Wales Bonner and Kerry James Marshall launch limited-edition charity capsule

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 9, 2022

Graces Wales Bonner and American artist Kerry James Marshall have linked up to launch a capsule collection through the Wales Bonner label. All proceeds from the limited-edition offer will be donated to Study and Struggle to fight anti-black racism and mass incarceration.

Study and Struggle is a Mississippi-based organisation “that strives to build a world beyond prisons through political education, community building, and mutual aid”.

The capsule includes two T-Shirts printed on organic cotton, one of which features new artwork by the painter created for the collab. The second reproduces a detail from Marshall’s 1993 painting Lost Boys: AKA Black Sonny.

In referencing JM Barrie’s ‘lost boys’ they’re a tribute to black lives lost, “adolescents never granted the opportunity to grow up and realise their potential”.

The collection has also been documented in a series of photos by Tyler Mitchell and is modelled by Binx Walton, Calvin Royal III and Muhammad Fadel Lo.

Grace Wales Bonner said: “It is a profound honour to collaborate with Kerry James Marshall on this capsule collection — an artist whose practice was foremost in my mind when I first conceived of Wales Bonner in 2014. The brand was established as a means to bring an Afro-Atlantic spirit to European notions of luxury.

“My inspiration grew from an observation that the problems Kerry had identified with the western art historical canon were also abundant in the world of fashion. His artistic achievements opened my eyes to the real power and liberating possibilities of image making.”

She added that she hopes everyone who buys a T-shirt will “revere and cherish these images as I do, and share in my happiness that proceeds from the collection will be directed towards the essential goals of freedom and justice”.