Jamaal Barber
Country of Origin: Littleton, NC
Based in: Acworth, GA
Main Medium: Printmaking
About Jamaal
I am a father, husband, teacher and working artist with a passion for making things. My main goal is to speak truly about the things that I see and talk to the issue that I as a Black man, have seen in this world as it relates to my community. I grew up in the rural segregated south and that effects my point of view. I want to speak for all the people in my community that nurtured and raised me. Also with the more that I travel and grow as a artist, as a man, to tell more about how my southern perspective fits into the larger world. The processes of printmaking were a wonderful discovery for me because it removed my hesitation and allow me to keep moving along while letting the process catch my thoughts.
About His Work
I make mostly figurative art based on my social, political and spiritual views about Blackness. Blackness as an identity and a cultural phenomenon that we are all experiencing. I have a deep love for relief printmaking because the mark making can work on so many levels. It can describe a object, create a mood, or direct movement. The processes of printmaking and the idea of layering is important to show the depths of Blackness and the many levels to our lives.
