ROGER BRACKINS What shouldn’t i be? | Acrylic | 2021

“Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise and Tupac’s The Rose That Grew from Concrete was in heavy thought as I created this piece.
Utilizing mixed media texture, acrylic, coffee grounds and self taught technique, I was able to form such a concept as shown.

I wanted this piece to embody the challenges of our black youth. I wanted this piece to be timeless. Given the same
struggles our elders endured, are the same ones we face today. We, black men and women, are often faced with
discouragement, brutal attacks of racism, prejudices, and oppression. We are too often told we aren’t enough.
We can’t do that. We can’t go there. And that we will never be...as society continues its failed attempts to weigh
us down, the question still remains the same..What shouldn’t I be?”
-Roger Brackins

Roger Brackins is a self taught artist from Cleveland, OH. Brackins started drawing at the age of five, but it wasn’t
until 2018 that Brackins started painting and fell in love with it. Brackins experienced the struggle of growing up in
inner-city Cleveland, but art became an escape and a passion. Brackins states, “I attribute my artistic talents to my
loving and supportive mother. Her constant drive, resilience, inspiration, guidance, wisdom, and determination paved
the way for the artist and man that I am today. I truly consider art a life saver and can’t imagine my life without it.”