NEWS AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Aug. 25, 2020: A Caribbean immigrant and Tampa, FL resident’sunique embroidered artwork is the current cover of Time Magazine this month.
Trinidad and Tobago national Nneka Jones’ stunning-yet controversial work of the American flag sets the tone for a series of conversations and essays focused on the fostering of a more unbiased and even-handed future for African Americans for the Time Magazine August 31 to September 7th issue. Jones, 23, is a recent graduate of the University of Tampa in Florida with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a minor in marketing.
Times Magazine’s art director Victor Williams, found Jones’ work on Instagram and was incredibly impressed with her embroidered portraits, which he thought were paintings until he noticed a thread that was left unstitched.
The current piece done specifically for the Times shows the American flag fading from dark black to the reds of the actual American flag. “That reflects the idea of reshaping the country and elevating Black leaders,” she told Tampa Bay.com, adding that she made the flag incomplete and left the needle to represent that reshaping the country is a work in progress.
On her response to the honor jones said: “I’m overwhelmed and grateful. It feels great to have that response and that so many people believed in me to the point that I would get on the cover of Time magazine. It’s a breakthrough for me that I can succeed as an artist, a Black artist, a Black woman artist, and a Trinidadian artist living in the U.S.”
Four-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist and producer Pharrell Willams curated the series for the magazine.
