My name is Leo Sherman, I was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in the Bay Area. I attend The New School under the major of illustration with the hopes of creating media for people like me, using the skills I have collected and will continue to collect to inspire my artwork and social justice advocacy as my multifaceted identity includes many marginalizations.
Racial identity and frustration with prominent white male artists are some themes that I’ve worked upon over several courses over these semesters. I read so much Ta nehisi coates first semester in my seminar class, they really took my art in a different direction, got my anger stirring especially with all the major united states events that were taking place during that time. Following that semester I geared my final in my time class around a similar theme, continuing a series of paintings I had started first semester and used an essay in my seminar class to begin a longer paper regarding another facet of my identity. Learning how to use illustrator also helped my process!
TWO HIGHLIGHTS:
1)
I used illustrator to construct these graphics, I was aiming for something that seemed approachable whilst still being informative, there can be nothing left out when it comes to issues such as these.
The first image is kind of a first step in regards to the second two, it was my first time actually taking time to analyze my identity in such a way causing my to go on and explore other people trans journeys and delve into the exploration of the transgender health care struggle. I am definitely going to continue to make graphics such as these to accompany the essay that I began for my seminar class.
This was a final presentation for my seminar class in which I gained inspiration for a majority of my personal art this semester. This charts my learning throughout the class and also the weight that I felt on my shoulders as the only black kid in my class. I want to use these struggles to continue to inspire my art.
