Kevin Hopkins

Lives and works in New Haven, CT

Artist statement

I create effigies that evoke the lived body, aiming to transfer protection and joy to their subjects, invoking aspirational visions of the world. These works confront how (Southern) Black communities, in their effort to safeguard Blackness, can inadvertently constrain it by rejecting expressions that challenge trauma-centered narratives. By framing the effigy as a site of possibility, I activate the figures' potential for healing to affirm the multiplicity of Black identity, and speculate on futures where that multiplicity is fully embraced. The effigies begin as drawn silhouettes on canvas, sewn into three-dimensional form, filled with cotton, and dressed with painted skin, gifted clothing, and jewelry. Some figures stand alone as symbolic vessels, while others interact with one another to explore more nuanced connections. "We Seen the Sun", for example, imagines a Black queer youth sheltered beneath the instinctive, watchful protection of a parental figure — a prayer for familial acceptance and safety of Black queer people. "Authentic Mutual Love" depicts seven young, peanut-headed cousins pretend-fighting using techniques learned from Shonen anime shows. This work positions the reenactment of television-inspired martial arts as a restorative practice that resists the pressures placed on children to abandon whimsy— a prayer for joy. Together, the effigies explore spiritual transferance as a framework for navigating Black American expression, belonging, and optimism.

Artwork