Andre Woolery wants to ensure that every dollar makes a difference – and sense – by introducing artwork that facilitates forward movement for the community through his Black Stacks initiative.

On what inspired him to launch the new company, Woolery, who’s also the head of brand content at REVOLT’s creative agency Six Zeros, told us, “I always do artwork. I’ve always been a person that does portraiture, specifically Black portraiture, and I was looking for a new project and kind of brainstorming.” He continued, “One of the biggest things that affects our world is money, and at the time I was just doing some exploring and routing.”

Woolery’s discovery led him to have the same feeling he felt when he first read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article titled “A Case for Reparations,” which was published in The Atlantic in 2014.

“That [article] always stirred something in me. But then, somewhere along the lines, I learned about John Conyers and realized that he was central in the movement for reparations. I realized that he was putting this bill in front of Congress every year, year after year, and it never went through. He passed and I felt like everyone started to carry the torch forward in what he was doing. Once I saw that, it made me think about money and my artwork in a different way.”

With Black Stacks, Woolery allows others to become a part of progression. Each time a print is purchased, the person’s money becomes reparations. Between 20 to 50 percent of the funds are, then, donated to a Black person who has signed up to be a part of the program.

“For me, reparation isn’t only one option,” the creative said. “What the solution is, and where I’ve kind of landed, is figuring out a way for Black people to get universal income. If you have universal income, that value should allow Black people to exist in the world in a way that covers all of their basic needs and then allows them to elevate from there.”

He continued, “Money is a tool and a resource and once you can cover things like food, shelter, education, etc., then you move into that state of enlightenment, and I think that’s what I’m yearning for. For Black people to find ways to counteract that stuff by giving them basic securities that they should have.”

Woolery also wants everyone to be part of Black Stacks -- which is why art is the focal point for putting money back into the Black community -- while also giving people something that is tangible and can be handed down from generation to generation.

“I hope that people can participate in simple ways,” he admitted, “because a lot of times when we talk about reparations, it’s always like, ‘Oh, that’d be great if they ever did that. If they ever made that real.’ No one feels like they can play a part in making it real and this is my way to be like, ‘Yo, I’m imagining in a way that allows us to make it real together and see how it plays out, and how it can impact somebody’s life.’”

Woolery wants the artwork to impact the world in more ways than one. “Outside of buying the art, the other kind of vision that I have is that the artwork... none of the original pieces are for sale,” he explained.

“The reason why I did that is, typically with art, you have this high, super expensive original artwork, and then someone rich buys it and then you never get to see it,” the artist continued. “It’s often in their collection and it never impacts the world in a way that it should. I don’t want this to be the case. I don’t want anyone to own this situation. So, the vision is for all of these original large pieces to go on tour and hit up every Black city, Black neighborhood, and Black school and allow the artwork to be the thing telling a story that acknowledges the truth and sparks something in people to know what is not being taught in school.”

For more on Black Stacks, click here.