jourdan barnes

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jourdan Barnes has always been influenced by & surrounded in art. He attended McDonough #15 Creative Arts Elementary located in New Orleans French Quarters, where he quickly discovered his affinity for creativity in Visual Arts. Displaced in 2005 until 2007, Barnes returned to the culture filled city of New Orleans with little ambition for the arts. He was abruptly introduced to the organization YAYA where his passion for the arts flourished, he began mentoring students through art in schools in the New Orleans area and is now YAYA’s Lead Teaching Artist, mentoring the youth artist. Barnes has also completed his education in Art and Psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana. Barnes works closely with those affected by STDs/HIV through his professional work as the Community Engagement Specialist with the STD/HIV Program of Louisiana's Department of Public Health. He has had artworks displayed across the world in Dublin and Wexford, Ireland. Barnes's work has also been in highly respected museums such as The Guggenheim of New York, The Ogden Museum, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Barnes is aspiring to become a Pediatric Art Therapist where he would utilize his talents to serve his community and the children that are in need of artistic expression for therapeutic purposes.

Imen Series

Imen is a series created to show the beauty, delicacy and strength of black men. Imen (ee-mehn) is a Haitian Creole word that translates into Human. Titling this series "Imen" is important to Barnes as a black queer man because he would see black men as monsters and be afraid to interact or approach black men because of the things he was taught. Barnes associated words like aggression, uncivilized, abusive, and ignorant with black men and was socially conditioned to be afraid of himself and isolated from other black men. Barnes started seeing black men (and himself) as human and seeing beyond one’s environment, beyond what black men adorned themselves in, and most importantly, beyond the trauma they have endured. Barnes created this series for other black men to also see themselves in unfamiliar settings and states that would encourage empowerment and a since of pride.