FIGURES OF LOVE

BY NZINGHA FLORENCE

It’s no surprise that when many people think of love and how they perceive that emotion, they can easily relate it to the delicacy, creativity, and beauty of art. Black art specifically, is something that has brought the black community together for generations, whether that be theater, poetry, or actual handmade creations. Virgil Abloh’s “Figures of Speech’’ exhibit in Atlanta, Georgia’s very own High Museum does just that, and I was lucky enough to be a witness to it.

Abloh is known as the creative director for Louis Vuitton’s menswear, as well as the founder of the fashion label Off-White. The exhibit includes a multitude of mass media projects, ranging from portraits of a young black boy in designer clothes, to 3D entities placed in the middle of the floor. Each part of the exhibit is done with intention, creating an aesthetically pleasing space where modern fashion can be expressed visually. Abloh’s work automatically became a must-see exhibit in the High Museum of Atlanta, especially with it being in the primary city of black entrepreneurship and success.

Knowing this, I wasn’t surprised to be surrounded by my black and brown brothers and sisters as I viewed the exhibit alongside them. Each form of black love that exists, I saw. Whether it was between brother and sister, mother and daughter, two partners, or a pair of best friends. Every type of relationship was brought together for their sole love for black art as well as their love for each other.

For many artists, love and passion are the main driving forces when creating their work. It’s not uncommon that black artists will build on the black experience, as well as their own personal experiences, and incorporate it into their art. Virgil Abloh, being a black man and creating such a dynamic space for other black individuals to be inspired, is why many people I interviewed expressed a love for black art.

Kiersten Mills, another observer of the exhibit, is a Sophomore student at Spelman College who has just started her own magazine called “Looks Magazine” where she features the Atlanta University Center Students with the best style. She was joined by her Morehouse brother to view the exhibit, and she discovered how much Abloh’s love for architecture influenced his art. “In the fashion industry, black people don’t have a lot of spaces. Virgil, creating his own space, is opening the door for other artists and we can all be on top together,”

As I continued to walk around, I saw the different forms of black love and companionship coming to view this one exhibit. I wondered if the people around me could answer this simple yet complicated question: Could black love also be considered a form of black art? “Black love should always be considered black art, and it deserves to be showcased all the time,” says Mills. In addition to asking my fellow Spelman sister, I noticed many black couples were present at the exhibit.

One couple I talked with explained that love is an art in general, but black love is such a beautiful thing and more different than anything else. “We as black people have been through so much, and not to say that black love is rare, but black love is important. It’s important to have and important to love each other.” Similar to black art, black love deserves to be acknowledged in the same magnitude, especially because it can bring the community together to view such things as Virgil Abloh’s exhibit. “Black art brings black people together because we all can relate to what Abloh is saying,” says Henry Watson, another onlooker of the exhibit who was accompanied by his best friend, Keante Ward. The two friends had been waiting for the exhibit to open for a while and were excited to finally experience it together.

As you can see, regardless of whether it’s platonic love or romantic love, black art holds the power to bring black people together through their love for art as well as their love for each other.