If I could invite you into my home for a cup of tea, I would sit you down and we would have a loving discussion about the benefits of creating art on the human mind. And then I’d start by showing you one of my favorite pieces, Marilyn, Anew — a striking paint by number piece that stays with you. She’s an African American woman with shining blonde hair, carefree, slipping down a 1960s street in a white dress. There’s something both joyful and poignant about her presence, a snapshot in time that seems simple, yet her carefree presence is during a time of history that wasn't so friendly to those who looked like her. Yet, she clings to the joy of just being alive.
I can’t look at a Black woman strolling carefree through a 1960s street without feeling the tension in that image. Because we all know the history. The 1960s were not an easy, lighthearted time for Black Americans. They were marked by segregation, violence, daily indignities, and the constant need to be vigilant just to stay safe. For a Black woman, simply walking down the street was often an act layered with caution rather than ease.
And yet here she is.
Unburdened. Upright. Light on her feet. Not performing strength, not bracing for harm—just being.
Graceful. Beautiful. Feminine.
That contrast is powerful, and very intentional. The piece doesn’t deny history; it pushes back against the idea that history gets the final word on inner life.
From a mental health perspective, this matters deeply. We now understand that chronic stress—especially the kind rooted in discrimination and systemic injustice—takes a real toll on both mind and body. It shows up as anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, fatigue and many other chronic illnesses. When entire communities are denied safety or rest, that stress compounds across multiple generations.
So when I see a piece like Marilyn, Anew, I see a woman taking back an inner power that was long denied her. A reclamation.
There’s something quietly radical here, isn't it? Historically, Black women have often been depicted through the lens of struggle, resilience, or suffering—stories that are real, but incomplete. Marilyn, Anew insists on displaying a joy and femininity without explanation, during a time that pummeled Black women with sadness and strife. It displays pleasure without apology and a real breakthrough of real human existence.
