Local Artist Antionette Cauley’s ‘Blackbird Fly’ Collection Comes to Phoenix for U.S. Debut

GateWay Community College’s Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion recently debuted local artist Antoinette Cauley’s “Blackbird Fly,” a collection of works featuring the local artist’s journey from Phoenix to Berlin during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cauley’s work is heavily influenced by rap music and Black American hood culture with an overall focus on fem empowerment.

“Blackbird Fly” explores the long-term effects of trauma (both generationally and individually) and the systemic barriers it creates for members of the Black American community.

The vibrant, visual series is thought-provoking and provides a glimpse into the early works of the artist, most known for her murals of Civil Rights activist James Baldwin in downtown Phoenix.

Phoenix is the first U.S. stop on a two-year tour for Cauley’s exhibit, which originally premiered in Berlin where the artist is based. The exhibit is free and open to the public in the new art gallery space at the school and is sponsored by GateWay’s U.S. Department of Education Title V grant EXITO.

More information at gatewaycc.edu