Explore the misunderstandings

Quotes and Black Art | Thursdaysº

Jafari Joseph

Jun 11, 2026

Quotes and Black Art

Your Curated Art Museum

“Come for the art, stay for the quotes.”

“The world takes more than its pound of flesh sometimes. It’s devised all kinds of torture, the most exquisite being a colossal indifference.”

— Paule Marshall, Brown Girl, Brownstones, 1959

A Snippet:

Did you know that a teenage Valenze “Pauline” Burke (b. 1929)—smitten with author and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (d. 1906)—changed her middle name from Pauline to Paule (with a silent “e”) in order to honor the late-great Black poet?

Learn more . . .

Quotes and Black Art

Thursday, June 11, 2026 (week 19)

*Btw - it’s week 25 of 2026

55. “Mississippi Blues Man” (2008) by Charles A. Bibbs

San Pedro, California-born (and Harbor City, California-raised) painter Charles Bibbs (b. 1948)—who decided to leave his management position of 25 years in order to form his own publishing and distribution company—on staying true to yourself:

“My most important goal is to make profound aesthetic statements that are ethnically rooted, and at the same time, arouse spiritual emotions within all of us.”
- Charles A. Bibbs

56. “Blue Monday” (circa 1985) by Annie Frances Lee

Chicago, Illinois, painter Annie Lee (1935 - 2014)—who famously did not pursue an artistic career until after age forty—on painting for her people:

“Just do the things that people can identify with, that’s what I would try and do, see if I could capture a feeling.”
- Annie Lee

57. “No Woman, No Cry” (1998) by Chris Ofili

British Turner Prize-winning painter Chris Ofili (b. 1968)—infamously known for having incorporated elephant dung within his work—on learning new perspectives:

“Somehow through the exploration of race, you can get to a new place—a new form of understanding. And somehow maybe even explore the misunderstandings.”
- Chris Ofili

“A riot is the language of the unheard.”

- MLK

Gemini Birthdays!

(May 21st - June 20th)

June 7 - Nikki Giovanni
June 7 - Prince
June 7 - Allen Iverson
June 8 - Keenen Ivory Wayans
June 8 - Kanye West
June 9 - Jackie Wilson
June 9 - Bishop T.D. Jakes
June 10 - Faith Evans
June 11 - Kodak Black & Tems (today!)

(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)