2: Lakwena‘s basketball court – This just in from those JustKids people, they’re always doing interesting things of street art flavoured nature, they left the u out of colour but then they are American so we’ll forgive them =
“London-based contemporary artist Lakwena gave Martin Luther King Jr. Park’s basketball courts in Pine Bluff Arkansas a vibrant makeover. The eye-catching large-scale mural contains the artist’s trademark geometric patterns and poetic text-based in bright colors. It is lined by playful classic basketball expressions such as “make it rain”, “see me shoot” and an empowering statement at the center referencing the great American poet and Arkansas resident Maya Angelou, including her iconic poem Still I Rise, bringing a timely dynamic message of hope and pride. The piece titled Ill bring you flowers is Justkids latest curation for ARkanvas, a public art initiative and statewide engagement commissioned by OZ Art. This community-centered project isn’t Lakwena’s first art installation in The Natural State. In 2017, the artist created a 360° mural within the courtyard of Sebastian County’s Juvenile Detention Center in Fort Smith for the art event Unexpected, also curated by Justkids, seeking to inspire youth to overcome — or rise above — their circumstances”.
“I was really excited to work in a place with a largely black demographic. It was nice to make an artwork for people that I have a connection to in that respect, especially at what feels like a very significant time for the black community. The piece is called “I’ll Bring You Flowers”; flowers are often used as a way of greeting, paying respect, and honor people, and I wanted to honor the people in Pine Bluff.” – Lakwena
“JustKids is an award-winning women-led art platform providing design, curatorial and production services for public and private art initiatives, community organizations, sensible brands, and institutional spaces globally. With a strong international network of leading contemporary artists and creative teams, Justkids delivers unforgettable experiences driving visual culture and celebrating art”.
Lakwena Maciver “is a London-based artist, born in London in 1986, with mixed Ugandan and British heritage. Best known for her murals painted internationally, she has shown work in cities including London, Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and Vienna, both within the gallery and in the public realm. Her work, primarily text-based, employs a combination of words, pattern and acid-bright colour to subtly subvert prevailing mythologies. Her use of text and image re-appropriates the powerful and monumental visual language and lyrical mythologising of commercial advertising billboards and is informed by decoration both aesthetically and conceptually. Interested in the role of the artist as mythmaker, Lakwena explores how this translates into contemporary popular culture. Concerned with the significance of how and who we decorate, and what this reflects about our values and beliefs, Lakwena positions kaleidoscopic colours, bold pattern and adornment as powerful signifiers to redefine and reassign value and glory”.
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