GIANTS Art Exhibit by Alicia Keys & Swizz Beatz Review

Experiencing the GIANTS Art Exhibit by Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz was honestly a life changing experience. I finally got to attend the exhibit this weekend in Minneapolis and wow. I want y’all to purchase a ticket and appreciate it yourself so I will try to refrain from sharing too many photos. But here are some reflections on why I think every artist/creative should attend this exhibit:

It Will Expand Your Imagination

“We want you to see that you are also a giant. That you are special and unique.” Alicia Keys said this in the trailer for the exhibit here.

Personally, I felt like that goal was achieved. Walking through the exhibit and seeing all different forms of art will make you pause and think – am I limiting myself?

Because you see photography to drawings and usage of different materials to create pieces. It makes you realize that it is possible to use different mediums of art. I think sometimes as creatives we put ourselves in our own boxes. We think – well I’ve done this one medium of art and people know me for this one thing so why should I switch it up? But when you are in a room with MULTIPLE forms of art you begin to desire challenging yourself. It makes you realize that you may be sleeping on so many creative gifts that you have that you need to explore.

Reminds You the Power of Art

A lot of the pieces were centered around Blackness from a perspective of resistance and protest as well as joy and communion. It reminded me that art has been a tool for resistance. When you think about it some of our greatest activists are artists.

I feel like when people hear the word art, they can think of “fun”. But once you walk through this exhibit it will change your mind. Yes art can and should be fun. But there can also be more to art than just that. It can also represent another word -depth.

Walking through this exhibit reminded me that although I can still do art things to breathe, reflect and enjoy life, art can and should also be used for social change. I talked more about this here where I talked about entering my artivism era.

Forces You To Create For Fun Again

I think I talked about this in my article here when reflecting on Renaissance Conference. But being in the GIANTS Art exhibit reminded me to make art fun again. It can be easy to lose sight in this when either art becomes a main stream of income OR when we get caught up on analytics, praise from others etc. But starting an artistic thing is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Instead of focusing so much on what others think we should do art again because it’s fun period. Seeing all the bright colors and even sparkly looking work makes it look like the pieces were created from a heart of fun instead of seriousness.

And sometimes instead of being serious adults we need to be playful kids while we do art.

It can make you proud to be Black if you are Black

Seeing the diaspora represented was a beautiful thing. As someone who is Nigerian-American but grew up in the South I have an interesting background. Although I hold a lot of my Nigerian roots and was raised in a Nigerian household, my town consisted mainly of Black Americans. In fact, I used to joke around that there were 4 African families in town.

I say all of that to say that for me, it gave me a much deeper appreciation of Black American culture which is why the diasporic wars on both sides has been hard for me to wrestle through. So it was beautiful to see both Black Americans and Africans celebrated in this exhibit. Basically it was just heavily pro-Black including both American and African lens.

Due to this, you see the immense creativity around Black people as a collective. You can see that we all come from the same bloodline of creativity. How can that not make one proud?

If you are considering going - DEFINITELY go

You will not regret this experience. More details about the GIANTS Art Exhibit it is here. The Minneapolis Exhibit closed this Sunday but they’ve had exhibits in Los Angeles and Brooklyn and I think plan on having future ones. So stay up to date and make sure you go when it comes to your town!