Wake Up Sister

They sit in a row, dressed in their Sunday best, legs swinging above the church floor. The air is warm, heavy with sermons and songs. One girl fidgets with her dress, another stares straight ahead, another dozes off, her head resting on her hand. It is a simple scene, but within it lives the heartbeat of Black girlhood — innocence, discipline, and the quiet expectation to stay awake, to pay attention, to grow strong.
 
In Wake Up Sister, LaKeem turns a moment of stillness into a larger story about awakening — not just from sleep, but to awareness. The title speaks to more than the child in the drawing. It speaks to the culture, to the generations who had to learn early how to carry themselves with grace and understanding in a world that tested both.
 
Through the simplicity of line, LaKeem captures the rhythm of tradition, the sound of ancestors whispering through pews and prayers. This piece is about sisterhood, about legacy, and about the gentle nudge to rise, to see, to stay conscious of who we are becoming.