Meet Ya'qub Shabazz

Ya'qub Shabazz is a visual artist, collector, and art educator focused on highlighting the beauty and contribution of Black American artists. He has lectured at various universities, including Cornell University, the University of Wisconsin, Chicago State University, and Tompkins Cortland Community College, on mass incarceration and the impact of the prison industry on our communities. Shabazz is an experienced case manager and group facilitator working with at-risk populations and has developed a unique approach to reaching incarcerated youth through art-based interventions. His work explores the relationship between contemporary artistic expression and historical African aesthetics and includes oil painting, wood carving, acrylic painting, and woodblock printing, to name a few. His work highlights the beauty and contribution of artists of African descent while also exploring the relationship between contemporary artistic expression, wellness, cultural expression and uncovering the missing pages of art history.

“What is beautiful art? It was in the feet of Sammy Davis Jr., in the brush of Lois Mailou Jones, and in the spirit of those ancestors that carved our innate beauty into blocks of wood.”

— Ya'qub Shabazz