top of page
Search
Writer's pictureChristie Jones

God Bless the Child by Jordan Casteel

Updated: Feb 10, 2022



If I could be and live anyway I wanted to, I would be a full time artist and explorer. I would be able to create the projects that really matter to me. For example, I would take my time to work on a project that explores women artists. I would start with exploring the life and art work of Jordan Casteel. Jordan is a Denver native that now lives and works in New York. She is an American figurative painter that paints intimate portraits of everyday people in Harlem, as well as her friends and family. I would trace her experience in Denver, starting with her school experience.



Jordan was identified as gifted at an early age. She attended the Logan School for Creative Learning, where she credits her early development and curiosity for the arts. That foundational experience propelled her to study at Yale University where she earned her MFA in 2014. Shortly after she completed a residency at The Studio Museum of Harlem where she focused on Black Masculinity. During her time in Harlem she became drawn to the community and its diverse people. Her portraits are unique in that they are posed to look directly at the viewer. It is so powerful to look into their eyes; it is as if you get stuck in the gaze and learn more about them. Her goal is to provoke viewers to grapple with race and masculinity and to challenge the negative stereotypes of Black people. Her paintings feel familiar; she turns strangers into friends. You become so drawn into the portrait that you begin to imagine that you do know these people or at least you have passed by people just like them in your daily life.


Since I love road trips, I would drive from Denver to New York imitating her practice. I would take my camera out and take pictures of Black people along the way. I would strike up random conversations about life lessons learned and share words of encouragement. At the end of each day, I would review the pictures I took and write down the details of the storytelling shared with each stranger. Jordan's work is centered in community and social justice and her exhibit Returning the Gaze is the perfect example of humanizing Black people, showing them on the subway, eating at a restaurant, babies in a stroller, and the hand of a mother.


In May of 2021, Jordan’s painting God the Bless the Child was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine. This is TIME’s first ever BIPOC-led issue. The title Visions of Equity are centered on her painting of a Black woman holding a Black child. The woman’s hair is big, long locks of curls and the child’s hair is braided. For so long Black people have been demonized for their natural hair, so it is a powerful statement to have black hair featured so prominently in its natural state. Although the woman and child are not facing the viewer and looking directly at the viewer, there is still a sense of familiarity because of her holding the child, something we all can relate to; being loved by someone else.


Learn more about Jordan Casteel:




47 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page