Poster boy tasked to capture the voice of African Nova Scotians

Dartmouth-based designer Paul Adams Jr. feels his poster has helped fuel conversations and experiences that reflect the theme of African Heritage Month

CITYnews halifax \ Steve Gow

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African Heritage Month may be winding down but a Dartmouth resident is still receiving praise for his efforts for the February-long commemoration.

The designer of this year’s official African Heritage Month poster, Paul Adams Jr. has been surprised at the outpouring of attention given towards his billboard advertising the theme of 2022’s African Heritage Month.

“It’s been good — a little overwhelming,” says the 34-year-old about the accolades his poster has earned from the media and public. “I think just people are really connecting with the design this year and I think everybody is just appreciating it and loving it and talking about it.”

With the central theme of Through our Eyes: The Voices of African Nova Scotians, Adams Jr. was tasked to create a design that would encapsulate the month-long call to listen and learn the experiences of the province’s Black community.

“What was most important was just portraying the vision for the poster and what they wanted the poster to represent,” says Adams Jr., whose design was selected by the African Heritage Month Information Network (AHMIN). “The focal point was really the eyes (so) the goal was just to really push the title and push the theme through the imagery and tell a story without having to use many words.”

The latest poster isn’t the first opportunity Adams Jr. has had working with AHMIN.  In fact, the designer and photographer has been creating the African Heritage Month posters as far back as 2015 — an annual experience he credits the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia (BCC) for helping to facilitate.

“Russell Grosse from the Black Cultural Centre reached out to me,” explains Adams Jr. about how the opportunity first arose. He had worked with the BCC executive director on previous projects at the time. “I did work placement there when I was just finishing up graphic design at NSCC, so I ended up doing some stuff with him and redesigning the Black Cultural Centre logo so we just developed a relationship.”

However Adams Jr.’s interest in graphic design began much earlier. Even in junior high, he says he was fascinated by design and would often frequent Grosse’s Cherry Brook-based business, First Rate Graphics to study design and do odd jobs around the shop.

“What drew me to it was just art in general,” recalls Adams Jr. “I was always drawing and that just kind of turned into wanting to know more about art, more in general. I always just liked all different aspects of art and graphics and whatnot and it kind of just flourished.”

In addition to graphic design, Adams Jr. also runs Adams Photography Inc. alongside his father. The Cole Harbour-based business has been in operation since 1998, when Paul Adams Senior followed his passion to “create high-end professional portraits that truly represent the people and places being photographed.”

Adams Jr. followed suit about seven years ago after studying and earning an applied communications arts and photography degree at NSCC.

“Before that, I was working with him as long as I can remember,” adds Adams Jr. “I remember just following behind him, carrying the gear, learning more about the cameras and whatnot and learning about the lenses while he was at a shoot and just helping him out that way.”

With this year’s African Heritage Month coming to a close, Adams Jr. says he has been pleased with the opportunities Nova Scotians have been given to learn and grow in order to move towards a more inclusive culture.

As for his poster, he hopes that it did some work towards that goal as well.

“It’s been creating conversations and people have been telling stories from their perspective and just talking more about their experiences and thoughts and their stories so it’s been great,” says Adams Jr. “It’s been very successful at getting the story and point across of what they wanted the poster to represent this year.”