Artivism and the Dream Project: An Exclusive Guest Post from Nikkolas Smith

By Nikkolas Smith / November 29, 2021 at 2:52 pm

Hardcover $14.99 ~~$18.99~~

The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

By Nikole Hannah-Jones , Renée Watson
Illustrator Nikkolas Smith

In Stock Online

Hardcover $14.99 ~~$18.99~~

Born on the Water is a stunning, lyrical picture book complement to The New York Times’ “1619 Project”. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and Newbery honor-winning author Renée Watson share a powerful exploration of the origins of the American identity and the lingering impact it’s had on society. Nikkolas Smith’s illustrations on their own are noteworthy — when paired with Hannah-Jones and Watson’s poetry, they become groundbreaking. Here, Nikkolas discusses the origins of this dream project, his artistic journey, and his role as an Artivist.

As an artist, you often think about the dream project. When I was a theme park architect, I thought that bringing magical experiences to people was the ultimate dream job for me. But as I embarked on a different artistic and healing journey eight years ago, creating a new digital speed painting and posting it on my social media every Sunday, Art for me became something different. I took Nina Simone’s words to heart and allowed my artwork to reflect the times, making illustrations of everything and everyone that was speaking to what was going on in the world at the time. All from my perspective, the one of a young Black artist in the United States. I have painted all sorts of topics and experiences: from social justice to the environment, from history to politics, from immigration to entertainment, from Black joy to Black pain. I have often found myself making tributes to people that have been unjustly and violently taken, and my art has become therapy to others, to help them deal with their pain, anger, sadness — our collective experience as complicated humans. With much of my artwork going viral, I have seen my role becoming more so the one of an Artivist. People were writing me on my social media to say, “If you don’t paint this, who will?”

So, when I was asked to bring to life the poetry of Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson, all I kept thinking was that this was the broken bone in American history that we haven’t healed yet. This book is the embodiment of why I make Artivism. This is the book I wish I could’ve read when I was a child. This is the book I will proudly read to my baby who is an African American and Italian-Romanian-Hungarian world citizen. This is the book that many teachers will read in schools as a tool and a resource to talk about how we came to be, against all odds.

Born in Houston, Texas, I am a direct descendant of enslaved people from Central West Africa. “I paint these poems for them, as a manifestation of their wildest dreams come true.” I ended my illustrator’s note in the book with this message, after having just completed the project, and overcome with pride at what Nikole, Renée, and I had just accomplished. This book is the most important assignment of my career thus far, and with the ever-present questions of African American identity alive in so many of our hearts daily, and our connection to the Middle Passage, I hope that Black readers from ages 5 to 105 will see a piece of themselves in this book. That they will reflect on their African ancestry with pride, knowing that slavery was not the beginning of their lineage. I want every single reader to walk away with a deeper understanding of the brilliance and bravery of my ancestors, who were Born on the Water.