K.O. Lewis’ portrait of Moneta Sleet Jr. is more than a tremendous work of art. It’s a glimpse into how a man from Owensboro captured some of the most iconic images of the Civil Rights movement. Lewis on Thursday described his inspiration for the portrait and how it is part of a bigger project — including a possible festival next year — to educate local students about Sleet’s impact beyond Owensboro.
Origin of the portrait
About a year ago, Emmy Woosely and Sarah Hemingway with the Leadership Owensboro Class of 2021 approached Lewis about a painting.
“They were really wanting to find a way to celebrate local pioneers from Owensboro,” Lewis said. “The idea they had was to highlight someone who is very prominent but has not been celebrated in this area in a way that they felt was necessary. That was kind of the launching point for bringing attention and awareness to this great man.”
Lewis said they weren’t initially sure what they wanted to depict with the portrait. They had to make decisions such as the size of the portrait, if it was just going to be a painting of Sleet’s face, and if they wanted to highlight his works.
“We kind of settled on just focusing on what he loved, and that’s photography,” Lewis said. “That put me in a position to have to go do some research, because sadly enough I didn’t know a whole lot about Moneta Sleet. It was important to do that (research).”
Lewis said he found out that if it wasn’t for Sleet, society would not have many of the visual accounts of the Civil Rights movement, specifically of Martin Luther King Jr.
“When you really consider a lot of the black-and-white visuals that we have of Martin Luther King, the visuals that were inside of this home, and what their life was about, they come from Moneta Sleet,” Lewis said.
Lewis noted that Sleet had developed such a strong relationship with the King family, he personally traveled with King.
“He was personally in the front lines when marches were taking place, when Civil Rights movements were taking place in Birmingham, Alabama, and all across the South and really the nation,” Lewis said. “And he captured that in real time. It wasn’t as if he was on the outskirts, trying to see what was going on. He was in the danger zone of things. He was a part of everything that was taking place.”
About the images portrayed
Lewis said as he found out more about Sleet, the project really took on this whole life of its own because Sleet was “an activist just as anyone else.”
However, Lewis said it was difficult to find a photo of Sleet to use as a visual guide for the portrait.
“He didn’t take any pictures of himself, which kind of spoke to him as a person,” Lewis said. “He was solely focused on the purpose of his mission, the purpose of capturing the movement and documenting the movement the way it needed to be captured.”
Lewis finally found a visual of Sleet holding a camera. That’s what Lewis used to portray Sleet for the central focus of the portrait.
There are also two images in the background of Lewis’ portrait, one on each side of Sleet.
Over Sleet’s right shoulder is an image of Coretta Scott King holding her daughter as the two grieve during Martin Luther King’s funeral. That’s the image for which Sleet won a Pulitzer Prize.
“I would have been remiss if I did not incorporate that in some way because I want people to understand what his impact and what its purpose was,” Lewis said.
Over Sleet’s left shoulder an image depicting a photo Sleet took of a woman marching in Birmingham, Alabama.
“It was his favorite photo because it was in the moment,” Lewis said. “It was a visual where it was raining. That’s why you have all the plastic wrap around her head and covering her body, because they are literally marching on a dirt road in the middle of the rain, and it’s cold and they’re doing it. They’re fighting the fight, no matter the elements, no matter the circumstances, and they are not going to give up.”
Lewis said, “It spoke to the perseverance, it spoke to the passion, it spoke to the power that these people who did not have very much, but the links that they were willing to go through to give someone like myself the opportunities that I have today. So I had to incorporate the visual.”
Lewis said the balance that both of those visuals have and how they’re mirror images of each other really created balance in the aesthetic of the painting itself.
“It was kind of like it was all supposed to happen,” Lewis said. “I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. When trying to put this visual together, laying it out and really having a good time with it, it all just came together.”
The bigger Sleet project and festival
The portrait was only the first piece of what organizers plan is a much larger project. There could be a sculpture made, and there are talks of trying to rename Max Rhoads Park to the Moneta Sleet Jr. Park.
But the ultimate goal is to put together a full festival in February 2023. It’s still early in the planning stages. For now, the portrait will be used to bring awareness about Sleet and the bigger project.
“It’s still more of a concept at this point,” Lewis said of the festival. “It’s being discussed and there’s a desire to have a festival. At this point, we’re trying to gain more momentum to get to a point where we can have a festival.”
The details haven’t been finalized, but there are discussions of allowing the painting to move from one school to another where it can be displayed safely and appreciated for short periods of time at each place. It’s currently at the H.L. Neblett Community Center.
In addition to the painting, resources can be routed to the school so that the students can learn about Sleet and his impact.
“It’s a learning opportunity about someone who is a pioneer from our community,” Lewis said.
Owensboro High School students Victoria Garrard and Ellie Johnson, both part of the Bluegrass Scholars program, are actively involved in the Sleet project.
Garrard has been going through a book that contains many of Sleet’s photos and their historical significance. She’s scheduling social media posts about Sleet and his photos for the next year “to spark attention and interest in the festival.” Garrard said while many photos are from the Civil Rights movement, there are also some from afterward that show celebrities and his family.
Johnson said her main job at the moment is to schedule the “well-being of the transit of the painting as it travels throughout the schools.” She said they have already had several places reach out requesting to display the painting for a period. Johnston said they are also developing lesson plans for each grade level so the students can learn more about Sleet.
