The Studio Journal
Symbols and Meaning
Adinkra, sankofa, Pan-African color. What the symbols in Black art actually mean, and how to use them with respect.
Adinkra Symbols and Their Meanings: A Painter's Field Guide
Adinkra symbols are a visual language older than most alphabets still in daily use. Here's what eight of them mean, and why I keep painting them into work about Black memory.
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Adinkra Symbols in Art: Akan Meaning and Respectful Use
What Adinkra symbols mean, their Akan roots in Ghana, and how to buy or discuss art that uses them with care.
Pan-African Art: Colors, Symbols, History, and Diasporic Identity
What Pan-African art means, where the red-black-green and red-gold-green flags come from, and how artists use these symbols today.
How to Verify the Meaning of African Symbols in Online Artwork
A buyer's workflow for checking what an African symbol in an online listing actually means, using named traditions and museum sources.
African Patterns and Textiles in Wall Art: Identifying the Source
Tell kente, adinkra, mudcloth, Kuba cloth and wax print apart, and learn how to spot a documented tradition versus a generic African pattern.
What Is Afrocentric Art? Meaning, History, and Modern Expression
Afrocentric art centers African values, history, and aesthetics. Here is what the term means, where it comes from, and how it looks today.
No Needle Required: The Gullah Rag Quilt and What Its Colors Say
How Gullah rag quilts turn feed sacks and cloth strips into storytelling objects, and what their colors and patterns are said to carry.
The Journal, monthly.
One email a month: new essays, new work on the easel, and first look at new pieces. No noise.
Symbols, painted.
13 afrocentric works built on the visual language these guides explain.
See the Afrocentric Wall