Ohio artist displays work for Juneteenth Freedom Festival

CLEVELAND — The city of Cleveland honored the Juneteenth holiday all weekend long, with a festival featuring food, live music, family-friendly activities and programs. One artist’s work is making an impact, on display at the Juneteenth Cleveland Freedom Fest. 

Jerome White was filling his home with an aroma that gave him inspiration for the piece he presented at the Juneteenth Cleveland Freedom Fest.

He calls himself a visual recorder of history, as all of his images are meant to touch and inspire others.

“If you enjoy doing what you do, you will grow and you will be successful at that,” he said.

He’s been doing art ever since he was a little boy, throughout his career he taught at his elementary school, JR high and high school.

His work can even be found in children’s books, but now he knows his art is about to matter more than ever.

“I was invited back down to paint live again at the Juneteenth festival, so this image here is called lifted,” he said.

White painted live alongside 50 artists at the festival, and the story behind this event goes back to 2020.

When the protests happened in June 2020, some of these same artists like White helped beautify windows that were boarded up on small businesses.

Emily Appelbaum, the executive director of Ingenuity Cleveland, said those joint projects in Cleveland are still very well alive today.

“You’ll see these large panels which are primed and ready to go, you’ll have community murals that are crowd interactive,” she said.

White relied on his inspiration to get the job done and present the perfect art piece.

“The butterflies are going to represent the spirit of our ancestors, and what they are doing,” he said. “It’s almost like the chain is like a noose which represents slavery and oppression and what they are doing is they are lifting that noose away,” he said.

As White got this piece of work ready for the Freedom Fest, he couldn’t help but reflect on what Juneteenth means to him.

“To each individual to understand where they came from, to celebrate who they are and to let them know we are not defined by our situation but what you do on a daily basis to overcome adversity,” he said. “The gift that I have, I am able to share it with the world, so when I’m gone, it will keep resonating that message over and over again for years to come.”