Born into an artistic family in Dothan, Alabama on June 13, 1976, his father drafted blueprints and sketched often. His uncle operated a sign company and his cousin was an artist.  Harry grew up with artists actively creating around him so he began to draw at an early age.

Unfortunately, when he was ten years old, Harry was sexually abused while visiting a relative during the summer. This caused him to become isolated and shelter within the confines of his bedroom when he returned home. “I began to create my own world then, drawing people on empty cereal boxes or poster board, coloring them and then giving them names, an age, jobs. They all lived in empty shoeboxes that I kept under my bed. These shoeboxes were their homes. I engaged them daily. I felt like I had created a safe world for me and for them.”

Harry loved to draw and was good at it.   It drew the attention of his family, teachers and classmates. But he began being bullied at school and fought back the predators, which set him at odds with law enforcement, the community, some relatives and school officials.   “Through it all, I found peace within my art, whether on paper, a brick wall or in the form of illustrated books I made.”

In the past, Harry would paint scenes that he visualized before they happened- picket signs rallying cries to maintain Second Amendment rights to own weapons and Americans losing faith in the ballot box.   “I’ve been homeless but I had to keep my creative fire burning, under all conditions. I have painted in my car when homeless, painted in parks because I had nowhere else, during harsh winters and hot summers.”

Today, my conviction has been to paint the world as I see it and know it to be, whether good, bad or humorous.” Harry has also written two books, I Belong in Museums and When Black Boys Are Left in the Dark.

He speaks his truth through his books and his paintings.

Harry Saffold, Jr. Available Works

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