Black History Month

The task told us to response visually to the BLACK TRAILBLAZERS.

To create an image I started doing some research in books, on websites about that theme. 

The Black History Month is to remember and appreciate those black people who were suffering and fighting for their rights but also heroes making history.

To find out about different black heroes I looked at the books "Events that Changed the world" and "100 Events that shook our world". 

An example is Jesse Owens, an olympic champion, who made history by winning four gold medals and showing that it is the individual, not nationality creed, that defines a person. This legacy was created because the United States did not support him.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Barack Obama are also instances for black men who made history.

During my research I noticed that most of the black trailblazers were Americans because back in time America was a country dominated by slavery and racism.

Another source I was looking at was the website "Huffpast & Abc 13 Eyewitness news". That showed me black trailblazers from each state of the United States that add up to 50 different black heroes.

Getting an idea about visual responses and especially black artists I visited the Basquiat Exhibition at the Barbican. 

The Haitian American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960. He invented the writing poetic graffiti SAMO© which captured the city's attention. Basquiat was interested in various of things like music, poetry, paintings, performances and books that influenced him as an artist. In his art he often responses to diverse topics and expresses his point of view.

His art and lifestyle impressed me and inspired me to think more abstractly when it comes to the response.

Later I started thinking about the past and how black people where treated. I looked at the "Black Codes" which were the stability of slavery and discrimination in the United States. Furthermore white people did not respect black persons as human but only as servers.

Afterwards I jumped to this time area and realized how much effort and strength black trailblazers had to suffer that black people are tolerated nowadays. There is much less racism in the world and black people get treated like whites. In addition there is no segregation in public anymore.

I am really impressed by those heroes and appreciate what they have done for the worlds understanding.

To look at black stars in this time area I researched how many and also who has achieved a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Referring to that 120 African Americans got a star. I recognized that this would be impossible in the past and that black people get treated equally because of trailblazers who fought for their rights and suffered.

Then I started collecting my thoughts to come up with first ideas. I thought about the past and that black people were trapped in their destiny. Brave persons stood up for their rights by showing strength and sacrificing for their fellow men.

I looked at some images which I convey with those aspects like racism, and chains that imprisoned those human. Furthermore I thought that black people were always seen as the guilty party.

At the same time I looked at face expressions that show strength and sadness to convey the felling of black people in the past.

I also liked to include todays current tolerance.

To combine all those thoughts in one image I used a black and white face of a small boy that expresses strength. To stress this aspect and point out to the long and hard journey that black trailblazers had to go I used the word STRENGTH and photoshopped it into the boy's eye. I also used chains that are shortly before breaking to show that there is still discrimination nowadays. To signalize todays tolerance and community I used an image of a globe that is hold by different coloured hands.

I also experimented with this thoughts so I came up with two different images.

I liked the outcome but I still missed the part of celebration and appreciation in it because the reason for the Black History Month is to remember those trailblazers and honour them. I also did not involve my research that I have done in the beginning.

Therefore I brainstormed my ideas again.

This time I looked more to an image which shows appreciation and respect. I researched photos which show freedom, love and victory.

In addition I wanted to underline the fact that black people does not have to hide anymore because they succeeded and earn respect.

To design a visual response on those ideas I used a photograph of a black girl taking off a mask which shows a white girl's face. The crown expresses victory and honour in that image. Because I did not want to miss the earlier aspect of the strength and courage that black trailblazers had to suffer I placed the word "strength" also in this response. Furthermore I chose three different photographs of trailblazers which have done different things to become black heroes.

Additionally I wrote the phrase "No Reasons To Hide" in black tint on the outcome to show respect and their success.

The problem with this idea was that it does not express my first aspects of the long journey and the suffering as much as I wanted.

Later I researched again. I got inspired by other posters that response to the Black History Month. A lot of them uses fists or collages to show different trailblazers.

I liked the aspect of the fist because it conveys strength without words. The collages inspired me to include a lot of different trailblazers in my response.

I created a collage on photoshop which shows some of the Black Trailblazers whom I researched about in the beginning. To include strength, courage and fights I used a black raising fist. Looking at my former designs I resumed the phrase "No Reasons To Hide".

After printing my outcome I was not happy with it because it turned out to be too dark.

Therefore I gathered all my former ideas and my knowledge about black trailblazers and used it to design my final visual response.

I looked at all aspects which were slavery, respect and appreciation, fighting as well as strength and achievements.

I also added a stop sign to it so it would stress the aspect that black trailblazers fought against racism and their past. To bring up the bad conditions of their past I used different written words and a trapped fist which is crossed out. To show the people who succeeded I collaged them on the right side of the image. 

Furthermore I wanted to convey their achievements as central aspect by locating the black girl, taking off the mask, in the centre and writing the words "No Reasons To Hide" in capital and bold letters.

Overall I gained a lot of different knowledge about the past and especially black trailblazers. I learned that it is important to use different sources and experiment. In the beginning I thought of one aspect but I ended up with a visual response that includes the past, journey, feelings and present of black trailblazers.

Additionally I really liked the Basquiat exhibition which I probably would not have visited without this project.

I also learned that it is important to think in different ways about one theme and to have various ideas to come up with an amazing artwork in the end.