Paint the world you want to see

Quotes and Black Art | Thursdaysº

Jafari Joseph

May 28, 2026

Quotes and Black Art

Your Curated Art Museum

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

“No black man in his right mind would choose to be gay.”

— E. Lynn Harris, Invisible Life, 1994

A Snippet:

Did you know that E. Lynn Harris made history while in college, at the University of Arkansas, as its first Black yearbook editor, as well as the university’s first Black male cheerleader?

Learn more . . .

Quotes and Black Art

Thursday, May 28, 2026 (Edition 13)

“Don’t delay! Send yours in right away!”

37. “Wildflower” by Charly Palmer

Fayette, Alabama, (Wisconsin raised) painter Charly Palmer (b. 1960)—known to paint over 50 paintings a year, or roughly one painting a week—on Blackness:

“What I recognize is that I’m Black. I live Black, I acknowledge Black, I celebrate Black, and so my work from the very beginning started as historical documentation, visual documentation of Blackness, and it’s evolved into less of a story of Blackness and more a celebration of it.”
- Charly Palmer

38. “Mother Earth” (2021) by Nikkolas Smith

Texas born contemporary artist, illustrator, and activist, Nikkolas Smith (b. 1985)—a Master of Architecture recipient from Hampton University, who previously designed theme parks at Walt Disney Imagineering for over 11 years—on sharing your gifts with the world:

“For young artists, I always try to remind them: You have a powerful tool to paint the world you want to see.”
- Nikkolas Smith

39. “Eve ReImagined” by Levi Robinson

Washington D.C. painter Levi Robinson (b. 1971)—a leading member of the DMV League of Artists collective—on living in the moment:

“Typically, I like to be really deliberate about what I’m doing. It’s important to me to be that way, to be thoughtful about the art, the images that I put out in the world. So, what we've come to learn in working with paints (the nature of the way paint works, you know) is how to respond to the moment. You gotta move when the moment strikes.”
- Levi Robinson

God is love, in every shade.

Gemini Birthdays!

(May 21st - June 20th)

May 22 - Naomi Campbell
May 23 - Maxwell
May 24 - Patti LaBelle
May 26 - Lauryn Hill
May 26 - Pam Grier
May 26 - Lenny Kravitz
May 27 - Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes
May 27 - André 3000
May 28 - Gladys Knight (today!)
May 29 - Carmelo Anthony
May 29 - Laverne Cox

(Breathe In . . . Breathe Out)