Conversations with Dave McClinton

Black American artist, Dave McClinton, is committed to making people have conversations about the dark history of African Americans. Through his art, he urges his viewers to reminisce about the African experience of slavery and strive that has shaped the African American identity, and have conversations towards getting past these and ultimately, getting to healing.

McClinton wants to bring the hurt out into the open, instead of leaving it in dark, unspoken places where perpetual anger is guaranteed.

He does this by using digital collage to create unique faces which tell stories of the Black experience in America. The portraits are right in your face, and force you to think about what each subject must have gone through - the lives that they must have lived. Empathy is the goal here, and redemption is the hope.

See some of McClinton’s beautiful and unique work from his Black Life (2019-2020) series below.