GIA Reader, Vol 31, No 3 (Fall 2020/Winter 2021)

Blossom, Mixed media, oil paint on canvas, © 2020 Devon Smillie | @JALJAE

This piece is an illustration of a person of color blossoming and maintaining through introspective disruption. A metaphor for the topic of how Black men think and deal with their own masculinity. The terms in which we see ourselves as a collective monolith can be abrasive to our own personal identity. The end path leading to a blossoming individual.