Nneka Jones and Bianca Burrows
About Nneka Jones and Bianca Burrows
Based out of: Tampa, Florida
Growing up in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago to be exact, was one of the main factors that has molded Nneka Jones into the artist she is today. Her astounding love for color and special attention to detail, as influenced by her culture, have always been prominent throughout her artistic journey.
The twenty-three-year old artist has graduated with a BFA and minor in Marketing from the University of Tampa in May 2020. Her most recent achievement was a commission from TIME magazine to produce the cover artwork for the August 31st/ September 7th issue 2020. The artist is now speaking at events like Adobe MAX, inspiring others by sharing how she turned her doubts, into dreams, and made those dreams into reality. She uses her artwork as a to speak out against social injustices that are overlooked in everyday life.
Bianca Burrows:
Bianca Burrows is a mixed media commercial artist based in Tampa, Florida. Whether she is painting on a traditional canvas, or crushing massive walls with stencils and a spray can, her work is intentionally customized for each customer. BBArt merges traditional acrylic paints with a variety of unique materials, such as custom-designed stencils and collage paper to create a unique and recognizable style which is best described as refined NY street-art. Her signature approach to street-art is visible in all of Bianca’s pieces.. Bianca draws on the inspiration of her clients’ visions and her personal creativity to create these vibrant, crisp, bold pieces. In 2019, Bianca created The Promise Tree Project to give kids a creative outlet and a safe space to work on self-expression through art.
Notable clients include Mercedes Benz, Bloomingdales, Refinery 29, Lululemon, Land Rover and the MLB.
Artist Statement
The Global Currency is a collaborative mural executed by combining the artistic styles of the two artists, Bianca Burrows and Nneka Jones. Bianca’s commercial art style married with Nneka’s contemporary approach to activism creates the perfect recipe to generate change. The 33’8 x 10’3 mural emphasize the importance of painting for a purpose and how art can be used to enforce active change within the community. The artists chose to focus on the topic of “overfishing” as this is often overlooked and minimalized, leading to a society that is driven by greed and the increase of extinction of different species.This concept is highlighted in a narrative style using symbolism and a high contrast color scheme. With the viewer’s eyes beginning at the far right of the mural, the artists use fish and dollar bills interchangeably that appear to be bursting out of an overflowing fish net. The tight grip of the oversized human hand emphasizes the concept of greed driving these actions, which is only doing more harm to our oceans and the environment in the long run.
The concept then leads into mother nature who is not only camouflaged by the high contrast color scheme but appears to be diminished as she looks directly at the viewer. The red-orange surrounding her hair as well as within her face symbolize “danger” and the need for us to preserve our land and oceans.
Hence, the final portion of the mural to the far left calls for the viewer to self-reflect using the flower inspired by a lotus flower. It uses the calm blue and teal to reinforce that our oceans and species need to be protected and it starts with you. This allows the viewer to recall what they have done and what they can do to create positive change for our oceans and environment.
Moreover, once viewed as a whole and each section of the narration comes together, the mural reflects that of a dollar bill and proclaims that this is the “price” we will all pay if we continue on the path of destruction, i.e. “The Global Currency.” The artists hope that this can be internalized beyond its aesthetic value and help the city of St. Petersburg and wider areas to understand the truth behind #paintingwithapurpose.
About the Mural
Tampa-based visual artist Nneka Jones is collaborating with mixed media artist Bianca Burrows to paint a mural on the topic of overfishing.Jones is best known for her highly-detailed embroidery work which was recently featured on the cover of TIME magazine.
She is also an accomplished painter, photographer and mixed media artist. Inspired by her native country, Trinidad and Tobago, her artwork reflects rich Caribbean tones and often advocates for issues of social justice.
