IT WAS AN UNEXPECTED YEAR.

Since the age of 16, I loved to draw female faces and enjoyed especially illustrating the ones that I found most beautiful. I sat down one evening in December 2019 and thought about an illustration theme for the new year. As an artist and illustrator, I have learned that I’m most productive when I concentrate on projects and series.

With my series called VISION 2020, I intended to start an artistic journey around the globe and draw different types of people. My starting point was Africa and to be honest, I haven’t moved on from Africa since then. I am still creating those illustrations of beautiful African muses. I’ve discovered so many amazing black artists and illustrators last year who paint and draw what I call the Black Story. That has been missing in the years before due to lacking support from galleries, platforms, collectors, etc. Thankfully, organisations like Artsy have taken great steps and ran Black-owned gallery campaigns such as “Imagining the New Normal”. Although my skin is very light and my origins are German, I love and enjoy creating those portraits. There is endless inspiration online for me.

The first black person I saw was in the canteen of my primary school when I was about eight years old. (Bear in mind that I grew up in the former GDR). He was sitting alone at a desk, eating his lunch. I passed a group of kids and overheard their comments. They called him chocolate and that might sound okay to you but I didn’t like the way they were talking about him. So I said something.

As a kid, I was allowed to watch the news with my parents but not more. Nelson Mandela was a recurring theme and I learned about the injustice he experienced. I read a book about the Apartheid in South Africa that had left me feeling sad and shocked. In a childish and naive manner, I then told my parents that I will adopt an African kid once I’m grown up. They didn’t talk me out of it and said that “it’s going to be difficult, my dear.”

Back at school, in literature class, we learned a bit about Afro-American writers and culture … I read Toni Morrison, watched and listened to Harry Belafonte, and so on. I immersed myself in some of the topics and gave presentations but one day, I got a threatening letter saying “If you don’t stop with that nigger shit, something’s gonna happen to you.” I think I knew who wrote this letter. An immature young lady. I didn’t feel threatened but it showed me that she didn’t feel comfortable with it. I kept doing what I was doing. I loved to listen to RnB, HipHop, together with my brother I danced to Michael Jackson songs. I adored Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey for their voices. There is SO MUCH to learn from all of them and so much to enjoy. Let it be African, South American, or Afro American. Life is full of stories. And it’s full of injustice. I react strongly to injustice. My mum kept telling me that since I’ve been a small girl my sense of justice was always very strong. Being angry about injustice is one thing; I like to push myself to really understand where racism happens around me and how my London black friends are dealing with disadvantages. Through a mentoring platform, I got in touch with a young black man who’s been in prison in the past. I will do everything in my power to help him with his CV, applications and find ways to empower him. I’m learning a lot about the system here.

Our past and where we were coming from impacts our future. My grand aunt has been sterilised by the Nazis because the family couldn’t prove the family tree. They looked very much like gypsies or native Americans with their black hair and darker skin. Until today, it’s breaking my heart to imagine that a young woman has to go through such a trauma. The collective trauma black people have to live with for so many years, decades and centuries makes their lives more difficult. Healing takes time and we all need to do more than supporting each other with the healing process. I’ve always approached people that are different from me with a mindset of 'okay let’s see what I can learn from them’. Some call it being open and not judgemental. We need to think more critically of our history books and the opinions others pass onto us. If you want to really enrich your life, inclusion is the key to it.

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