Tommie Smith's Life and Olympic Feats Get Graphic Novel Treatment in Page-Turner "Victory. Stand!"

On Oct.16, 1968, in Mexico City, three Olympians became global icons. 

In the decades since, the medals won by Team USA's Tommie Smith and John Carlos, with Australia's Peter Norman -- and their actions during the ceremony while officials hoisted the "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- were revisited and replayed countless times through film, broadcast specials, print media and, eventually, online. 

Now for the first time, Smith's life and gold medal feat have gotten a graphic novel treatment on the pages of "Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice" co-created with best-selling author Derrick Barnes and award-winning comic artist Dawud Anyabwile. 

Just days following its Sept. 27 release, the book earned a contender spot as finalist for the 2022 National Book Award for young people's literature, with other accolades via The New York Times Book Review and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Much like Smith's on-track surge to set a 200m world record, "Victory. Stand!" and its compelling messages are likely to capture gold. 

The 208-page glossy volume opens at the starting blocks of the Olympic track but quickly pivots to Smith's hardscrabble childhood with 11 siblings in rural Texas. 

Readers learn Smith's memories of stern and faithful parents, who eventually relocated the family to California as part of the Great Migration. Through the first two chapters (about 100 pages) the narrative toggles from youthful observations back to the on-track action, relating childhood milestones as context for Mexico City's play-by-play. 

At a book signing event in an activities room of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church last week, about 50 attendees listened as Anyabwile, Barnes and Smith share details of their creative process, which commenced in 2018, in step with a High Museum of Art exhibition honoring 50 years since Mexico City. 

Barnes, who previously wrote over 10 youth books including "The King of Kindergarten" and "Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut," described Smith's "excited conversations like an uncle telling a great story" at Smith's home, later inspiring Barnes to engage an illustrator selection process. 

Anyabwile was a natural No. 1 choice given his Cartoon Network and other Turner Studios accolades as well as previous artistic expertise on another Olympian-centric graphic novel in 2020, "Becoming Muhammad Ali." 

Both the illustrator and writer said they grew up with photos or posters of Smith as "a fixture without context" and the collaboration "added context to [Smith's] family life and upbringing."

During the signing portion of last week's event, I asked Anyabwile the most challenging aspect of the project to illustrate, and he turned to Chapter Two's double truck opener portraying horrors of racism from hooded KKK members with torches igniting a cross to a lynched father, an indication this book for young readers does not sugarcoat the many struggles for Blacks before, during and since the Civil Rights Movement. Should this book include a "parental guidance" suggestion, I wondered, as several pages portray adult decisions. 

But part of the point to the book, Barnes stated, is to inspire family conversations. And "Victory. Stand!" does encourage thoughtful discussion of history, racism, faith, focus and when, where and how to take a meaningful stand for what's right. 

Later study of Anyabwile's beautiful images also yielded a full-page celebration of Queta Basilio, the Team Mexico Olympic hurdler chosen as the first woman to ignite the Olympic cauldron. Other Olympians including Bob Beamon and LeBron James also enjoy Anyabwile's excellent artistry, which he explained is drawn electronically. 

For this blogger the most compelling section of "Victory. Stand!" is Chapter Three's "Metamorphosis" of Smith from small town athlete to Olympic and world record contender while studying at San Jose State University. Though I met Smith hours after his 2016 White House visit and later interviewed him at the High, later watching documentaries or reading more about his silent protest, these previous interactions did not fill in the blanks as to his becoming Tommie Smith. 

Reading "Victory. Stand!" also added context to the Olympic Project for Human Rights of which Smith was a key participant. The book draws attention to the International Olympic Committee's hardline stance against protests and comes full circle with contemporary athlete protests inspired by Smith's stand. 

Unavoidable-for-me Nick-, er, nitpicking, did yield minor errors I think occurred only by accident in the illustration process, or via honest copy editor mistakes. One page highlighting the 1968 Olympic Trials includes the jumbo screen installed at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1984 but no Olympic cauldron of 1932, the latter perhaps omitted for the scene to fit the page. 

Also, Basilio's torch and cauldron moment have no flames, and the medal stand on which Smith and Carlos raised their gloved fists is drawn with erroneous Olympic rings that are "smushed" or "crowded" horizontally linking what would be blue-black-red and/or yellow-green rows. The rings appear correctly in other two- or three-dimensional images throughout the book.

Readers will likely savor the variety of comic techniques from intricately drawn "ink" splatters to fine lines and detailed Ben Day dots. I am eager to read other works by the trio of authors. 

As the audience Q&A wrapped, I asked Smith when he thought a turning point occurred in the public's perception of his human rights salute. His response did not acknowledge a specific time nor date range, but he said that at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee's recently installed leadership "women turned it" and from his vantage the IOC still has not. 

"Still battling. A continual battle," Smith said. 

Image credits: Book cover via W.W. Norton & Co. Other images by Dawud Anyabwile inside "Victory. Stand!" Book event photos by Nicholas Wolaver except the group photo below snapped, with Wolaver's thanks, by Delois Jordan Smith.

High Museum Fist Bumps with Artist Glenn Kaino and Olympian/Human Rights Icon Tommie Smith

AFP

Next month marks 50 years since Mexico City hosted the Games of the XIXth Olympiad.

In step with this five-ringed milestone, on Sept. 29 the High Museum of Art in Atlanta opens a new human rights- and Olympic-centric exhibition to remain on view through early February.

For an LA-based conceptual artist and one of history's most iconic Olympic gold medalists, the exhibition With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino & Tommie Smith marks the culmination of a six-year partnership.

In press materials for the installation and in conversation at the exhibition's media event, Kaino said he found inspiration from Smith before they met at the athlete's home in Stone Mountain, Ga., during 2012.

John Dominis, Time & Life/Getty Images

At his California studio, Kaino had a picture of Smith with teammate John Carlos and Australia's Peter Norman on a board, sort of in the background. The artist said once an opportunity to meet the athlete took shape, the process to arrange an introduction and discuss a collaboration moved quickly.

"My practices are process-based and so the conversation was really 'let's take a journey together and let's see where this goes," said Kaino.

Smith concurred, and according to Kaino, "The first thing I did was cast his arm."

After experimenting with several life-sized and miniaturized versions of Smith's outstretched elbow and fist, including a few thousand Kaino described as small G.I. Joe-like versions, the duo discussed the option to create a suspended sculpture.

The finished work titled "Bridge" -- featuring 150 gold-painted steel casts, fiberglass, wire and gold paint -- is now the centerpiece of the project, with the suspension elements connecting the past, present and an arm's length path to the future.

"The image of Tommie's silent protest on the victory stand has become an iconic symbol of resistance and unity for generations," said Kaino. "Our goal with this project is to ensure that Tommie's message resonates for years to come."

For Smith, who contributed several objects from his personal archives -- including photographs, uniforms, Olympic souvenirs spanning 1968 to present, and other mementos of his travels -- the exhibition is an extension of the pro-human rights messages he sought to convey before, during and since his record-setting 200m run of 19.83 on October 16, 1968.

Tommie Smith (left) and Glenn Kaino

"Mexico is a part of my life where [I] had to sacrifice to move forward," said Smith. "Dr. [Martin Luther] King said, 'there is no forward movement without sacrifice' and I believed in those words.

"In other words, take a chance, and that's what I did," added Smith.

With Drawn Arms fills the lobby and second levels of the museum's Anne Cox Chambers Wing, with an original 2018 sculpture titled "Invisible Man (Salute)" greeting visitors to the High's outdoor piazza.

The life-sized likeness of an arm-raised Smith is cast in blackened aluminum and mirrored stainless steel, inviting all to experience their own likeness "within a continuum of history since 1968," according to the High press release.

The lobby gallery features several works on paper including drawings, alcohol transfer prints and a colorful montage of silk-screened boards on view across from a framed black T-shirt with the message "UNITE" (the "I" in white ink is Smith's arm as captured in the 1968 Olympic photograph by John Dominis via Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).

Visitors may also see brief excerpts from a planned documentary film about the six-year collaboration. It was interesting to watch edited images of Smith climbing Stone Mountain as part of the film.

In addition to experiencing the gallery-sized "Bridge," the second level spaces showcase Kaino's 2013 recreation of a 1968 Olympic medals podium.

The work titled "19.83" is a steel-and-gold-plated work "presented with related prints and drawings depicting frame-by-frame images of Smith's race" as it aired on ABC.

The alcohol transfer prints featuring the screen grabs are reminiscent of four treatments Kaino executed, on view in the lobby, with an enlarged Newsweek magazine cover that labeled Smith "The Angry Black Athlete" heading to Mexico City.

Kaino honed in on the magazine cover during his first visit to Smith's home, and Smith's copy of the July 1968 edition is on view in an upstairs gallery.

Some of the surprises in the exhibition are drawings Smith created, including one scrapbook collage featuring youthful track and field snapshots and hand-drawn captions. Kaino also asked Smith to draw himself, which the athlete, teacher and civil rights leader created as ink on paper illustration from the outside looking in at himself.

It is also fun to spot Smith's official 1968 athlete pin -- an oversized badge with an athletics ribbon that served as his accreditation for the Games -- in a shadow box filled with other Olympic pins he collected (Smith told me he had many more pins still at home).

A three-inch plastic button promoting the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which Smith launched months before Mexico City in order to bring attention to issues in Africa, the Americas and worldwide, is centered in its own frame near Smith's portrait in the Oval Office with President Barack Obama.

Smith and other 1968 Olympians will gather in Mexico City next week to celebrate 50 years since the Games, so I asked him whether there's a word to describe his feelings about this milestone.

"Fulfillment," said Smith.

For readers who catch this post in time, Smith and Kaino will participate in a conversation with the museum's modern and contemporary curator, Michael Rooks, at the High on Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. The event is free for High members, with non-member reserved tickets ($14.50) available online.

Exhibition photos by Nicholas Wolaver; 1968 image by John Dominis via Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images; top image via AFP

Glenn Kaino (American, born 1972) Bridge 

courtesy artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago

Copyright Glenn Kaino. Photo by Mike Jensen

Glenn Kaino

(American, born 1972

),

Bridge

,

2014,

fiberglass, steel, wire and gold paint

.

Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago.

©

Glenn Kaino. Photo by Mike

Jensen.

Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting opens at Atlanta's High Museum of Art

Celebrity encounters provide interesting and fun moments for the public relations executive. Crossing paths with musicians, authors, actors, prize winners and presidents -- it's all good, and something to tell the kids and grand kids down the road.

In the pantheon of fine art rock stars, Mexico's Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are among the most recognized and revered, and through a freelance P.R. client assignment at the High Museum of Art, during the last 10 days I enjoyed the pleasure of green room-like access to some of the artists' best known and rarely seen works.

Until recently, my only familiarization with Kahlo was via the feature film "Frida" starring Salma Hayek. Rivera's work was something seen only in books, or maybe in a museum (The Metropolitan or MoMA, perhaps).

Atlanta residents and visitors may now enjoy the rare opportunity to experience dozens of paintings, drawings, lithographs and photographs of and created by Kalho and Rivera as this month the High mounted the largest gathering of their works in a single exhibition.

Rare indeed. The High is the only U.S. museum for the exhibition "Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting," featuring more than 25 percent of Kahlo's works for the first time in the Southeast. The exhibition runs through May 12.

Promoting the exhibition, I learned more of the Frida & Diego story. As a teenager, Kahlo nearly died when she was impaled in a bus and trolley crash. Following this bone breaking accident, Kahlo met and admired Rivera, lovingly or longingly stating to her friends (insert voice of Ferris Bueller's girlfriend) that he was the man she would marry.

After years of painful recovery and evolving as a self-taught artist, Kahlo did marry Rivera, several years her senior, embarking on a loving yet rocky relationship during which the heights of their mutual admiration remained tethered and dragged down by their cheating one-upmanship. Both artists enjoyed the peaks of fame and remarkable career milestones infused with dark valleys including failed pregnancies and the revelations of their infidelities (Rivera slept with Kahlo's sister, and Frida returned the favor hooking up with one of Diego's political heroes).

The High exhibition begins with smaller works juxtaposed by massive floor to ceiling photographs of the couple -- one of these images is a new acquisition by the museum (don't miss the original photo in the final exhibition gallery).

"Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting" quickly turns to explore giant canvases from Rivera's early career. I enjoyed most the large cowboy portrait, a smaller cubist work (referencing a flea market) and an other-worldly painting filled with curious shapes and faces.

Rounding the corner, visitors are treated to the first of two reproduced Rivera murals, and several more giant paintings featuring workers harvesting peace lilies. This is the Diego I recognize from books and museums (upon entering this third gallery, a 180 degree turn yielded an image of a farmer carrying a huge sack of cabbages, reminiscent of the flower carrier on a mural I once visited).

The cheery floral paintings by Rivera are followed by several "dark days for Frida" captured on canvas. Guests learn of her lost pregnancies, her forced-feeding of liquefied meat, and the brutal knife killing of a Mexican woman whose murder Frida read about in the news. Viewers also get a glimpse of the bus in which young Kahlo rode before the trolley accident left her broken and isolated in recovery.

Though the topics of her paintings in this section are not for the faint of heart, their attention to detail reveals Kahlo's skill and craftsmanship. How did this self-taught artists perfect so many little elements reminiscent of Salvador Dali's tiny and detailed oil paintings? Her most surreal images, such as a star-headed plant growing arms, or Buddha-like eyes gazing at the viewer -- are now among my favorites.

I learned through this exhibition that Kahlo often painted while confined to a recovery bed. A photograph of Kahlo painting her own body cast chest plate appears beside the actual cast. And across the room, the High installed a reading room area with a bright red bunk bed inviting visitors to explore the exhibition catalog while reclining to reflect on Kahlo's often bedridden status.

There's another "yellow" reading room with an enormous and functional seating area -- a couple of chairs enshrined in several dozen more chairs stacked 20 feet high. Have a seat!

Two side galleries -- located by the reading rooms -- should not be missed. Check out the reproduced "Rockefeller" mural, and some of the Rivera's late career landscape paintings. I learned in this room the other nation Rivera visited while suffering penile cancer (ouch!), spotting a portrait of a woman shoveling snow much like the aforementioned cabbage carrier.

Though a great artist, Rivera shamelessly slept with a lot of women. The biggest revelation of this exhibition for me (other than the leg-crossing, wince-inducing thought of penile cancer) was an introduction to one of Rivera's muses turned patrons -- many of the works in the exhibition came from this woman's collection.

It was also interesting to spot Kahlo's drawings, including one elaborate ink on paper work she scribed on the back of air mail stationery.

Six remarkable self-portraits serve as the climax of "Frida & Diego." I loved witnessing the uncrating of "Self-Portrait With Monkeys" about a week before the exhibition opening. The other works on this wall -- notably Kahlo's oil painting after cutting her own hair (a retaliation toward Rivera) and her broken back portrayed as a shattered Greek column -- require a long study to appreciate their detail.

More must-see works accompany dozens of photographs in the final gallery. Be sure to explore the Mother Earth-infused self-portrait of Kahlo cuddling an infant-like Rivera, and Kahlo's answer to Willie Nelson's "You Were Always On My Mind" on another large self-portrait (to the right of this painting, nestled in the gallery corner, is a photograph of Rivera watching Kahlo paint it). I also loved Kahlo's anniversary gift painting of the dynamic duo as a two-face single person melding their features.

"Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting" features several special events, including a Mexican cinema film series, lectures and family events. I plan to finally watch "Frida" and attend Friday Jazz.

Inspired by the exhibition I also began study of other Rivera and Kahlo works, recently finding that Rivera created a mural in the Olympic Stadium of Mexico City (site of the 1968 Olympic opening, closing and athletics competition). I'm also on the hunt for details about both artists' inclusion in Cultural Olympiad events in Mexico and elsewhere.

May the exhibition "Frida & Diego" inspire you.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver