“to east garfield park” (2020)
Part of the Show Chi Love event for the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago, IL.
I was one of 10 artists selected to design basketballs for the Show Chi Love All-Star Weekend event in Chicago. The ball I designed was the highest-rated ball, and was chosen as the trophy for the winners of the event.
I dedicated this design to East Garfield Park where I grew up, the hoods of my home city Chicago, the hoods across the nation and the people who shape them. Given that it was Black History Month when I created this, I wanted to incorporate black, green, and red colors from the Black Liberation/Afro-American/Pan-African flag that was created within the Black Panther Movement— and give them a Chicago spin.
I admire the beauty, tenacity and power that breathes within East Garfield Park and hoods like it, and wanted to use this piece to remind these communities to see themselves in the future. Black people and “the hood” are a main source of inspiration for pop culture globally, and if nothing else, this is a surefire sign of the power we hold.
