Ekua Holmes

• Name — Ekua Holmes • Born — 6 July 1955 • Birthplace — Roxbury, Massachusetts • Education — Massachusetts College of Art and Design (BFA)

Ekua Holmes was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1955. Holmes holds a BFA in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

As a young artist, Holmes discovered the power of found objects, which derive their identity as art from places as well as the social histories attached to the objects. She uses found newspapers, magazines, old stamps, and so on. She often creates patterns using these materials. Childhood, family bonds, memory, and resilience are frequent themes in her work. Many of Holmes's collages are reminiscent of works by African and African American artists such as the late Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Njideka Akunyili. Like these artists, her works reflect a commitment to Black imagery and representation. About her work, Holmes said, “In everything I create I hear them saying, ‘Remember Me,’ and through my work I honor their legacies by bringing them forward to life with torn and cut shapes of found colors and textures. With these scraps and remnants, assembled like a down-home quilt, I rebuild my world, putting in what speaks to my personal and cultural narrative.”

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2015, Holmes's Google Doodle illustration honoring the civil rights leader was the featured image on Google's U.S. homepage. The collage depicts King walking arm in arm with fellow activists in Selma, Alabama.

Holmes founded The Great Black Art Collection, an organization dedicated to both giving a platform to emerging artists and to introducing Black art to previously unreached audiences. Holmes is currently Vice-Chair of the Boston Arts Commission. Holmes is also currently working in Boston as an assistant director at the Center for Art and Community Partnerships at MassArt. There, she manages sparc! the ArtMobile.

Holmes has illustrated several children's picture books, garnering awards for several. • Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, written by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick Press, 2015) • Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth (Candlewick Press, 2017) • The Stuff of Stars, by Marion Dane Bauer (Candlewick Press, 2018) • What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, by Chris Barton (Beach Lane Books, 2018) • Black Is a Rainbow Color, by Angela Joy (Roaring Brook Press, 2020) • Black Girl You Are Atlas, by Renée Watson (Kokila, 2024)