Ebony Watkins

Artist Statement

Michaela Coel, a famous Ghanaian screenwriter once wrote “The only power we have in this life is the power to say no”. For me, drawing has always been a tool of resistance; a tool of personal resistance against feelings of defeat amid life challenges, and a tool to inspire others to embody justice wherever they are. As a self-taught artist and illustrator, I want to use the sum total of my education, grassroots organizing experience and artistic endeavors to create art that uplifts, inspires, and communicates clear messages of resistance to all oppressive systems.
Through individual paintings, political education, and group curricula through community banner drops and art builds, I have explored the ways in which art can be used as a tool for community organizing and interpersonal connection. I primarily work with graphite pencils, ballpoint pens, acrylic paint, muslin, and large stretched canvases. Inspired by the lives of everyday people, I draw much of my creative inspiration from my experiences with family, and community oral histories of race, class and gender in the US South. My artistic process is inspired by writings from revolutionary historical figures such as Zora Neal Hurston, Bell Hooks and Octavia Butler. My visual style is ever evolving, but heavily draws from inspirations from the artists Dare Coulture, David Solnit, Emory Douglass, William Paul Thomas, Kayla Mahaffey, and 2D animated works from the 1960s to the 2000s. The combined visual direction of both animated works, political posters and murals have all inspired the whimsical and sentimental pieces I’ve produced.
As I grow in artistic skill, I hope to strengthen the craft of illustrative rendering in order to produce quality art that is able to crowdfund and fundraise for community mutual aid projects. To me, art is more than just creating an image to be appraised in a museum, or used to decorate a home. It is a tool that can unite communities, incite deep interpersonal healing, and articulate the human condition in such sensitivities that hopefulness inevitably erupts as an infinitely producing vessel.

Biography

As a self-taught artist and illustrator, Ebony use her education, grassroots organizing experience and artistic endeavors to create art that uplifts, inspires, and communicates clear messages of resistance to all oppressive systems. What she lacks in technical skill she makes up for in creative problem solving skills and a fierce commitment to developing her craft for the sake of producing art that is able to fund community mutual aid projects.

Revolution Flowing - 30 in x 40 in

Black Babies are Cherubs - 30 in x 40 in

Palestine is Freer than the Sky - 12 in x 36 in