Garvin LeBlanc of Canefield has been featured in a global collaborative art project against hate. The project entitled “Love Always Wins” features 160 artists from across the Globe and Garvin represents Dominica and the kweyol language.
The young artist explained that he went through a lot of concepts before deciding. His aim was to demonstrate ‘the concept of “love” and “winning” together in a way that would be relatable to a lot of people’.
“The final piece features somebody who appears to have just finished a race for love and is wearing a gold medal around the neck while holding a heart high above the head. The heart is supposed to symbolize a trophy and the medal shows that they came in first place. I used warm colors because feeling love is a warm experience just like victory”.
He says that he feels honored to have been chosen to present a piece, explains that his submission depicts “a winner, neither man nor woman, holding up a shining heart with a medal around the neck”.
“The symbols were all hand drawn and then digitally redone. There’s some fainter details that I feel really tie the piece together like the linework that meanders the background and the star behind the main figure. There are several little custom icons that I scattered around the image to give a playful feel. The icons that are scattered are inspired by life in Dominica. There are feathers, zigzags, waterfalls and even some unique ones based on the stripes of our flag and our 767 area code. It’s something like a drawn snapshot of someone who ran a race for love and is showing off how proud they are..”
He continues, “At the bottom, we see the title (Love Always Wins) of the project in Kwéyol(though maybe not standard kweyol). My “Jāltwa” logo is also on the bottom left of the piece”.
LeBlanc says that he was contacted by Gabriel shortly after Hurricane Maria at a time when he was in a creative rut.
“Circumstances were really uncomfortable and it was difficult to really make the kind of art that I was used to. When I was contacted to submit a piece, I felt like “wow, my hard work is finally paying off” and that I had a chance to really get my work out there. I’m still in awe that I’m part of something as huge as this. To have my artwork in a project with 159 artists from all over the world is just a huge blessing and I feel like it’s a testament to the amount of work that I put towards my craft.”
LeBlanc says that he hopes that this will inspire other aspiring artists to be unafraid to put their work in places for the world to see. He was contacted through Behance where he has an online portfolio.
His advise to others is ‘You never know who is watching and where the small pieces of yourself that you share with the world will take you. So keep the faith and keep working’.
All 160 pieces will be available for printing once the crowdfunding goal is reached. We encourage all to visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/love-always-wins/love-always-wins to support.
You can find other works from Garvin LeBlanc on Behance.
