“I just love to collect these stories and feel the resilience in them – that’s the baseline for all of my pieces.”
Can you recall the first time you felt moved by art?
My brother passed away when I was eight and I got obsessed with drawing him. That was the beginning for me. Art has always been a form of expression, and I don’t think it was a choice because I did it for therapeutic reasons.
When I was 12, I got into fashion illustration which led me to Rosa Parks Fine Arts High School, where I learned about artists like Georgia O’Keefe, George Kondo, Picasso – the staples. Especially seeing Basquiat’s work and how he would speak on, “I’m not a Black artist, I’m an artist,” that meant a lot to me at that age.
Before DJing and becoming an artist full-time you worked in fashion, music marketing and design. How do these experiences inform your current practice?
As a creative, you have to wear all the hats. When I started DJing, I had my own website and EPK before I had a gig. I knew what my brand was going to be, I knew I wanted to be a big-ass kid. When I was a young I was obsessed with Barbie dolls and that’s part of my branding: having fun and creating my own world. The results are never nearly as important as the journey, and these are gems I’ve collected from each experience.
Your work is being exhibited in the Brooklyn Museum, and you’re Scope’s Artist-in-Residence this year. How are you feeling?
I’m ecstatic and nervous. Although I’ve been an artist for so long, this is all new to me. It feels like when I first started DJing – getting in the mix of it and starting from level one. It’s all exciting, but I’ve worked hard to get here so I feel like it’s deserved.
Also, the fact that I’m doing Scope, DJing and have a booth is nuts! I’m not the first DJ and artist, but for me, I feel like I’m creating my own Barbie world and people are seeing my work for the first time. Seeing it all come together, it’s something that I’m so proud of. My brother is 18 years old and him being able to see this, it’s just awesome.
How would you define your art practice?
I tell my stories, collect experiences from my community and try to make them feel better. I think about the aunties that I never got to meet, which is what “Sankofa” is based on. I reimagined her as a Black woman, but her original form is a bird. I just love to collect these stories and feel the resilience in them – that’s the baseline for all of my pieces.
Each of your paintings is fashioned with beckoning eyes. Could you tell me more about how this style came to be?
It developed over time, allowing myself to just be free with the work. A few years ago, I started getting really into line work, and I found my style by playing with it.
“Mommy and Me” was a painting that defined my work for the first time. That’s the piece that’s in the Brooklyn Museum, she really defined the eyes. I realized that all of these eyes remind me of my mom’s, I never really tell her that, but these almond eyes remind me of my family’s and my own.
