Representing With the Rainbow

The scratch of a colored pencil and the soft swish of paint fill the room as senior Wilsee Kollie begins a new art piece. Her palette is the rainbow. As she works, the colors come together to display three women surrounded by vibrant hues.

After her first art class in elementary school, Kollie embraced this creative outlet. She was mesmerized with the way a pencil could create a masterpiece. She had discovered a new passion.

“I just love … art because it allows you to express your creativity,” said Kollie.

However, in art class, she saw art portraying white people, not people of color. The lack of representation affected Kollie’s creations.

“A lot of times when we learn art … your focus or person … would be another white counterpart, so I would always draw my focus being another white counterpart and I would never draw someone who looked like me because that wasn’t what I learned,” said Kollie.

In high school, she made it her goal to change this. She worked to include the representation in her art she hadn’t seen in class.

“I really want to … showcase minorities, specifically Black people, because that’s not what you learn in the beginning,” Kollie said.

In a world where Black people have to fight to be heard, Kollie learned her art could become a way to express herself.

“Through life, especially as a Black, dark-skinned woman, you are very much silenced so once I started getting into art … it made me continue to find my voice,” said Kollie.

Kollie works to amplify other students’ voices as well. As a leader of the Black Student Union, Kollie helped organize Voices of the Voiceless. She also collaborated with the art department to create a display case for Black students’ art, fulfilling her goal of showcasing minorities.

Kollie will continue to express herself through art after she graduates.

“I am going to continue art and go into writing, but still paint, draw, fashion—all those things. I just love everything that comes with art,” said Kollie.

At first, she did not notice the lack of representation. It was what she had been taught. After attending the Academy of Scholastic and Personal Success in 2018, Kollie gained a new appreciation for Black history and culture in America. She began to realize the importance or representation.

“[The academy] just expands your knowledge on what you should know from school but they don’t teach it to you or they don’t teach correctly,” said Kollie.

With the free time quarantine provided, Kollie picked up acrylic paint and a paintbrush and began painting. Each individual stroke came together to form a portrait of George Floyd. With some more paint, a colorful display of a young man protesting was created, reminiscent of the words “I can’t breathe” and “No Justice, No Peace” that were resounding worldwide. These portraits depicting the Black Lives Matter Movement opened up a new world for Kollie.