From the Collection:

Giving  Voice to Visuals #9

Think The Photograph. Think Love & Basketball. Think If Beale Street Could Talk.

Think Barack and Michelle in Southside With You.

Think couples of beautiful, unapologetic Blackness. Think Marcus and Amy Jacques Garvey. Think Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Think Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz.

Or, as Lauryn Hill once poetically offered, “Think Black love, think universal love… just think love.”

With his affectionate rendering from his “Garment Series,” acclaimed artist and educator, Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, portrays Black love in all of its poignant beauty. The striking image is primarily based on the teachings of Islam and the associated belief that, when you get married, you go from being two individuals to one sacred unit.

Consistently, the Chicago-born Abdul-Musawwir—a professor of studio arts and art history in the School of Art and Design and the Africana Studies program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale—incorporates such elements of faith, culture, and history in his works, be they abstract or figurative. His professional profile at Southern Illinois characterizes his paintings as “harmonious visions of contrasting colors, flowing liquefaction, and symbolic transparency.”

That acknowledged, we further appreciate the talented Najjar Abdul-Musawwir for providing us this harmonious vision of Black love.  

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