Stay Woke: Amandla Stenberg
Happy Black History Month folks! Last year I decided to do a Black History project where I illustrated a black history fact a day. Back in the day I feel like every teacher made the class do some type of black history inspired project so why not keep it going as an adult? I've been wanting to do some type of creative challenge in order to push myself and get out of my comfort zone. Lately I've been really into digital art and collages. Its something that’s so interesting and visually appealing about them. Plus, its the best for experimenting with any and every thing.
So for the month of February I'm going to create one digital collage a day. The collage will reflect a person, fact, or event in black culture. For day #1 (I'll play catch up soon) I'm going with Amandla Stenberg. Now if for some reason you don't know Amandla, I'm here to wake you up. Amandla (17) is most known for her role as Rue in Hunger Games, but besides that she also made a viral video about cultural appropriation called "Don't Cash Cop My Cornrolls". The video became very controversial is streets, mostly because.... ITS TRUE! Recently Amandla sat down with my girl crush of the universe Solange to talk girl power, natural hair, and lots of black girl magic. You can read the interview and learn more about Amandla here.
I selected Amandla because she's the future and a great representation of her generation. Not only has she made a name for herself in entertainment but she's very comfortable with her blackness and unapologetic about who she is and what she stands for. I wanted this collage to feel young and fresh. I used flowers as a representation of her youth and the fact that we're watching her blossom into a woman. There's something about her that reads "old Hollywood black vintage" like the cover of a JET magazine, so I decided to make her black and white with color behind her similar to the old JET covers. I'm looking forward to this project, and also very nervous at the same time, for some reason I'm still not fully comfortable with putting my work out there but I gotta do it so... enjoy!
– Amandla's cornrolls.