While discussions over Beyonce’s Super Bowl one-two punch and the continuing controversy ignited by #OscarsSoWhite packed this year’s Black History Month, art director George McCalman and content strategist Ebony Haight sought to commemorate the occasion by showcasing lesser-known pioneers in black history.
The two collaborated on a a series of portraits of Edna Lewis, Gordon Parks and other notable individuals, which are posted on McCalman’s company Instagram under the hashtag #illustratedblackhistory.
Haight initially posted stock photos and short biographies of obscure figures in black history on her Instagram, which inspired San Francisco artist McCalman to create a personal project.
“I didn’t think about it again until I painted a portrait of Rosa Parks on her birthday, and it flashed in my head to do a series of portraits,” McCalman says. “I just wanted to get to know and foster my own sense of history – it was just an itch I had to scratch.”
The black-and-white portraits are done in a mix of pen, pencil, ink and watercolor, each in styles that McCalman felt would reflect his connection to the subjects best.
“I feel like I’m communing with people I’ve never met before through the course of researching them, and I feel inspired all over again when I paint them,” he says.
McCalman seeks to produce 29 portraits by the end of Black History Month, though he says there may be plans to extend it to a full year, or even publishing a book on an illustrated guide to black history.
“I grew up in an era where black history was something you learned in school, but there tended to be more focus on Civil Rights than the real history throughout the creation of the United States,” McCalman says. “The past year I just realized how critical it is, because even though we have so much technology, we’re still so ignorant about history. I think this is just a different way to access our legacy.”
Below are a few examples of McCalman’s work, from his Instagram feed: