TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED, AND BLACK

The hoodie has long been associated with a racist stereotype of criminality in Black communities and a device for racial profiling.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black reflects Jeffrey Kent’s lived experience and draws its title from Nina Simone’s enduring affirmation of Black identity, possibility, and self-determination. Building on Fashion Trends and Stereotypes (2004–2005), the collection examines identity, vulnerability, perception, and resilience. Kent repeatedly portrays himself wearing a hoodie, a source of personal comfort and protection that also carries racialized associations of suspicion and threat. Against those projections, the figures assert dignity, humanity, and self-possession. Using acrylic, oil bar, marker, and untreated copper leaf, Kent also embraces oxidation and material change as metaphors for endurance, transformation, and thriving against extraordinary odds.