Micah Johnson. Micah is a self-taught figurative artist who uses strong gestural lines combined with loose brush strokes to create dramatic portraits primarily featuring African-American children. These subjects, which are often inspired by his young nephews, began appearing in Micah’s work ever since he overheard his 4-year old nephew ask, “can astronauts be black?”. After seeing the overwhelming response to his paintings, Micah realized he needed to expand this message to reach a broader demographic and he created an animated character named Aku. What sets Aku apart is his freedom and confidence, his openness to people of all kinds of people and, his desire to help. Lethabo Huma. Lethabo Huma. Protecting black girls is explicitly what building a better future means, yet there are rarely any spaces built for them to grow, their voices are routinely suppressed, their bodies sexualized & their identities stripped from them.

The emotional, spiritual and mental wellbeing of a child needs to be nurtured and guarded, yet the world often sits, watches & uses them until they are older black women and then uses them as a form of entertainment.

For years, black women had to take care of themselves and everybody else around them, from being the single mother & helper who raises kids who aren’t her own, to being the only c-suite executive who has to outwork everyone for one-third the pay of 'others'.

So, the future is currently being built by the only people who are protecting Black girls, and it's black women.