Another Look at Bed-Stuy’s Watson Mere

Artist & Urban Griot Makes the Connections That Matter …
in Life and On Canvas – Mere Exhibition at African Voices Gallery Extended thru November 21

by Bernice Elizabeth Green

In July 2025, Carolyn Butts, founder and CEO of both African Voices magazine and Reel Sisters, hosted a launch event for her quarterly publication and the Brooklyn-based artist Watson Mere, who created AV’s art for the cover story, “Lineage: Celebrating a Legacy of Love, Family, Activism.” The event took place at Butts’ AV Gallery at 325 Lafayette Avenue in Clinton Hill, where an exhibition of Mere’s work, tied to the magazine’s seasonal theme, has been extended to November 21. This Saturday, November 1, 3:30-5:30p, Mere will helm a second Artist’s Talk. In support of Mere’s artistry, Our Time Press is happy to share the following exchange between the artist and me after the publication of my story on his July opening. It reveals Mere’s gifts as a storyteller.

Hi Carolyn and Bernice:
Carolyn, thank you so much for connecting us.
Bernice, it’s a pleasure to be introduced to you and thank you for the wonderful feature in Our Time Press! I’m truly honored. That issue is hanging high up on my wall right now and it makes me smile every time I see it!
Watson

In response, I asked Watson if there was a story behind his “‘Bout 2 Stops Out” artwork depicting the hands of two subway commuters — one a man, the other a woman — grasping the overhead safety bar of an MTA train moving east from Manhattan on the A-line. Watson never glimpsed the faces nor shared words with the two people. A couple? Strangers? Mere did not know. It did not matter. He used the time before his Nostrand Avenue stop to commit to memory his sighting of the power in the grip of two people who together held a lifeline to a connection he may never hear about. Mere shares his subway story and its aftermath below.

Dear Bernice:
The vision for “Bout 2 Stops Out” came to me one day while I was on the train. I entered the A train one evening and I noticed two people standing close to each other, both holding onto the rail. Gradually, their hands started to touch, at first gently, almost accidentally and then, slowly, they intertwined their fingers as if embracing through that small, shared space. I wasn’t sure if they were actually a couple, but in New York City, that kind of gesture on the train feels like its own quiet language.

It is subtle, yet deeply expressive. Something about it captures the rhythm and intimacy of the city itself. The visual also captured the silent romantic dance of the subway. Usually, the subway is associated with danger or crime but from my observation, subtle love lives there too.
A few days after completing the piece, I exhibited it at my solo show in Brooklyn at the Crown Heights Café. That night, I met my Rhianna who, unbelievably, was wearing a ring nearly identical to the one I had painted on the woman in the piece. There was a kind of magic in the serendipity of it that captured our attention.

Just a few days earlier, I had seen her Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays and invited her to my show later that week. To my pleasant surprise, she came! After the show, we went on our first date and had dinner up the street on Franklin Ave. We’ve been together ever since, almost two years now.
In a way, “Bout 2 Stops Out” didn’t just tell a New York love story; it created one.
Kind regards,
Mere

I also asked Mere if there was anything he would like to say to Our Time Press readers about Art and his experience pursuing it. He responded:

I profoundly believe that you can see art wherever you are. In fact, almost all of my work comes from observing my surroundings, something rooted in my childhood. I was unable to speak until I was five years old, and I began creating art at the age of two as a means of communication. That early silence heightened my sense of observation, teaching me how to translate what I see, feel, and perceive in the world around me into visual form, something I’ve nurtured and practice to this day. – Mere

About Watson Mere:
Mr. Mere is an award-winning visual and performance artist whose work has been exhibited internationally over the past nine years. His art has been featured in galleries, museums, and prominent venues including the Barclays Center (Brooklyn, NY), Venice Art Gallery (Venice, Italy), The Oculus at the World Trade Center (New York, NY), Gracie Mansion Conservatory (New York, NY), Norman Rea Gallery (York, United Kingdom), and The Africa Center (Harlem, NY).

Mere is the recipient of numerous honors, including the 2024 Artist-in-Residence at Haiti Cultural Exchange, the 2025 El Greco – Premio de las Bellas Artes Fine Arts Award from ICM Gestora Cultural, and the 2022 Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program. In 2018, he was awarded a Citation of Honor in the Arts by the District Attorney of Kings County.
His work and practice have been featured in publications and media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, Hyperallergic, Esquire, Artsy, NPR, News 12 New York, Philly Magazine, Broadway World, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nylon, C-Suite Quarterly, and others.

Mere holds a B.A. in Business Administration (2011) and a Master of Business Administration M.B.A. (2015) from Florida A&M University. Born and raised in Belle Glade, Florida, to Haitian immigrant parents, he currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and maintains a studio at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in Times Square, Manhattan, New York City. For more information: watsonmere.com