Play in darkness
#CaptionedBlackArt | Thursdaysº
Captioned Black Art
Your Curated Art Museum
Get cultured in five minutes or less . . .
“She comes to me in snatches—I remember pieces of her laugh, the look she gave when she was upset. Sometimes I sniff the bottle of perfume of hers that I saved, but it doesn’t come close to the robustness of her smell. It is her, flattened. This is what it’s really like to lose. It is complete and irreversible.”
— Zinzi Clemmons, What We Lose
A Snippet:
Did you know that What We Lose, the 2017 debut by American author Zinzi Clemmons, is based loosely on her experience of caring for her mother dying of cancer?
Learn more . . .
22. “On The Porch”
“When viewers see my art, I intend for it to evoke a certain familiarity, audaciousness, but most of all I want them to feel seen.”
— Shakquan McAllister
Did you know?
Did you know that Shakquan McAllister (also known as Quan Draws) is a Guyanese American artist whose work is intended to serve as a reflection to its viewer?
McAllister has stated, “When viewers see my art, I intend for it to evoke a certain familiarity, or audaciousness, but most of all I want them to feel ‘seen.’”
23. “Galactic Morena (Roja)”
“When I was young there was no electricity at night where I grew up, so I used to watch the stars, play in darkness. Because of this I am acutely sensitive and attracted to bright colours. I remember my mom wearing a lot of sparkling clothes when going out to dance. These works are a celebration of people finding light even in darkness.”
— Yermine Richardson
Did you know?
Did you know that Yermine Richardson’s art is deeply rooted in the traditional semiotics of Caribbean heritage, notably womanhood, fashion, spiritualism, and cosmology?
Yermine Richardson, a Caribbean multidisciplinary artist whose works are vibrant celebrations of Caribbean and African cultures, hails from La Romana, a lively city in the Dominican Republic most known for its thriving tourism and sugar industries.
Growing up during the 1990s, television served as the artist’s window to the world.
Richardson has commented, “I was inspired by the kaleidoscope of pop culture references, from images of the Hubble telescope and ancient Egyptians to Mexican telenovelas, anime, fashion commercials, and music TV.”
24. “I Am A Man A Man I Am” (2015)
“Historically, Black people and women were considered not ‘smart enough’ to create fine art.”
— Dr. Lisa Whittington
Did you know?
Did you know that this piece (created by Dr. Lisa Whittington) was inspired by the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike in 1968?
On February 1, 1968, two Memphis garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death on the job by a faulty garbage truck. The pair sought refuge from a rainstorm in the compactor area of their truck (which activated by mistake) as they were prevented from seeking shelter from the rain inside a nearby building due to the segregation laws of the time.
Their widows received no insurance benefits and the city offered only one month’s pay for each man, alongside $500 for funeral expenses. Two other men had previously died this way in 1964 (four years earlier), yet the city refused to replace the defective equipment.
Frustrated by the city’s response (or lack of) to a pattern of neglect and abuse of its Black employees, 1,300 Black men from the Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike.
Dr. Whittington’s artwork not only depicts this event, but also digs fully into the larger narrative of “othering”—exploring the anger, humiliation, and exasperation of how (throughout history) Black men have had to fight for the basics of dignity, respect, and humanity.
Let us find light in darkness—hope in despair
(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)
Play in darkness
A STEM Grew Petals Newsletter
Next issue is next Thursday:
11am (Pacific), 2pm (Eastern)
Want Daily Quotes?
Follow on Instagram (at Captioned Black Art)
Made in Silicon Valley (with love) by author Jafari Joseph.
Copyright (C) 2025 My STEM Grew Petals Publishing. All rights reserved.
STEM Grew Petals is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.