A reader emailed Sokofa last year asking where the Amilcar Cabral print on their friend's wall had come from. They had never heard the name before, looked it up that night, and ended up reading two histories of the Guinea Bissau independence struggle. That is the whole pitch for this series in one sentence: five A3 prints that double as an introduction to five people worth knowing properly.
What the Icon Portrait A3 series actually is
Each print in this series pairs a portrait illustration with a short written biography, printed at A3 (46 by 35cm), ready to frame. Five subjects make up the set so far: Amilcar Cabral, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Bob Marley, and Wiz Khalifa. Three were killed for what they stood for. One died of illness before he saw the freedom he sang about. One is still very much alive and still doing exactly what he wants. Hung together, the set reads less like a gallery wall and more like a short course in how different people have fought for the right to exist on their own terms.
Amilcar Cabral Portrait A3
The least famous name in the set and arguably the most interesting. Cabral trained as an agricultural engineer in Lisbon, then turned that training into a strategy for liberating two countries, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, at once. He was assassinated in January 1973, months before the independence he had organised for finally arrived. Read the full story and shop the print.
Martin Luther King Jr Portrait A3
The most quoted four words in the set, "I have a dream", came from a man who treated non-violence as a deliberate strategy rather than a default. This print traces that from Montgomery to Memphis. Shop the Martin Luther King Jr print.
Malcolm X Portrait A3
Where King's print is about patience, this one is about urgency. Malcolm X's print tells the story of a man who rebuilt himself in prison and refused every invitation to soften his message afterward. Shop the Malcolm X print.
Bob Marley and Wiz Khalifa: when the icon isn't a martyr
Not every print in this series ends in a bullet. Bob Marley's print follows a kid from Nine Mile who turned poverty into a global sound, and who never saw Zion in his lifetime but built something that outlived him anyway. Shop the Bob Marley print. Wiz Khalifa's print is the outlier of the set on purpose, a living artist who got everything he wanted without becoming anyone's martyr. Shop the Wiz Khalifa print.
How to display the series
These work best hung as a row at eye level rather than stacked, since the point of the set is reading left to right like a short timeline. A study, office, or hallway with good foot traffic suits them better than a bedroom, since they invite a second look rather than ambient decoration. Buy one to start and add to the row over time, the set is designed to be collected gradually rather than bought as a bundle.
Where to buy the Icon Portrait A3 series
All five prints are available individually from Sokofa, each sold by the same UK-based seller. Browse the wider collection of original African art and prints at sokofa.com/art.