MILWAUKEE — A Black artist in Milwaukee had a dream, and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, she reflects on that dream, as he did.

Fatima Laster dreamed of creating a communal space for her fellow minority artists to come together, feel supported, and be given the tools to make a living through their passion.

“I have experienced the dearth and difficulty with representation and outlets to exhibit works in order to increase your resume for other opportunities,” Laster said. “So, I wanted to create a communal arts renaissance space.”

That space is called 5 Points Art Gallery & Studios in Milwaukee’s historic Five Points Neighborhood. It’s where Laster grew up and where she now calls home.

“When coming back from going to college and living elsewhere, I knew what felt innate for me,” she said.  

The community has struggled with a housing crisis, poverty, and other economic struggles for years. She wanted to give back.

“What better way to say, ‘I’m here for you, I’m with you’ than by putting my art gallery here and having a safe space for people to come,” she said.  “It’s also about providing employment opportunities and giving artists the chance to be their own boss.”

Laster’s gallery is so much more than selling artwork. She hosts events geared towards continuing conversations about racial inequality. She hosts dinners with who she calls her art family.

“We break bread together and we have those difficult conversations about what needs to still change in our society,” Laster said.

On behalf of the gallery and its mission, Laster has also participated in and hosted protests against racial injustice.

“It’s to only against police brutality and systemic racism, but also against gentrification that is affecting the neighbors and the neighborhood,” she said.

The gallery also has the capacity to show films on a projector. On MLK Day, Laster showed one of Dr. King's press conferences and opened the gallery for people to see it.

She also rents nine studios within the space to minority artists in the area.

Kierston Ghaznavi is one of them, who began getting more serious about making a living through her work in 2015.

“i don’t know what I would do on my own,” she said. “I work full-time, so I could see myself maybe having decided this was just a hobby, but being here has helped me to keep it as a priority.”

On a holiday that celebrates an iconic civil rights leader, Kierston reflects as well. She thinks about a day when she can purées her passion in a world no longer divided.

“I hope he can see that people are still trying and that we haven’t given up,” she said. “I hope we don’t give up.”