Black Boy Fly

“Black Boy Fly“ describes the journey of artist Omar Hopkinson evolving into a man through his experiences of the art world he was navigating. Through short free-verse statements in a poem and annotation of previous descriptions and reflections, the personal conflicts and stories of the author are shared. The emotions evoked from feeling like a “Black Rose” in the Black community drove the author to believe in his own genius to take a step back from classical art and to rather create a new world where he could both navigate as a Black Boy feeling like a Black Rose and bring a new audience into his world. Through the author’s shared stories of pivoting toward performance art, he describes how those experiences made him feel like a Black Boy who can fly.