Harriet

Rico Gatson, a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, uses a distinctive style of portraiture to explore issues of Black consciousness, identity, and sociopolitical power dynamics. This mixed media print portrays Harriet Tubman, a leading American abolitionist and political activist. Called the “Moses of her people, ” Tubman was born into an enslaved family but escaped and devoted her life to freeing other enslaved persons using the network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. The portrait is part of Gatson’s long-running “Icons” series of paintings, drawings, and prints that celebrates prominent Black civil rights activists, writers, musicians, actors, and sports figures. In these works, Gatson combined existing black-and-white photographs with radiating lines of brilliant color that symbolize centers of power. Gatson explains: “I was thinking early on about these figures as superheroes. As the series progressed, they became literally icons—the halos and lines are a graphic representation of energy coming out of them. The most important part for me is feeling.”