Chapter 6: The Power of Artmaking: Leading other Men of Color and Creating Community

The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.

—James Baldwin

Why this quote? I think love and art go hand-in-hand. This analogy is essential to understanding why I engage in this powerful work we call artmaking. Through this work, I can make people aware of what’s going on in a Black man’s world. I can share the realities I have as a Black man who has had challenges navigating a White world. Artmaking provides the young men I serve with spaces to explore their identity. James Baldwin’s words are the foundation for my artmaking. I can help you see what you may choose to ignore through music, color, texture, sounds, or movement. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the extent artmaking creates community by making connections among self, social justice issues, and those I serve. At the heart of this work is the power to listen, to value other perspectives, and to utilize artmaking as an expressive cultural phenomenon. Art brings to life what we feel, what we experience, and the extent by which we are accepted and loved. Do you want to see what I see? Do you want to experience what I live? Do you want to know about the challenges the young men I serve face every day? Art brings their world, their lives to life. It says, “This is me!” And in the end, all we want is acceptance and love, right? And it is within that love, within that community we create through artmaking, that we find ourselves and each other, and it is through simplyl that, love.