Workshops led by artists of today—Emonee LaRussa, Blue the Great, and Sophia Victor—will be part of the experience. These will focus on critique and discussion around original artwork, live painting with space for the audience to ask questions, and, to further bring in the modern vibes, social media and the delicate art of posting and sharing work as an artist. All of this will take place in a space where participants are surrounded by artifacts from the original Little Paris Group and selected pieces from Loïs Mailou Jones for added inspiration and creative warmth.
Linking up together to flourish is a big key to success. Being in a community—especially the Black queer community, for me—isn’t just about uplifting one another, but it’s also about influencing, teaching, connecting, and consequently building our own new age salons where creativity grows and isn’t forgotten.
The fact that this event will be held in a Black-owned art gallery is of no coincidence. Initiatives like this could be a driving force in making art more accessible to our own community, as they let people know they are welcome in a world that so often wants to exclude us. “Why not go straight to us? Why not keep it in our community? I wish that I was learning about Loïs Mailou Jones [when I was] in Kansas, growing up on Quindaro Boulevard and in one of the poorest Black communities,” says Monáe. “I wish that I had access, and that I could go to art galleries and see the works of folks like her, and that whatever version of the Little Paris Group existed when I was home—but it didn’t. So who knows who will show up as we make noise about this collaboration.”
Like Black Futures authors Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew or the Somewhere Good community, this event pushes back against gatekeeping in the art world. “I look at artists as storytellers. Musicians, writers, fashion designers, visual artists—we’re all storytellers, and we need as many stories as possible to keep us connected, to keep us vulnerable, and to keep us talking,” says Monáe.
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