may be. A lot of this was down to lack of accessibility, racism and lack of diversity.
What has it been like to create this project and how has it inspired you?
Therefore, because this was bought to my attention, it was important for me to produce characters for African-American kids who are playing classical music, or who want to play classical music, who I felt needed to see these images of themselves. Because there are no images of themselves, like the ones I have created, in this arena!
At first, I couldn’t see the vision fully, even though I had mentioned I’d had this epiphany of the Afrokid-1 and his sister, playing all these instruments! But when I pulled up a diagram on the symphony or the orchestra, and of all the different instruments, the list seemed to be so much bigger than what I anticipated. After I got to the 7th and 8th instrument, I started to see the vision evolve and for me personally, I knew I had to get this project finished. Initially it was such an enjoyable process - what I mean is the journey from the idea in my head to transferring it to my tablet. Also, bear in mind the amount of time it took me to finish this project, because I also have a 9 to 5 job and in between it all, I had a lot of personal stuff going on.
How long have you been working on this project? One year and eight months. I started in 2022 and finished on September 15 2023, on my youngest son‘s birthday
So how has working on this project inspired me? I remember at the beginning, the first several instruments and designs were easy and exciting. I was excited about the Jimmi Hendrix reference, the character sitting on the piano with a guitar. However, as I got further into the project, where I had to complete the last four or five drawings in order to finish, it became harder to complete. I had so many different distractions going on in my life with things popping up out of nowhere - some major distractions! I remember one particular night I was praying and asking God to allow me to live long enough to finish the project and I promised him that when I did, to let the chips fall where they may - but to just let me finish. Now that I’ve completed everything, I feel good, like OG James Brown, but more than that, I feel empowered.
What do you want young black people to realize about themselves and their potential, by seeing themselves represented in the way you have portrayed them in your work? First and foremost for them to ‘see’ themselves! The representation of themselves. I want them to imagine, to dream, to open up their minds to something different that they may not have thought about before! To see an instrument that catches their eye and to be curious enough to enquire ‘what is that instrument?’ and then to want to play it, to give it a go. I want to plant a seed of a possibility, to inspire young people, because if they could be influenced by my poster, to pick up an instrument, to discipline themselves to learn it, enough to be able to look back one day to say ‘I remember that little AfroKid-1 or BB Blue playing the clarinet or the violin or the cello or whatever instrument, wouldn’t that be cool? . TURNINGPOINT: MUSIC & LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
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LEGACY BUILDERS
