About Lynthia
Lynthia Edward’s art illuminates the world of the southern black girl experience. Born and raised in Alexander City, small Alabama town, she sees herself in her subjects. Her work reflects the emotions, thoughts and ideas that animate the world in which she lives. Her goal is to honor and glorify the lives of Southern women, while igniting a dialogue and an emotional connection with what she calls the “black girl magic.”
Inspired at an early age by her pastor father to pursue her artistic talents, her activist mother instilled a commitment to activism and social justice.
Lynthia’s subjects tend to be young black girls, often placed in the context of southern life. Inspired by historical research and shaped by personal experience and everyday encounters, her work reveals the multitude of colors, the complexity, physical beauty and the internal elegance of her subjects. She captures viewers with color and engaging imagery—telling the stories of her subjects without shrinking from the ugly truths they sometimes reveal.
In 2018 Lynthia participated in an exhibition featuring portraits of famous Alabamians. Rather than continuing in her practice of painting young women, she chose as her subject the late civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis, whom she had considered a superhero since her childhood. The mugshot of a young Lewis after the famous stand on the bloody bridge in Montgomery was her inspiration. Congressman Lewis attended the exhibit and purchased his portrait, along with two of her “black girl magic” paintings. And it was at this exhibition that she met the artist, Kate Damon of kaze design in Washington DC.
In 2020, Lynthia joined forces with Damon to partner and create the DC Sparkle Squad, using her art to promote and influence young people to register to vote and exercise their right to change the direction of America.
Lynthia Edwards holds an AA degree in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Atlanta. She earned a BA degree in Art Education from Auburn University of Montgomery and an MA degree in Art Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Believing that art is transformative, she taught art for 13 years at the State of Alabama Department of Youth Services School District, working with adjudicated male offenders. Currently, she teaches art for i3 Academy/ Woodlawn Community Charter School in Birmingham, AL.
Lynthia’s work graces many public collections as well as those of many notables in Alabama and across the United States. She is currently represented by the Attic Gallery in Vicksburg, Mississippi and dk Gallery in Marietta, Georgia. She resides in Birmingham Alabama, with her 5 children, including an adopted foster child and another soon to be adopted.