Kinfolk:

Black Radical Imagination

Illustration | Layout | Social Media

In their early days, Kinfolk would make a great effort to show up and be present in their audience’s mind during any time of a collective awareness about Black people or their history.

For this project with the team, I was asked to make a series of 90 slides with 21 portraits for Instagram as well as some other supporting graphics, that were designed to roll out over Black History Month in 2023. The idea was to educate their audience on various prominent thinkers in Black history, through deep analysis of their writings and art.

These unapologietic artists, scholars and organizers make up what we know now as the minds that helped build the Black Radical Tradition. For Kinfolk’s coverage, we named the month long event after this group of people, paying homage while opening the door for the future.

The information about each of these people was given to me as long essays or writings. The team was looking to have something they could post each day of the month of February, that could introduce the studies of a particular thinker, or a group or pairing of people who had similar ideas.

In trying to make something scroll-stopping for social media, I had to determine what was the most important part of each description. I tried to find a balance between highlighting the person and their ideas, while also not omitting too much context in their statements. The team and I went back and forth trying to figure out the most important elements to be included.

It was great making all of these slides, as it ended up being a learning opportunity for me as well to expand my knowledge of Black History, for which I’m very grateful.

To accompany the slides, digital breakout classes were held as well, to offer instructors and educators a space where they could learn more about specific aspects of Black History, and how this nuanced information could be used to further their teachings.

I was asked to create this event calendar as well, so that everyone could stay informed about the events through the month.

Here is a small selection of the portraits I created of the different scholars and artists. This style of rendering their faces while leaving most of their clothing as flat line art was really a happy accident. When I was checking in with the team to show progress, they enjoyed the look that the sketches had. So in the interest of time, I continued that look for the remaining portraits, allowing me to finish the project in a timely manner.
I focused on getting the facial details right for each person, and adding detail where necessary to help the likeness come through.

This project was a challenge in time management, as well as project organization, but for a one person team, I think this came out very well.