Harlem: The Black Flowering
A visual representation of the Harlem Renaissance or the New Negro Movement. The growth of black music, art, and community through the many vessels of hands that watered it.
Process
I had this sketch sitting around for a while and I was struggling to come up with a concept for it. I knew I wanted to connect it to something important and meaningful but I just didn’t know exactly what. While reading about the Harlem Renaissance one day, I realized that this was the perfect historical event to apply to my future project. I began working on this 16×22 piece for 5 months off and on using solely colored pencils. Throughout the process of working on this piece, I developed a mental picture of what I wanted it to look like after all of this hard work.
My small sketchbook draft wouldn’t have done my idea any justice so putting it on this larger paper would enhance my idea and representation of the Harlem Renaissance as a concept much more. African Americans began to migrate from the deep South to the north because of Jim Crow Laws. This represented mass movement and growth. The sunflower behind the group of grabbing, desirous hands represents this growth. The hands also represent the seeds of the sunflower, destined to germinate into new sprouts. These southern African Americans settling in Harlem, NYC began to create music and art, leaving a deep mark not only on Harlem’s history but in modern art, music, dance, theatre, and culture today.
All of these hands represent the various black creators that contributed to this blooming of the arts.
Shermaya Paul
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Shermaya Paul
Shermaya Paul is a sophomore who lives in Brooklyn. She was the valedictorian of her middle school and the winner of the Congressional App Challenge. She is also an alumni of the UN Junior Ambassador program. She is a talented artist and she likes to write.
