Disney and Pixar launch curated 'Soul' collection featuring Black artists
Ahead of the highly anticipated release of Disney and Pixar's "Soul" film, a curated collection featuring the movie's "Joe Gardner" character was launched Tuesday.
Gardner is Pixar's first Black lead character and multicultural powerhouse HUE Unlimited, an award-winning experience company of creatives, played a key role in bringing the collection to life.
Four Black artists were tapped to create the vibrant line of wearable art pieces that includes a rich mix of apparel and accessories.
"We're proud to work on this meaningful collection inspired by 'Soul' and to be able to have each artist's unique vision shine through," said Michael Watson II of HUE Unlimited in a statement.
"As a part of the next generation of creatives, we deeply understand that authenticity is incredibly important to audiences -- so being able to curate a collection of products that represents Black voices overall is a dream come true," he said.
The full collection is available on Pixar's "Soul" shop on Amazon, and features action figures, T-shirts, dolls and more.
Bee Harris, Bianca Pastel, Arrington Porter and Corey Van Lew are the chosen artists for the collaboration and each worked on illustrating different parts of the curated "Soul" collection.
"Working on this collection was a dream come true," Harris said in a statement. "It was an honor to highlight the four Black women in Joe's village. These women represent the strong-willed, supportive women in my life who have helped me discover and walk in my purpose."
"I walked away with a deeper understanding of myself and my capabilities as an artist. It was both challenging and inspiring to create something so unique to things I've done in the past," she said.
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