Cynthia R. Hobson
ENOUGH! was inspired by the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Each canvas has a dancer and graffiti messages meant to reflect and convey historical Black American activists, heroes, victims and events. The intent is to visually emphasize how long Black folks have been suffering from racial hatred and fighting for equality and justice in America. I hope observers will google the graffiti messages to learn some truths about Black folks' experiences in America over 400 years.
Cynthia was born on the southside of Chicago, Illinois. She moved with her husband and three sons to Sacramento in 1965. She and her family settled in the Oak Park Community in 1967 and later moved to Laguna, Elk Grove in 1989.
Cynthia retired from a Career Executive Assignment at the California Energy Commission in 1999 after 30 years of State Service. She is a member of Elk Grove Artists and Elk Grove Senior Center, Seniors Writing Group.
Cynthia works mainly in acrylic, charcoal and pastels and has done some oils and watercolor. She seeks to tell a story or give a message with her paintings and wants observers to enjoy her art and not have to ponder too much about its meaning.
Cynthia is a published author. Her works include a crime/mystery series, “A Place in Time” and “Its Personal, a children’s’ novel, “Little Grey Hoodie Coat”, and short stories, “The White Dress”, “Love is Kin to Sadness” and “50 Years Is Not Enough” found in two anthologies of stories written by mature women of color published by Nubian Images.
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree, University of San Francisco, Ca.
Associate of Arts Degree, Wilson Jr. College, Chicago, Ill.
Hyde Park High School, Chicago, Ill.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art Student Program
Exhibitions
Bold Expressions, 5oth Annual International Open Exhibition, October 2005, Sacramento Fine Arts Center
Elk Grove Artist, First Fine Arts Festival, April 2007
Elk Grove Artist, 2nd Annual Elk Grove Art Tour, September 2011
SMUD Art Gallery, Wonder Women Art Exhibit, May 2018
Elk Grove Fine Arts Center, 2019 Elk Grove 2nd Annual Art Extravaganza – Art Fair and Show Competition, Second Place Winner in Acrylic Paintings Category
Cynthia R. Hobson, ENOUGH! 2021, acrylic on canvas, each 16x20 “
Cynthia R. Hobson, ENOUGH! 2021, acrylic on canvas, each 16x20 “
Cynthia R. Hobson, ENOUGH! 2021, acrylic on canvas, each 16x20 “
Social Movements are more than words, by Stan Oden, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Political Science, Sacramento State
This great painting by Cynthia Hobson portrays the social movements and moments that have captured the imagination of millions of people in the U.S. and across the world. While these words of the social movements mean much to social justice loving people everywhere. These are only words. What the artist reveals is the actual movement of the body to react to injustices and oppression. The words of movement stimulates the body to action and it is the action of the mind, body and soul that created the movements of the 1960s that cried out “We Shall Overcome”. It was the bodies of the movement that proclaimed “No Justice, No Peace”, after the senseless murder of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown It was the bodies in the streets of the United States that shouted “I Can’t Breathe”, after Eric Garner was choked to death in the streets of Staten Island, N.Y.
Words are the articulation of the sorrow and neglect by a society built on racial injustice and the revolutionary yearning for social change. It is the words of the movement articulated by Congressman John Lewis, one of the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement that stated before his death that we should all be engaged in “Good Trouble”, even it requires us to give up our bodies like he did on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. John Lewis put his body on the line for social justice that makes his “Good Trouble” the symbol for fighting for social justice.
This art illustrates the history of struggles for social justice for people of color, women and LGBTQ individuals. This art also means we cannot stand still and listen to the words, that we must use our bodies to act for social justice and peace.