During Black History Month, Grady High School in Atlanta, GA, is collaborating with a local Trader Joe’s to celebrate black science fiction and fantasy authors. Michael T. Powell is the Head Artist and Art Director of this project, which is working to build a network of artists throughout the city. Alongside the usual array of colorful art in Trader Joe’s will hang portraits of authors such as Samuel R. Delany, Nnedi Okorafor, and N.K. Jemisin, with short biographies contextualizing their works.
Okorafor shared her portrait (above) on her Facebook after DarkStarr—a local Afrofuturism arts and speculative fiction collective—stumbled across the art installation. You can see more photos on their Tumblr.
Aside from honoring the authors, the portraits are also just lovely, with an otherworldly look that fits the SFF works they’re highlighting:
