The Affirmation Tour, hosted by the National Gallery West in Sam Sharpe Square, features ten (10) larger than life oil on canvas portraits celebrating black people in all their glory by artist Kimani Beckford. Beckford, who is a graduate of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts' School of Visual Arts. He was named a recipient of a grant funded by Alicia Keys' and her husband Swizz Beatz and the Dean Collection presents The Dean Collection 20 St(art)ups #TDC20. The couple has put together the fund for artists who have a fount of talent but did not have the wherewithal to produce a show.
Kimani has sought to provide a variance in how we see ourselves. Too often we wear the negative labels and see ourselves portrayed degrading in the media. Affirmation is originally an over twenty piece portrait collection. It was an opportunity to showcase black people as "Icons," as they are rarely portrayed in this light. He wished to change negative representation of black people and wanted to highlight that the excellence that which we speak, can be achieved and exists in us all as a people.
When asked about the subjects in his pieces, he told me that the folks in the images are people he is familiar with and took pleasure in painting them. Kimani references Marcus Garvey as a key inspiration in developing a narrative for his pieces, as he wanted persons who come in contact with his work to foster and acknowledge thoughts of "black excellence." Garvey's parlance has been a guide for Kimani in the development of the works. He stated that Garvey spoke and upheld the celebration of the black man, a stance more persons should take in this day and age because our values since then have been diminishing. Affirmation closes on August 25, 2019.
-Andre O. Walker
@walkabout876
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