Juneteenth and Fashionable: A Vision of Liberation Worn Out Loud

By Jessica “Noonie” Noble

Juneteenth and Fashionable is a digital work by American prison artist Donald “C-Note” Hooker. With a body of work that spans murals, billboards, and fashion-inspired exhibitions, C-Note has built a consistent visual language around identity, resistance, and liberation. His latest piece arrives just in time for the holiday—not only as a cultural reflection on the meaning of Juneteenth, but as a wearable and displayable statement meant to resonate across racial and cultural lines. The article that follows traces his long-standing engagement with both fashion and digital art, offering essential context for understanding Juneteenth and Fashionable as the latest in a series of works rooted in vision, discipline, and cultural urgency.

Juneteenth and Fashionable follows a legacy of fashion-forward art created by C-Note behind the wall, most notably the Andy Warhol inspired piece Colored Girl Warholed (2015), seen here on a billboard in the Silicon Valley’s Santana Row District in 2021.

Other noteworthy works of art are the Kabuki inspired Paul Picassa. Kabuki’s make-up work, featured in Harper’s Bazaar September 2015 Fall Fashion Issue, was inspired by Pablo Picasso’s Bust of a Woman. Like Colored Girl Warholed, C-Note’s Paula Picassa would receive a public art exhibition in the form of a mural in Denver’s RiNo Art District. Paula Picassa is also featured as the cover art to Art for Redemption’s, prisoner art coffee table book.

The artist himself would be featured in Fashion Designer Makenzie Stiles’s fashion line, Mercy. At the time, Stiles was a senior at the prestigious Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD), “Meet our 2020 designers | My CCAD.” It was the first time in the school’s 146-year-old history that a fashion line was created using Prison Art. Covid-19 health restrictions prevented the pair from making Catwalk history by having models walk the runway in a fashion line designed with Prison Art.

In 2020, he created a back-to-the-future retrospective fashion piece inspired by his poem Journey to Afrofuturism. This cultural work, centered on Afrofuturism fashion, was featured in the Winter 2020 issue of Speculative City Magazine (#10: Afrofuturism). Later, it became part of the University of California, Santa Cruz’s global discussion on Afrofuturism, Afrofuturism Then and Now.

His 2024 work, of Wax on paper, Mask of Fashion was part of the exhibition Underground Art in a Loop in London, UK.

Criminal Justice and Fashion

Even when he is telling stories of the travails of prison life, it is still through the prism of Fashion. In 2017, he created Strange Fruit, a work that highlighted the high suicide rates at the California Institution for Women (CIW). In an 18-month period in 2014-2015, CIW’s suicide rates were eight times the national average for women prisoners and five times the rate for the entire California prison system.

Even in death, from the photos on the prison cell walls to the pink shoelaces in a pair of pink tennis shoes beneath the bunk, C-Note’s eye for fashion is never far removed.

In 2016, after reading a stirring piece in the California Prison Focus on women in their own words serving a sentence of Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP), at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), he created a visual work titled, Life Without the Possibility of Parole. Some say this is a very haunting piece, nevertheless, the all encompassing use of Fashion is present in this work as well.

Black Love Matters (2015)

Many of his works, as already shown here, directly come from the pages of fashion magazines, are inspired by fashion editorials, or fashion magazine ads. These fashion visuals act as a baseline for works he is likely to create. One such work, the 2016, Adriana W., was inspired from a fashion magazine ad, and then named after a reporter who interviewed him, “Two muses one picture; an Amazing piece of art.”

Juneteenth and Fashionable is another fashion inspired work. It was inspired by an untitled work by photographer, illustrator, and vector artist, Khorzhevska. The piece features a black woman wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a pair of drop earrings, just as in C-Note’s work Juneteenth and Fashionable.

In prison, tracing images often referred to as patterns is a fundamental part of the artistic process, not just for technique, but for community. Visual images, often on paper, including images in books, or magazines, are shared from one prison artist to the next. This tracing technique, while it does not produce original works of art, provides well over half of the art produced in prison.

C-Note’s 2016 artwork, La Reina de las Mujeres Chicas (The Queen of the Petite Women), an 8.5 x 11-inch piece created with wax and graphite on paper, is drawn from the pattern catalogue of a Chicano prison artist. While the underlying image is a commonly traceable pattern used throughout the system, his interpretation remains entirely original—from the title to the symbolic elements, including the green ocean, red sky, and white clouds, which evoke the colors of the Mexican flag.

Digital Art

C-Note has many digital works of art from Paintoems (painting + poem) to landscapes and portraits.

While the Andy Warhol inspired piece Colored Girl Warholed received its own billboard art exhibition, it’s not C-Note’s only digital work to have exhibition prominence. His 2017 work, A Bird Man’s Dream was a part of the 2017 prisoner’s art exhibition at the former federal prison on Alcatraz Island, Art Escape at Alcatraz.

A Bird Man’s Dream was inspired by the reputation of Robert Stroud, an inmate at the federal prison. Stroud would earn the moniker, “Birdman of Alcatraz.” He spent 17 years on the island.

A Bird Man’s Dream was not exhibited on Alcatraz Island but at one of two offsite locations. It took center stage in the Anne T. Kent California Room at the Marin County Free Library, housed within the iconic Marin County Civic Center—Frank Lloyd Wright’s final completed architectural masterpiece.

Black August

Other works revolve around the theme of Black August, the annual commemoration honoring Black political prisoners, resistance movements, and liberation struggles that began in San Quentin State Prison in 1979. Participants fast, study, and reflect throughout August, recognizing key events like the deaths of George and Jonathan Jackson; the Haitian revolution on August 21, 1791; Nat Turner’s rebellion, August 21st – 23rd, 1831; just to name a few.

Black August has influenced art, music, and activism, inspiring films, books, and exhibitions that explore themes of liberation and justice. It remains a powerful symbol of solidarity and remembrance within the Black liberation movement.

One noteworthy digital work is C-Note’s The Black Artist for Black August. It features a photograph of C-Note superimposed on a background that was inspired by Black Panther artist Emory Douglas; sunbeams were prominent in Douglas’s work.

According to C-Note’s manager Anna D. Smith, “The sunbeams were originally red, but he changed it to blue, as he grew up in Los Angeles as a Crip, and didn’t want to deal with the backlash from his affiliation” Smith stated.

Black August – Los Angeles is C-Note’s most well-known Black August artwork. In 2017, he donated the piece to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles as a fundraising gift to Sister Mary Hodges, the founder of the Partnership of Reentry Program (PREP). The donation supported a joint art show and fundraiser with Homeboy Industries, an organization founded by Father Gregory Boyle. Both PREP and Homeboy Industries serve as restorative justice ministries within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Black August – Los Angeles is listed in Wikimedia Commons’s extensive Library as one of only 12 artworks in its Black Cultural Archives, and is featured in the Wikipedia article Black August (commemoration). Dr. Asantewa Fulani Sunni-Ali features the work in her article, “Black August: Radical Black History and the Persistence of Black Resistance,” and was included in the online interactive exhibition Black August 2024 – 45th Anniversary of Black August.

Black August – Los Angeles is both a visual and graphic representation of contemporary art. It powerfully blends fashion, activism, and memory, using visual language rooted in both historical and contemporary Black resistance. The “Join Da Formation” flag is a clear nod to Beyoncé’s 2016 Super Bowl performance, where Black Panther-inspired fashion—afros, berets, leather—was reimagined for a new generation. But the fashion references don’t stop there. The silhouetted female figures with raised fists evoke the curvy, powerful forms of modern Black femme aesthetics, reclaiming and celebrating the Black body in defiance of Eurocentric beauty standards. Their confident postures, one even mimicking Beyoncé’s iconic stance, radiate both strength and glamour, capturing how fashion today embraces and uplifts the full expression of Black womanhood.

Equally significant is the implied presence of natural hair—likely afros—which has long served as a fashion statement tied to political identity. In this context, hair is not just style, but resistance: a refusal to conform, a celebration of cultural heritage, and a proud declaration of self. Here, fashion is inseparable from protest. It dresses the body in history, pride, and power.

Just like C-Note’s Black August pieces, Juneteenth and Fashionable captures the inseparable bond between fashion and Black resistance. The woman’s wide-brimmed hat, bold red earrings, and mirrored sunglasses aren’t just stylish—they’re declarations of presence, pride, and power. Her fashion-forward look stands in harmony with the background of raised fists and sunbeams, echoing the same visual language of defiance seen in both Black August pieces. These works celebrate the Black body and aesthetic as vehicles of resistance, where adornment becomes armor, and style becomes statement. Whether through silhouettes or vibrant color palettes, these pieces remind us that fashion is not frivolous—it is freedom worn out loud.

As with many of C-Note’s digital works, Juneteenth and Fashionable emerged through an iterative creative process—one that reflects both his artistic intent and the evolving ways we now produce and engage with visual culture. Released ahead of Juneteenth, the piece explores how fashion operates as a language of liberation, particularly through Black aesthetics. While rooted in a historically Black American experience, the artwork’s broader resonance speaks to themes of visibility, resistance, and style as empowerment. In that spirit, Juneteenth and Fashionable has also been adapted into wearable and collectible formats, providing an opportunity for the public to engage with the piece in ways that extend beyond the gallery or screen. These editions are currently available through the digital platform juneteenth.today, where the work appears as part of a curated collection commemorating the holiday.

Jessica “Noonie” Noble is the Editor-in-Chief of Sports and More Sports, where she covers the intersections of sports, gaming, and entertainment. Known for her sharp cultural insights and dynamic storytelling, she capped off 2024 with a widely read year-in-review reflecting on the biggest moments in sports, gaming, and music. Her work continues to bridge the gap between athleticism and artistry, making space for stories that move beyond the scoreboard. You can follow her latest reporting and commentary at Sports and More Sports or connect with her on YouTube at Ms. Leo {Sweet’s}.

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