“Gym Shoes n Class”

“Gym Shoes n Class” is part of a series of ballerina inspired paintings. The classic peachy-pink ballerina shoe was designed to match the skin tone of dancers who would flaunt them. Dancers were assumed caucasian, and had pointe pale shoes to prefer. The shoe options early on, ranged from white to peach, with no consideration for the woman of color. Up until recently, African American Ballerina’s accommodated themselves by dusting their pale shoes with brown makeup. I kept this in mind when I set out on this new series of ballerina inspired artwork. This painting is a shout out to African American Ballerina’s. I wanted to give them a stage and spotlight that the ballerina world should’ve gave them along time ago.

The gym shoe here speaks to identity and purpose. It’s knowing who you are, accepting it and loving it. When sketching this painting, I came up with a super lame quote; “In a world full of ballerina’s, be a gym shoe” lol kinda cringe-worthy now, but the thought behind was Courage. Have the courage to be yourself in every space.

I contrasted the gym shoe with the pointe ballerina shoe to challenge the way we view femininity as well as diversity. Gym shoes are often viewed as a more masculine shoe; hardly associated with elegance and poise. The pointe shoe however is one of delicacy and womanhood. When the two unlikely shoes are paired, it forces you to confront them as individuals first; then you can appreciate how they work together as a whole.

Diversity is an important lesson not only for the ballerina world, but for the world in general. Our differences don’t have to be ugly misfits. ‘Paintings’ are quite boring without distinctions.