Visual

Colin Hawkins The visual I constructed was a graphic artwork inspired by one of the excerpts from, " The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales," by Virginia Hamilton. This artwork was specifically influenced by the excerpt of the same name, " The People Could Fly," which contains the myth of the Flying Africans. The myth flying Africans is a powerful African American folklore legend about how enslaved people, refusing to be reduced as product and longing for freedom, gained the ability of flight to fly over the waters back to Africa. This myth specifically originates from anecdotes of resisting such as Igbo Landing, where in 1803 in Dunbar Creek, Georgia, the enslaved Igbo people revolted, taking over the ship they were on and drowning their captors then themselves, refusing to be brutalized in America as slaves. Through this profound act of resistance, many oral folktales were formed that the Igbo people were able to sprout wings, able to fly back to Africa after escaping their oppressors. Through these folk traditions, an insightful connection between black spirituality and its portrayal in folklore is formed, which is what I hoped to portray in my art piece. Oral folk traditions such as the myth of the flying Africans, portray black spirituality as an innate gift that connects black individuals to a higher spirit or innate ability, one that cannot be stripped from them even when faced with brutality and stolen and dragged across vast waters from their homes. I wanted to portray in my art piece by depicting a notably black individual with the same dark, black wings that were stated in the folktale. Depicting this individual in flight was important to show that they, as a representation of the black collective, were escaping or "flying away" from the brutalities they were faced. I also took careful consideration making the wings, though black, sprout from their backs similar to angel wings rather than as an extension of their arms. This resemblance was to allude to the fact that in the myth, the act of these enslaved people flying away could also be interpreted as them escaping slavery through death. Whether through death or through escape, the importance of the piece was to emphasize the ideas of self preservation and freedom, just as the Igbo people chose their own freedom through death rather than to live as a slave. In conclusion, this piece was made to exemplify the the profound portrayals of black spirituality in folklore, and how the resilience of black individuals and reclamation of their own autonomy are important and pivotal to black expression and traditions, for the history of this reclamation of bodily autonomy runs deep into black history and should be remembered for the powerful and profound statement it makes.