Bride: Jennifer Drenaye Mack, 34, Arts Educator
Groom: Kurtis Darryl Watkins, 33, Visual Artist
Married On: April 7, 2013
Wedding Location: Maritime Parc, Jersey City, NJ
Wedding Style: Creative Love
A Page-Turning Romance
It was a cold Brooklyn morning in 2010 when Jennifer Mack assigned her art class to create a collage. She noticed a student cutting out a picture of artist Kurtis Watkins from the 2008 ESSENCE “Do Right Men” feature and was immediately intrigued. “I thought he was handsome and very talented,” she shares. “I wanted to meet him, but thought it was a long shot because the magazine was two years old. I emailed him anyway and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.” The couple felt an instant spark on their first date at Jennifer’s favorite Thai restaurant. Six months after meeting, Jennifer moved to Hoboken, NJ to be closer to her new boyfriend. “She has been a blessing,” Kurtis says. “Her moving let me know she was serious about us.”
Fairytales Come True
After two years of dating, Kurtis purchased an engagement ring and thought it was destiny when ESSENCE sent a callout for men looking to propose for the “Storybook Wedding” contest. The duo flew to Walt Disney World for a weekend getaway and a surprise proposal for Jennifer. Kurtis was able to keep the secret, since the weekend was also their anniversary and it was his turn to plan their celebration. The two artists and animal lovers nibbled strawberries and sipped champagne while gazing at exotic wildlife in an enclosure that mimics the African savannah at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Kidani Village. Back when he was single, Kurtis created a romantic painting collection of a couple enjoying many of the same animals. As the sun set, Kurtis brought his vision to life and tears to the eyes of his bride-to-be as he asked for her hand in marriage.
Art of Love
The creative couple planned their own special day infusing their talents throughout the event. “Being artists, we love to create. We designed and printed our own invitations, we hand-wrote table placement cards, and created our own boutonnières for the groomsmen shaped like an art palette,” Jennifer says. “We recommend couples plan their own wedding, which is part of the fun.” Kurtis also surprised his new wife with an artistic performance at their reception to Miguel’s “Adorn.” “Jennifer and I met through the pages of ESSENCE and have been inseparable ever since!” he says.
Photos: Sobitart Photography
The Artistry Of Racial Healing
It’s no secret that creative expression has the power to heal. Whether it’s a movie, sketch comedy, a painting, or even graffiti on the side of a building, art gives us a way to deeply explore our personal stories so we can transform trauma and feel whole again. Even more powerfully, it helps us understand the stories of people with very different experiences.
My perspective on art has been a work in progress. As someone who grew up in a working-class family in West Philly, my parents encouraged us to experience art, but I felt like that was something other people did. Growing up Black American, Afro-Latino and gay meant I also encountered racism and other “isms” that forced me to tap into my own capacity for healing. That’s when I discovered that artistic expression does not care how much money you have or where you live. It’s all around us in many different forms and spaces. Art offers a pathway to see yourself and others while learning, transforming and healing.
Racism and other forms of social injustice shape our lives – no matter where we are or what we look like. They are systems that drive inequities impacting everyone, just in different ways. In today’s polarized environment, we need to find ways to heal as individuals and in community. The process calls each of us to boldly reflect on our personal stories. The experience isn’t always easy. Sometimes things get uncomfortable. But that’s okay. We have the power to use our knowledge and wisdom to take a deep dive, confident that we will make it safely to the other side. We are called to unpack what we’ve been taught in school, our homes and neighborhoods and communities. We are called to seriously consider what we need to “unteach” ourselves. As many writers and thinkers have said, the more we know ourselves and our history in this country, the more healing we will experience and the more grace we will have for each other.
I don’t think of myself as a particularly “political” person, but I believe in human and
civil rights. I’ve been blessed to use my voice and platform to lift up what I care about in the world. I want the films and plays I work on to not only to entertain but also to inspire provocative thoughts and compelling conversations. Every artist approaches this differently – one thing I want to do in my work is smash the tropes about who we are as Black men.
A director I know once said something about art that strikes me as a core tenet of racial healing — “It doesn’t have to look like you to be about you.” We have to be able to look at stories from outside our own experience and trust that, in many ways, they are also our stories. As an artist, my job is to be curious and interpret humanity to find out what makes us more alike than unalike. It’s a beautiful responsibility and a part of my job that I love because it keeps me connected to the world.
Recently I had the opportunity to talk with leaders from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation about how art inspires people to make the world better for everyone, including children, families and communities. The foundation centers all of its work on children. Knowing that children reside in families and families reside in communities, they work in collaboration with grantee partners to break down systemic barriers. That’s also where racial healing comes in — we all have a story and a way in which we can walk in the world. But if we recognize and honor our common humanity, those persistent barriers can be destroyed. One of the ways this happens is the National Day of Racial Healing, where people contemplate shared values and create the blueprint together for healing from the effects of racism.
Let’s make racial healing a daily habit and a practice. Let’s tell the truth about the
past and what’s behind current realities. Let’s do the “people work” it takes to
evolve into something greater. Let’s cultivate empathy and build trusting
relationships to create social systems that work for all. And as part of that healing,
let’s make art, witness art, and let it open us up to a whole new world.
To learn more about this work, visit dayofracialhealing.org