2024 North Charleston Arts Fest

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The City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department today announced that Jirah Perkins of Charleston is the winner of the 2024 North Charleston Arts Fest Poster Design Competition. As the winner of the statewide contest, Perkins’ acrylic painting, titled PlayPen (pictured), will be used to promote the 2024 North Charleston Arts Fest, taking place May 1-5. In addition, the artist was awarded a $1000 cash prize and the piece has become part of the City of North Charleston’s Public Art Collection. 

PlayPen was one of 106 entries from 43 artists working in 20 cities across South Carolina that were submitted for consideration for the 2024 North Charleston Arts Fest Poster Design Competition. The colorful abstract painting highlights the connection of imaginative play and experimentation surrounding the Arts. The silhouettes shown in the piece are from images the artist captured of her toddler son, Jace, while he was busy playing in a world of his own.

“I believe that children play a pertinent role in the Arts and have the power to inspire and build a new future” Perkins explains. “This piece is also an ode to Jace's love for music, seen in the piano keys. The vibrant colors and organic shapes incorporated in PlayPen are how I imagine his and many other creative minds to appear.”

While figures are seen in the foreground, indigo, one of the most impactful plants of the South, is featured in the background.

“This piece honors the artistic gifts of the South and the future of the next generation born here,” Perkins adds.

Jirah Perkins is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Charleston.  She has been creating ever since she was a child and now, through UJORII Fine Art, she experiments with a variety of different mediums creating pieces that incorporate bold colors, textures, and her photography archive to generate a sensory experience. "Ujorii" originates from the combination of ujima, meaning collective work and responsibility, and satori, which means sudden enlightenment and understanding. Jirah believes that as a society, it is our duty to cultivate the world as a collective. Her abstract and representational pieces embrace nostalgic themes of adolescence and Black Womanhood and are centered around many influences in her life – her sister, her child, her neighborhood, friends, ancestors, and beyond. Jirah’s paintings have been featured in venue throughout the Lowcountry, including the Saul Alexander Gallery, Piccolo Spoleto Juried Art Exhibition, MOJA Juried Arts Exhibition, Bintü Atelier, Redux Contemporary Arts Center, Founders Hall, and the Delta Life Center. Learn more about the artist at ujorii.com. 

A collection of Jirah’s paintings will be on display at Park Circle Gallery May 1-31, 2024. The exhibit will feature her winning piece, PlayPen, along with several other recent works. The gallery is located 4820 Jenkins Avenue in North Charleston. Admission and parking are free. The public is invited to meet the artist at the gallery at a free reception on Saturday, May 4, 2024, from 5:00-7:00pm. T-shirts and posters featuring the winning design will be available for purchase during the festival.

For more information about the North Charleston Arts Fest or other competition and exhibition opportunities, contact the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at (843)740-5854, email culturalarts@northcharleston.org, or visit NorthCharlestonArtsFest.com.