This Artist Builds Sculptures Using Only Black Lego

This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.

Artist Ekow Nimako doesn’t just build sculptures out of the traditional material of paint or clay, he carves them from objects of his young obsession: Lego. Since 2013, the Toronto-born artist has been using the plastic construction toys—black in color—as a means to facilitate expression, covering topics around blackness and general otherness. Most known for Silent Knight, a piece that grabbed onlookers during 2015’s art festival Nuit Blanche, he continues to push the envelope with his very specific niche. VICE went to his studio recently to figure out his thought process and ask why he builds monuments for black youth.

VICE: This may sound a bit obvious and trivial, but why do you only use black Lego pieces?
Ekow Nimako: When I was living in London, Ontario...I found that growing up, whether I was playing with Lego or watching cartoons, movies, or comic books, that representation was always an issue. When you’re young, you really don’t understand that.

For me, it was important to create and stylize a hero in the image of a young black warrior. Even, just to consider the child’s hair and cornrows, and how often people try to police black hair and criminalize it. It was important to paint a picture of a mythological hero, that at the same time, looked like many of the residents of Scarborough, Canada.

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