Artist Statement

Shabazz Larkin is a Nashville-based artist, writer, and creative director whose work moves between painting, murals, sculpture, literature and public art. His practice centers on telling cultural stories—honoring the past, reflecting the present, and creating images that feel rooted in community and lived experience.

Shabazz is on a mission to bring the stories of the culture into the public square, harnessing the energy of the South and transforming it into monuments of pride, memory, and belonging.

In addition to studio paintings and portraits, Larkin creates sculptures and monuments that engage directly with history and place. His approach to public art begins with listening—studying the stories, values, and identities of a community before shaping a work that reflects collective pride rather than personal expression.

Across mediums, his work asks a simple question: how can art help us see ourselves, our history, and each other more clearly?

In 2017, Shabazz moved his family to Nashville, Tennessee, where he began collecting and sharing the stories of everyday people and their encounters with God, transforming those accounts into street art across the city. At the same time, in his studio practice, he creates portraits of Black figures rendered in stark black or deep red tones—an intentional challenge to the Eurocentric standards that have long defined beauty in Western art.

 

Lately, Shabazz and his two sons have turned their attention to building Larkin Art & Company, an art gallery and product design studio creating children's books, family games, and self-care tools that help bridge the mindfulness gap for a broader spectrum of people.