My first collection was the Blackamoor Royalty Collection.

This idea was something that I spent many nights thinking of prior to traveling to London. It’s inception came around the time that my best-friend was in her last trimester of her pregnancy. For me she was doing something that I was truly fearful of. In simple terms, she was actually going to “push that thing out of her.” The closer the time grew the less scared I was for her. I just wanted her to feel as if she had a crowd of supporters standing by to cheer her on, and jump in to help when needed.

A painting I created for my best friend for her baby shower, before the birth of her son.

Bringing a child into this world scares me for two reasons. Firstly because of how the world will treat the child, and secondly because of the ambiguity surrounding how the child will ultimately feel about that treatment. Will they feel loved? Will they feel friendship? Will they feel rage? Will they feel disappointment? I personally find new disappointments everyday with this world and I suppose I have just become so callus, that now it’s “shruggable.” —I’m no longer surprised.

But whether I’m helping my friend bring her seed into the world or in the process of cultivating and growing my own. I want the child to know who they are. I want to make a point to teach them they are important, capable, strong, intelligent, and ultimately worthy.

My Godson laying is his room with the Original painting in the background.

For some children that is easy. They grow up in a household with two parents. Their family and friends spend intimate time with them. They are showered with upliftment and more. With all that being said there is also a ton of subliminal messages engineered into the young that, WHILE we are young we simply seem to miss.

When you were younger did you ever question why Cinderella was always white? Why there is only one month to teach Black History? Why is it that the Black character in your favorite show always seemed to have Daddy issues? Perhaps one could say that it was to make things more relatable. You could ignore Disney’s shortcomings by pointing out Brandy was once Cinderella, and give praise that there is even such a thing as a Black History month.

But I think that’s demanding too little.

I think its unfair to miseducate children about where wealth originates. It’s embarrassing to admit I grew up thinking everyone outside South Africa, on the same continent, lived in bushes and ran from lions during the day. Ultimately, its absolute neglect to teach our society that people of color have always been slaves and only ended up in this country because their ancestors were forced.

My purpose in creating this art is not to dim one groups’ light. But instead, to shine light where darkness has allowed us to forget.

The Blackamoor Royalty Collection was created to show children, of any color, that there are more shades to royalty and power than just white. Although the names are made up, the portraits were influenced by real people. The Moors of Africa. Have you ever heard of them? If so, I am relieved because this was new information to me about a year ago. If not, well welcome to the enlightened side.

For 700 years the Moors ruled in Europe. Yes, people with dark skin actually resided in positions of power. There were warriors, healers, scientists, explorers, etc. They came to Europe during a time of plague and sickness. They came before Europe was what we all celebrate today. The knowledge that was brought north ranged from medicine, to street development, to the construction of castles that still stand today. The end of their rein came when they were finally driven from Spain. When one tries to research this topic at surface level, you will see images with white skin or crowned blacks that are referred to as celebrated slaves, and this is inaccurate to say the least.

Saint Maurice Of the Holy Royal Germanic Empire.

After finding out this information, it only made my desire to paint children of color with crowns stronger. This is when I was introduced to the Blackamoor Jewelry through the Hidden Colors Documentary, by Tariq Nasheed. These pieces of jewelry were often times brooches or earrings and can still be found in Italy today. At first glance, many people seem to assume that the jewelry is a jab at showing enslaved people in the gold of their owners. All a sudden a racist agenda is created and the history is lost. The jewelry in fact was created to depict members of society that were Princes, Queens, or Conquerers.

Isn’t it unfortunate that depictions of fair skinned people with crowns and gold, when shown, are accepted without thought? But oppositely images showing people of color with crowns and gold seem fictional, or like a prequel of Jim Crow. I wonder if that is simply because it’s so rare.

I found some crowns from different Blackamoor Jewelry I liked and used those as inspiration for some of my crowns because they have more style. Other crowns were inspired by Ancient Egypt, the West African Kufi Hat, and the crown of Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

Left: Gulio Nardi Blackamoor Brooch. Right: Queen Jalicia Graphite Sketch

I wanted to normalize Black Royalty. I wanted to emphasize it. When my Godson came into this world I realized I wanted him to identify himself with power and strength. I started referring to him as King Kasey. The portraits were meant to help with this mission. If young children of color had images to look at of Kings and Queens that looked like them, they could understand that being important and capable of becoming pillars to society was not so far out of reach.

And moreso that they don’t need to be athletic or a rapper to attain wealth. In conjunction with uplifting the children depicted, I thought this would be a way to familiarize Black Power.

There is so much more depth to the Collection, but I’ll save that for future blog posts. You can shop the Blackamoor Royalty pieces in my store. And share your mind/thoughts in the comment section below.

L.F.S.T. visits London Studio to discuss the Blackamoor Royalty Collection.

Shop Prints

The BlackAmoor Royalty Collection (pt. 1)