A Conversation With Artist Carlos Walker
Carlos Walker is an artist based in Alexandria, Virginia. Our exchange, which has been edited, is below.
What does everybody need to know about you and your art?
First, that I’m grateful to God for the gift, which is art. Also, that my (gift) art has allowed me to touch thousands of people because I am able to share with people my activism and my story.
I get the opportunity to share my thoughts without words. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and this has sparked many conversations.
Since I’ve been home, I have sold over 7,200 copies of my book. I have had my art at the World Trade Center three years in a row and have had quite a few other exhibitions. Gratefulness to God is what I would like to say they need to know about me.
Do you have any artistic influences?
Yes, Jacob Lawrence is one of my artistic inspirations. His artistic ability to capture stories. When I first learned about him, I was moving towards the goal of capturing stories, but when I saw his works and how he did The Migration Series, he became my top artist. Not for his aesthetics but for his storytelling ability. He [had] impact and told our history … he probably is known for having one of the largest collections of work that tells our story but with so many paintings.
Gregory Bolden is the next. Without this phenomenon of an artist I wouldn’t be sharing this art with you. He inspired me to do art. I watched him do his art in prison and it sparked something in me. God blessed me by allowing me to see him, which led me to start back, and I’m inspired by his phenomenal works.
Has art helped you process trauma?
Yes, it helped me heal. Learning about Black history the way I learned had me angry. I must admit. I was (pissed at White people in the beginning), however, I realized during this process that we were special.
That our trauma, our stories are what make you and shape you to become the great people that you are (individually and as a whole). When I look back and I see my story as a person I see how my story can help many (if) I share it. It’s the same with us as a people. We have accomplished so much with so little, but with so much.
That so much being God on our side. God has been with this people and that’s what I learned through my art … how we have walked with God through it all and we still exist. My art healed my trauma by showing me how special we are as a people.
Would you talk about the role that faith plays in your art and life?
How, you ask? Well my parents came to see me one day and they were sick and I went back to the cell and got on my knees and cried out to God and asked God to give me something that would allow me to make money so I would never sell drugs again. Well a month later I’m walking on the compound. Where I spotted a (Black guard) and a (White inmate). The inmate was cutting grass in front of the guard.
After studying Black History for three years, my thought [was] of seeing a Black Slavemaster and a White Slave for which I shared with a friend of mine. Two months later, I was going through a Black History book when the idea came back to me and I started that day doing art.
During the next three and a half years I was told three things in my spirit by God. Number one that I would leave prison early, two that the world would see my artwork, and that I am a millionaire. Well as of today God has shown he is faithful. I’m home four years early because he used Mrs. [Brittany K.] Barnett, Kim Kardashian, Van Jones, and John Legend to get former President Donald Trump to sign a prison reform bill (The First Step Act), which allowed me to come home four years early. Second, as I stated earlier, my art has been in the World Trade Center three times. I have exhibited it in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Georgia, Florida. I have also sold over 7,200 copies of my book since I published it.
The biggest of it all, I have been able to share my testimony with everyone I have touched, even if they didn’t purchase a book, which is my greatest gift back to humanity. When I say God knows how to show out, he knows how to show out.
It is my faith that has brought me this far to be able to share this story of what God can do if you believe or better yet trust the process after the vision. The third one is well on its way and it’s not for me … it’s so I can share with the world what a great God he is and so I can help many. I just want to be a willing vessel to help do God’s will.
In August I heard you speak at a Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) event. Would you talk about your experiences with JAC?
That experience was phenomenal because I got the ability to be on stage with my mentor. Gregory Bolden who, if God had never allowed me to meet him in prison, I wouldn’t have created all of that beautiful pastel work that you see. I wouldn’t have a book. God chose Gregory to be the vessel to inspire me to be the artist that I am today. For which I am forever grateful.
