Author and poet Tariq Toure has been a friend of mine since we marched together in the now-disbanded 300 Men March. Most of the time, we were on alert, patrolling neighborhoods, but there were often long walks between them as well, where many of us would socialize. Tariq lived pretty close to me at the time, so we would ride together to and from marches, and would spend hours just talking. As the uprising expanded in Baltimore, we would often find ourselves at protests together, fighting for justice for Tyrone West, Freddie Gray, Timothy Caughman, and many others. I always went out to take pictures. Tariq initially didn’t say much when mics were passed around, but gradually became more vocal. Tariq has a way with words. He began launching into speeches, reciting his poetry, blasting the systems of injustice that kept chokeholds on our city. At one of the first times he spoke publically, I snapped a picture of him, poised to take the mic and speak. Our friendship grew, and he began writing books. Together with visuals from Shannon Wallace and Kyle Pompey, I designed his book of poetry Black Seeds: The Poetry and Reflections of Tariq Toure, and then also helped get his next book 2 Parts Oxygen: How I Learned to Breathe get made as well. I began sketching a portrait of Tariq based on that photo years ago, but only finally finished it this month. The patterning in the background is the same pattern I designed into his book, which forms a pattern of Black Seeds. Touré’s poetry and prose has been featured in award-winning publications such as Muslim Matters, Salon, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The Nation Magazine and Sapelo Square. Black Seeds, Toure’s debut collection of poetry ranked among the top in African American Poetry and Literature releases in Black History month on Amazon and was the winner of Best Poetry Book of Baltimore in 2016 by City Paper Magazine. Touré has been a featured lecturer/performer at Howard University, Princeton University, Georgetown University, among many others. He has been regarded by legendary hip hop artist Black Thought as the Amiri Baraka of our era. Imam Omar Suleiman has identified Tariq as a vessel of the Muslim community.

This portrait of Baltimore musician Abdu Ali was done for an article for the Baltimore City Paper that was never published. I loved the drawing so much that I decided to finish it on my own.

Michael Fred Phelps II is an American retired competitive swimmer and the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). When he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps had already tied the record of eight medals of any colour at a single Games by winning six gold and two bronze medals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row. All 28 of Phelps’ Olympics medals are represented, with the darkest as bronze, the medium as silver, and the brightest as gold. The wavy pool lines between the medals delineate what Olympic years he won them in. This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.

John Constantine Unitas, nicknamed “Johnny U” and “The Golden Arm”, was an American football player in the National Football League (NFL). He spent the majority of his career playing for the Baltimore Colts. He was a record-setting quarterback, and the NFL’s most valuable player in 1959, 1964, and 1967. For 52 years he held the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass (set between 1956 and 1960), until broken in 2012 by Drew Brees. Unitas was the prototype of the modern era marquee quarterback, with a strong passing game, media fanfare, and widespread popularity. He has been consistently listed as one of the greatest NFL players of all time. He nickname was The Golden Arm because of his excellent ability to throw with his right arm, and he’s also of Lithuanian heritage. The old Lithuanian flag has a knight carrying a sword in his right arm and a shield in his left, so I combined the two and replaced the sword with a football. This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.

Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire 23-year major league career for the Baltimore Orioles (1955–1977), which still stands as the record for the longest career spent with a single team in major league history. He batted and threw right-handed, though he was a natural left-hander. Nicknamed “The Human Vacuum Cleaner” or “Mr. Hoover”, he is considered one of the greatest defensive third basemen in major league history. He won 16 consecutive Gold Glove Awards during his career, tied with pitcher Jim Kaat for the second-most all-time for any player at any position. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. Using his nickname, I used the Hoover logo in a pattern of 5 (his jersey number). This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.

Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr, nicknamed “The Iron Man”, is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his position’s most offensively productive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in during his career, and he won two Gold Glove Awards for his defense. He was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP). Ripken holds the record for consecutive games played, 2,632, surpassing Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 that had stood for 56 years and that many deemed unbreakable. In 2007, he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, and currently has the fourth highest voting percentage of all time (98.53%). I created a background using a pattern of home plates, 2,632 of them, the number of games in his streak. This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.

Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. is a former American football linebacker who played all of his 17-year professional career for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played college football for the University of Miami, and earned All-America honours. Lewis was drafted by the Ravens in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft, and upon his retirement following the 2012 season, was the last remaining active player from the team’s inaugural season. Lewis played middle linebacker his entire career, and is considered to be one of the greatest ever to play the position. He was a 13-time Pro Bowler, a 10-time All-Pro, and one of the few players in NFL history to play in a Pro Bowl in three different decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s). He is also considered to be the greatest Baltimore Raven of all-time. When he was little, his stepfather used to be violent against his mother. To protect her, Lewis began doing pushups. He bought a deck of cards, and whatever card he flipped over, he would do that many pushups. He still does this same routine today. The background is made up of 52 playing cards, the number of cards in a deck, and the cards 5 & 2 are also showing (that’s why his jersey number is 52). This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story. He is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. He liked to write with a cat on his shoulder. The background is made up of cat faces, as well as the original manuscript of his poem The Raven. This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.

Terrell Raymonn Suggs, nicknamed “T-Sizzle,” is an American football outside linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Arizona State, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American. The Ravens selected him with the tenth overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, and he is the team’s all-time leader in sacks. Suggs is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time All-Pro, was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2011, and was part of the Ravens team that won Super Bowl XLVII. As of the conclusion of the 2018 NFL season, Suggs is tied for 13th all-time in career sacks in NFL history. His teammates know his as a jokester, and whenever he gets asked what college he graduated from, he always says “Ball So Hard University”. I designed a logo for the university and built a pattern around multiples of 5. His jersey number is 55. This piece was commissioned by Michael’s Cafe for display in their restaurant.