Meet Ekua Holmes

Meet Ekua Holmes! She is an esteemed artist and community activist in Boston.

One of Ekua’s favorite ways to make art is to use paper, fabric, paint, and other objects to tell a story. This form of art is called collage.

Ekua has lived in Roxbury her whole life. The colors, sights, and sounds of this community appeal to her. As a small girl, Ekua loved going to her nana’s house almost every week. Ekua’s nana would greet her at the door and invite her in to make art. Ekua would spend all day in her artist’s seat at her grandmother’s desk, tearing sheets of paper to make art.

In third grade, Ekua’s teacher realized that Ekua seemed to enjoy art more than anything else. She believed that Ekua could become an artist one day. After that, Ekua’s mother proceeded to enroll Ekua in classes at the Museum of Fine Arts on the weekends. To Ekua, these visits to the museum were a real treat. She would spend all day at the museum. She was pleased to see many different kinds of art and read about artists from all over the world.

As a teen Ekua began taking photographs. During the summer she would leave Boston to visit her grandfather, whose farm was in Arkansas. One summer, Ekua’s grandfather gave her a box full of old photographs. She loved these photographs from her grandfather and agreed to keep them safe.

Using the photographs from her grandfather, Ekua made artwork that helped her share stories about her family. Her artwork also helped teach people about the joyful experiences, rich traditions, and historical ordeals of African Americans.

In her artwork, named "Portrait of Aunt Mary’s Story", Ekua made a collage and then added shutters. The shutters evoke a window, giving us a view into the lives of African Americans during the Great Migration. The Great Migration was when African Americans were fleeing from the South to places in the North like Boston. They left the South to seek jobs and a better life.

Ekua shares about her artwork often. In her speeches she says that it is important for her to make beautiful, meaningful images of African American people and culture. One of her favorite subjects to show in her artwork are places in Roxbury.

Ekua’s artwork is steeped in color and texture. Some of her illustrations and collage show people reading, seated on benches, or jumping rope.

You can see Ekua’s artwork in museums, but you can also see it when you read books that she has illustrated.

Ekua has won prizes for her illustrations. She uses her artwork to help share the story that is told in the books.

It is her dream for children to see themselves in her illustrations and immerse themselves in the story.

Ekua thinks nature is art, too. She started The Roxbury Sunflower Project to help the community see the beauty of Roxbury and to understand the needs of the environment.

If you walk near Grove Hall on Blue Hill Avenue or Warren Street in the late summer or fall, you may see the sunflowers with tall green stems. Ekua and other people in the community planted the sunflower seeds there to represent love, art, and the power of community.