"Liberation"

30"22"
Acrylic paint, Derwent Lumicolor pastel

In honor of Black History Month, the Williams College Black Student Union hosted the Black Renaissance Gala. The president of the BSU asked me to create an illustration for the gala to be presented in front of 150+ people. The theme for the gala was fusing the Harlem Renaissance with Williams. The gala was divided into three parts: Black resistance, beauty, and identity. Each part had several speakers. The color themes for the gala were black, silver and gold. Black represents resistance, silver identity, and gold beauty.

Heavily inspired by the work of Harlem Renaissance artists Aaron Douglas and Louis Mailou Jones, I depict Gaius C. Bolin, the first black graduate of Williams College. I carry the viewer through African American history from their time in Africa through slavery to the present, when our pursuit of education continues to liberate us.