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One of the values carried at Rhythm & Hues is the belief that art should be accessible to the ordinary, everyday person. This belief begins with the understanding that art has never belonged to one place, one people, or one way of being. It is expressed and experienced differently depending on where you are in the world, what you have lived through, and what you carry with you into a space.
As a global people who are intrinsically creative and innovative, much of how we understand ourselves and build connections with one another has always come through some form of art. We use language and writing to make sense of complexity, to rehearse the depth and beauty of our intersectional histories and to build meaning where meaning has been taken.
We put rhythm and syncopation to sound and discover new ways to hold feelings and heal through music. We shape images, objects, and spaces not only to reflect the world as it is, but to imagine what it could become – to give sight and shine light on things long hidden.
For many of us growing up, art was something that just kind of existed around us. We rarely considered how art functions in spaces and the power it holds to transform the way we live, think and experience the world around us. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, we were surrounded by what we considered decor – seemingly meaningless artifacts of remembrance that were there to collect dust, take up space on our living room walls and, if they were lucky, become the centerpiece of conversation on a Sunday afternoon at Aunt Emma’s potluck gathering. These times can conjure up all sorts of emotions – connecting us back to a time when things were a little more simple and time passed a little more slowly.
Over time, those feelings settle their way into memory.
Memory acts as a sort of binder that holds us together. It becomes the common denominator between both pain and purpose and it urges us to create new facets of ourselves that give the next generation something to latch onto and build upon.
Sometimes, it is balm when we are in need of healing and it shows us how to see ourselves through the mirror of the past when we need direction.
As a result, art and memory become culturally rich symbiotic partners – one alongside the other, ushering us through the doors of familial exploration to bring beauty to life and enrich the spaces within which we live, in more meaningful ways.
“We continue to find ways to weave a tapestry of collective beauty into our everyday lives through some form of art – regardless of access to resources. “
These experiences across African American homes and throughout the global African Diaspora, while not monolithic, have existed this way in time, memorial. We continue to find ways to weave a tapestry of collective beauty into our everyday lives through some form of art – regardless of access to resources, just as those before us.
From grandma’s family album clad with gold trims and fixings on the living room coffee table, to catalog-ordered brass sculptural wall hangings – our lives and experiences remain connected through our homes and the stories they hold.
Our art, our memories, and our homes speak to an unshakeable beauty and resilience as they carry forward a shared story of strength through our individual and collective journeys. These unique yet intertwined cultural experiences connect our homes across oceans and neighborhoods.
Even when we did not know it – they connected us.
To the next generation of those who use space and ancestral rhythms to weave stories of strength, beauty, pattern, textures, emotion – we’d like to think we have a hand in and play a substantial role in continuing this tradition of collecting memory and keeping cultural storytelling traditions alive even when we aren’t in physical proximity to one another.
When you’re choosing art for your home, you want pieces that feel intentional, purposeful and that give a deeper sense of meaning to the space that you live in. You’re not just looking for something to fill that empty space on your wall, you’re looking for something that will connect you to lives past, present and future.
This is what Rhythm & Hues exists to offer.
Each piece is created as a bridge – a way back to the memory we carry, even when we don’t always have the language for it. A link between personal space and shared experience, offering subtle reminders of what it feels like to be seen, to belong and see yourself in the story of others.