Against The Grain Art Exhibition

A celebration of a human’s Identity and the journey to achieving one’s dreams in life.  The use of color and placing the subjects in unconventional environments is the hallmark of our work. You will notice that in some of the works there is a motif of masks worn by characters; this speaks on the desire of people to always wear a personality and not be themselves around other people. Asking the questions of when does one really choose to take off that mask and be themselves. Most importantly, the use of traditional concepts of beauty not only draws from our roots in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe, but also from our experiences as young black men living in Cincinnati. Our vibrantly colored pieces of photographs, drawings and paintings often focus on the themes of societal, familial, and cultural expectations, and explore what it means to live a life that conforms to these structures. This first show includes pieces as large as life with the largest being 6 ft by 5 ft.