What can only be described as breathtakingly beautiful, a series of monuments have been crafted to inspire young black people.
The brainchild of Ekow Nimako, the visual artist and sculptor has quirkily used Lego as his material of choice.
Ekow, based in Toronto, strives to show black youth that they should be proud of who they are and does this by using his art to create empowering heroes.
In particular, his Cavalier Noir sculpture is a jaw-dropping masterpiece of 80,000 Lego pieces that took a casual 700 hours to complete.
The world-class monument features a seven-foot tall black rider atop a dauntless black unicorn.
Opening up about his work, and why he feels compelled to tell a story through art, Ekow explained how he wants black youth to feel represented.
Ekow said: “It [Lego] is not something you associate with blackness or black culture, in any regard.
“Even the mini figure culture, the standard yellow figures how they started is synonymous with white and for me, when I make my art, it’s going to be black art.”
Ekow continued: “Growing up, whether I was playing with Lego or watching cartoons or movies or comic books, representation was always an issue.
“When you’re young, you don’t really understand that. You’re surrounded in whiteness with everything you consume.”
He explained that with art, it is very important for him to reflect truth; and by creating bold, beautiful, and melanin-rich children, he crafts not only exquisite imagery but also fills a void.
For his Cavalier Noir sculpture, Ekow said it was particularly important to create a hero in the image of a young, black warrior.
This was to challenge the multitude of monuments that we see that are typically old white men on horses, being very heroic.
Ekow explained: “They carry a lot of colonial baggage. And the question of who are our heroes comes into play.”
We hope to one day see his work proudly displayed in London.
To check out his collection, click here: Ekow Nimako.
