagarciarawles.
Visit the Instagram page of twelve-year-old crochet artist Jonah Larson and you will witness the kaleidoscope of colors and textures for which he has become known. Billowy scarfs in shades of red. Draping blankets in rainbow hues. And chunky, cozy hats—one even atop Drew Barrymore’s head. Larson is a phenomenon in the creative world. His fingers move with such speed when he crochets, it is hard to believe his finished pieces are as pristine as they are. Larson says he loves to crochet for its beauty, therapeutic benefits, and ability to make others happy, but his true heart is in his efforts to give back and bolster inclusivity. A resident of LaCrosse, Wisconsin where he lives with his adopted family, Larson has raised money to fund a library for the Ethiopian village where he was born. He continues to raise funds through his work, which includes instructional videos and two crochet books.
See more of Jonah Larson’s work at @jonahhands.
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