"Crowbar" #artSTYLE

By Artist and Poet: T. Reid-Strong |

Ancestral Wisdom 2.0 |

Inspired by Newarkers Bill and Hannah, once enslaved, freed themselves -- together -- on April 24, 1802; running... toward their destiny and away from nothing.

16x20 Acrylic Painting 

Bill - English name, diminutive of William meaning “resolute (purposeful) protection”

Re-imagined Name - Eleojo: An Igala name meaning “gift from God”.

Igala is an ethnic group in Nigeria.

Hannah - Hannah is one of the most common palindrome (reads the same backward as forward) names in the world. It is a Hebrew word for 'grace' or 'favor'

Re-imagined Name - Hanaa: Meaning Happiness (Swahili, East Africa) - Derived from Hebrew hannāh (gracious), Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament. 

"Whatever the name, I Am the same."

She embodies God’s favor

His happiness — grace personified

Void of question, only truth

in her eyes; ne’er colonized

He was her gift from God

Her devote, resolute protection

Together they are One — For all time

United by STRONG connection 

They have been here Before 

Bill & Hannah

Once upon a dream After 

Eleojo and Hanaa

Time and time again Then 

Jcs & Tyrs

Amen.

(an ode to previously enslaved Newark, NJ residents of the 1800's)

*Research generously provided by the Rutgers University Department of History & American Studies and the Honors Living Learning Community Reparations Project. Ase.

About the Artist: The art of T. Reid-Strong could be described as a stylized collection of ardent visual narratives and poetry in optical and literary form. Her spirited symbolic paintings evoke feelings of connection to African American culture, ancestry, freedom, love and eternity. In parallel, her photography is an honest display of strong emotion and fearlessness, yet is also intimate and silently striking in mood.

As a multifaceted artist skilled in creative writing and poetry, painting and portraiture, she endeavors to engulf audiences through vivid experiences into her mind's eye. Though at first glance, T. Strong’s idiosyncratic painting style may recall that of Expressionism, she displays her own contemporary artistic vocabulary imbued with life-affirming metaphorical imagery. Accompanying many of her visual arts with melodic verse, descriptive of the imagery via delineative representation, further depicts the alluring consequence of her works.

Skilled in various genres of expertise, T. Strong is also a self published Author, Educator and successful Entrepreneur. Born and bred in North Carolina, the NC A&T State University graduate was raised to adulthood living in Newark, NJ while working corporately in Manhattan for over 20 years. Already a reticent, yet prolific writer for much of her life and a devotee of photography, she began painting in 2020. This new creative outlet was explored as an expectant benefit to achieving a more balanced state of mental health and well-being following the onset and effects of the pandemic.

“My curiosity, the quest to heal black generational suffrage and dedication to inspiring limitless abundant living are the roots that ground my work.” ~T. Reid-Strong

Support the Artist: Books, Journals and Commissioned Artwork