Starting out as a caricature artist, Cbabi’s professional career took off in 1998, when Rap Pages magazine began publishing his illustrations of musicians on a monthly basis. This exposure led to working with the Violator music label to create likenesses of famous musicians like Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown, Q-Tip, and more. The artist Prince also became a regular collector of Cbabi's works and used one painting as an album cover for The Rainbow Children. 

But working with famous musicians and big-name brands hasn't changed Cbabi Bayoc’s themes showing everyday people doing everyday things.

Cbabi Bayoc painting in his St. Louis studio.

For our Paul Robeson Tomato Art Pack, Cbabi created an image of a young Black schoolboy and an older Black farmer in overalls squatting down to show the boy a bright red tomato. A bold, dynamic interplay of color and lines shows a chalkboard with the word “Legacy” repeated, a close-up of black corn kernels, ripe tomato, sunshine, and clouds. We love how this imagery breathes fresh life into the seed story for Paul Robeson Tomato.

When we asked Cbabi about some of his artistic influences, he told us, “I am definitely influenced by the need for Black children and people to see themselves in art and feel validated. The times we are in have everything to do with my inclusion of the themes of family and representation. My work in schools is all about representation so kids feel valued and seen.” 

The Paul Robeson Tomato is a wonderful example of how seed saving is deeply connected to history and culture, art and Black representation. This exceptionally delicious and robust heirloom tomato–with its deep, smoky flavor and perfect balance between acid and sweet–was saved by Soviet-era gardeners who named the tomato for Paul Robeson, the 20th century Renaissance man and Black cultural figurehead on stage and screen.

Our co-founder Ken Greene gives a lot of thought to seed-naming practices and their implications: "With heirloom varieties, like Hank's X-Tra Special Baking Bean, the name reflects a family member who is most associated with the variety," explains Ken, "someone who handed it down to future generations and is being honored." But what does it mean to name a tomato after a larger-than-life star who was already so well known? "The naming of this variety," Ken suggests, "was really about someone wanting to honor Paul Robeson's name as a legacy, something where each time a seed was planted his fame and accomplishments would be remembered."

Paul Robeson photographed by Gordon Parks, 1942

"When I meditated more on this idea," Ken says, "the words legacy, community, activism, and intergenerational, kept coming to mind. And set within the context of a year of very visible and deeper racial reckoning, it felt like the right time to rethink the artwork for the seed pack." Cbabi's art, Ken says, "invites us to reconsider the power and meaning of handing down seeds and medicine, attitudes and beliefs, and ways of being in the world generation to generation."

The illustration for the Paul Robeson Art Pack, Cbabi tells us, should evoke “the African-American contribution to the story of farming in this country and around the world. There was a time in this country that was purely made up of this theme: if Black folks didn’t farm, they didn’t eat. We contributed much to this land that people live on these days, and little is known about that.” In highlighting the legacy of Black farming, Cbabi's illustration connects to Paul Robeson's activism for workers worldwide, and speaks to the importance of maintaining intergenerational connections to the land.

In some ways, Cbabi notes, art-making and growing crops from seed are similar processes: "Both take time to come to fruition... but when they do, they both nourish the mind, heart and body." And like farming, art requires commitment and dedication to the task. It's all about "the love you put into your work," Cbabi explains, "Once the plants are fully grown through farming or gardening, you have this perfectly created piece of nourishment meant to share with the world to feed it. Art simply feeds and nourishes in a different way. But both do so and give life LIFE.”

A fixture within the St. Louis community, Cbabi works with parent-teacher groups, community groups, and others looking to "give life" to public spaces like an empty Greyhound bus station, St. Louis public schools, and corporate settings (watch his interview on PBS here). Adapting to the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders last year, Cbabi also worked with Cherokee Street Gallery in St. Louis to create a virtual exhibit of his paintings and caught up on commission work.

To keep up with Cbabi’s latest work and scheduled events, follow him on Instagram here. Find his website here.

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