Irban Art is an independent publishing and media arts company that cares for, curates, and compensates creativity across the art forms of literature, journalism, visual art, fashion, film & media, and music.
We are building a home where Black Art can exist, be celebrated, and preserved. A place where creators are encouraged to pursue original ideas, maintain authorship and ownership of their work, and develop their imagination into intellectual property that can endure for generations.
We center Black Americans from all walks of life because we believe Black characters deserve to exist in full, sovereign lives. Here at Irban Art, we believe Black American art and literature is allowed to be anything within the reach of imagination and beyond.
Black imagination is the feeling you receive when you are at your grandmothers house and you see her little angel statues beneath the family photos lining the walls. It is the family archive cloaked as an album full of black and white photos that span back for generations. It's the stories you make up as a child while playing with sidewalk chalk. It is when everyone gathers to laugh and exchange stories around the reunion tables. The collection of drawings, paintings, and ideas scribbled across notebook paper tucked away at home. It is the artists and creators hidden among everyday Black Americans.
Irban Art exists to give that imagination somewhere to live, grow, and endure.
Empress of Islands by Goldenchile
Irban Art begins with original works of stories and visual art.
LITERATURE
Our first original literary property, Empress of Islands, is an expansive fantasy series set across the Seven Nations of the Second World. Centering Black Americans, the series explores a world of distinct cultures, ancient histories, political power, relationships, and forces that reach across generations. At its heart, Empress of Islands is a story about power, identity, inheritance, belonging, and the bonds that shape who we become.
VISUAL ART
Our visual art collection preserves and shares original artwork rooted in human imagination, expression, and craftsmanship. While we acknowledge and find value in the growing presence of AI-generated creative works. Irban Art prioritizes art created by human hands and minds, recognizing the vision, labor, experimentation, and skill behind the work. Our collection begins with works by our in-house artist Goldenchile and will grow alongside the artists and creative properties that become part of Irban Art.
We at Irban Art believe that creation deserves a record.
Irban Art is building toward a living archive that preserves more than the finished work. Our intention is to document the people, process, authorship, and history behind the art we create and one day help bring into the world.
The archive begins with our own creative record and will grow alongside Irban Art, preserving the stories behind each work so that creation remains connected to its creator.
Made by people. Remembered with their names attached.
News from Irban Art, upcoming releases, artwork, and updates from Empress of Islands.