BUFFALO, N.Y. — Some artists use paint.

Some use clay.

For Bianca L. McGraw's latest masterpiece, she used LEGO blocks —more than 16,000 of them — all carefully color-coded.

"I think it's like if you're into really detailed work. It can be fun," McGraw said.


What You Need To Know

  • Local artist Bianca L. McGraw created a Black Lives Matter sculpture using more than 16,000 LEGOs
  • It was on display as part of the PLAY/GROUND, a series of outdoor art exhibits
  • The blocks will be broken down and be part of creation boxes for kids

But the painstaking process started on the computer where she created an image of a female Black Lives Matter activist, born of McGraw's own hurt and frustration about social and racial injustice.

"The idea that Black Lives Matter to people is an evil organization when I'm Black and I have a life and I think that's what I hope matters," she said. "And I think that's been hard, so it's tiring."

So she took that picture and made it pop with all those LEGOs, some donated from people in the community.

After nearly 100 hours of work, the end result was on display earlier this month in Buffalo's Larkinville district as part of  PLAY/GROUND 2022 — a series of outdoor art projects around Western New York.

For McGraw, it was all about opening up a conversation through her project, called "Reclaim & Redistribute.”

"We talked about issues that do happen within the Black community and that we're facing, especially with the police situation, the area's disenfranchisement," she said. "Different other issues that that are happening within the cities, not just Buffalo, but all over the U.S."

And even though the display is over, the LEGOs will go to good use. As she takes apart the sculpture in her Main Street studio, the building blocks will be included in creativity boxes that will go to kids around the city of Buffalo.

"The best way to give back to the community, especially if it's community-engaged art, is to provide to it to the community itself. Especially when the community was giving LEGOs to help make the piece," she said.

Piece by piece, block by block, to send a message and make a difference.