This week for Keep the Fires Burning, we are highlighting The Black Blossoms School of Art and Culture founded by Bolanle Tajudeen. Black Blossoms is an intersectional online art school dedicated to documenting and highlighting the art histories and the current creative practices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour.
Black Blossoms was founded by curator and educator, Bolanle Tajudeen in 2015. Since then Black Blossoms, has been supporting and highlighting Black women artist through an interactive public program featuring exhibitions, panels and screenings throughout the UK.
"I was really aware that Black women were facing constant microaggressions in the creative industries and I wanted to create a space that centred and affirmed their talents. Through the platform, I curated exhibitions, screenings and public programmes. As part of that, I devised and taught Art in the Age of Black Girl Magic at the Tate – a course that explored the historical and contemporary practices of Black female artists." - Bolanle Tajudeen interview with Metro
Black Blossoms host sessions on zoom, with learning materials made available on their exclusive learning platform prior to each lesson. They also invite leading artists, art professionals and scholars to teach short courses.
"I decided to launch the Black Blossoms School of Art & Culture as art and cultural education is extremely eurocentric and doesn’t take into account all the ways Black and POC cultures have contributed to our world’s creative culture." - Bolanle Tajudeen interview with Metro
The Black Blossom website has a journal that is a further resource where their dedicated writers document and record the practices of contemporary artists of colour. Each entry centres artists voices through interviews, reviews and essays.