Created by Ghanaian artist Kwaku Ntow and inspired by Chuck King's reflections on the internal battles of Black men, Jekyll x Hyde explores the tension between tenderness and toughness, peace and protection, vulnerability and strength.

Two Black figures meet with swords drawn, but the battle is ultimately with the self.

Black men are often taught that survival requires hardness. Be strong. Be prepared. Protect yourself. Never allow the world to mistake kindness for weakness. Yet inside that same man can exist love, patience, gentleness, creativity, fear, compassion, and the desire simply to live without always having to be prepared for battle.

Jekyll x Hyde refuses to declare either side the enemy.

There are moments when a Black man must know how to be gentle, and moments when he must know how to stand firm. The struggle comes in learning when each is necessary without allowing one to destroy the other.

The crossed swords become a representation of that internal conflict. The loving man and the fierce man are not two different people. They are parts of the same person learning how to coexist.

Jekyll x Hyde is about Black masculinity in its fullness: loving without becoming defenseless, being strong without becoming hardened, and understanding that tenderness and fierceness can live inside the same Black man.

Presented as a high quality reproduction on thick matte paper and finished in a .75 inch matte black wood frame with a protective Acrylite front. Lightweight and ready to hang with hardware included.

The Bloodline Art Gallery
Preserving Black art. Bringing our history home.