Your creativity holds substantial content; there’s a need to express something and articulate it boldly. Could you share a memory from your past when, for the first time, you realised you wouldn’t conform to the norm and found your unique way of self-expression? What was the initial message or theme you tackled, and with which artwork?

Realising that I wouldn’t conform to the norm, and finding my unique way of expression didn’t really happen at the same time, it took a look a lot of time to close the gap between knowing I didn’t want to be like everyone else, and actually being able to express that in my own distinct way. And I’m not sure if this was the first time, but it was the first thing in terms of art that came to mind as an answer to this question, but it would be the work I produced for Dupont Underground. It was a community art space built out of a refurbished underground street car tunnel. The show was for black artists and took place during black history month. My installation wasn’t the only one of “political” nature (I resent the term “political”, since it’s usually just a matter of basic human rights), but I will say what maybe made it unique was just how direct it was, I didn’t hold anything back. Some of the works took shots at the vice president and the DC mayor Muriel Bowser because of their roles in harming protestors during the 2020 activations, I mean there goes any DC Arts Council funding but I’m not gonna sit by and act like everything is just ok, for a long time it felt like black people were afraid to criticise or disavow black leaders because of how few of them there were, looking the other way in their complicity in harming our communities. I really appreciate the curator Carmen for having my back since apparently there was internal pushback against my ideas, particularly my gun sculptures cast from concrete. It showed me that it’s gonna be hard to say what I wanna say. A lot of people want “pretty”, and I’m just not the one to give them that.

Personal background consists of various challenging yet defining steps. The theme of family and personal history is prominently evident in your works; something you think has been fundamental for your definition? During the early stages of pursuing your goals, did you receive support and encouragement?

I’m blessed to have been supported pretty much from the beginning, my mom went to art school actually so there was always a lot of support in me making art in the house, people always tell me how young I am to be doing what I’m doing and I have my upbringing to thank for that. But in terms of it as a career choice, let’s just say me and my parents didn’t always see eye to eye. My mom wanted an architect, my dad wanted me to be a cop, and instead they got a radical conceptual artist. Oops. It’d been my dream to study art in New York for years so when I got into my dream school and the bill for the tuition came, in short and much less painful words, my dad was like “nah”. Crushed dreams aside I wasn’t gonna let that or anything else stop me. It still hurts that my dad didn’t believe in me at first but the stuff I’m doing now my parents had no idea was even possible through art. Sometimes you just gotta do something just to show people what’s possible.

Describe your comfort context – that combination of elements where the vibes allow you to be yourself: whether it’s a neighborhood, a setting, a music playlist, or even a specific time of day when you feel like you enter your bubble and are at peace with your essence.

I’d say my comfort context would be sitting in my room on a rainy day, window open, letting in the sound and smell of the rain, listening to my favorite playlist, its called “ambient wide” and I’ve been slowly building it for months, it’s only like 13 songs, favorites including Underground “Flower by Richie Culver”, “Forever” by Irakli, “Lose You Beau” by Space Afrika, and “Several Stories To Dissect” by African-American Sound Recordings. It’s this very moody atmospheric kind of sound that gets me in this certain headspace where I can really think and withdraw, sitting by my bookshelf flipping through my collection, sometimes just sitting by my books makes me feel good. They’re like artifacts, they have energy. I actually hope to open a research library one day with my art book collection. My other favorite moment when I enter my bubble is when i’m staying in New York (usually the Lower East Side) and exercise my bad habit of occasional vegan ice cream for breakfast, and when I’m walking from the ice cream place steadily eating my soft serve cone in between rapping along out loud (very loudly) to drill music. Finally its also just when I’m alone making my work, art for me is a very private thing, I make this joke about the “Zoo-quarium” nature of the art world right now, and how artists are forced to do open studios so people can come poke and prod the artist and “tap on the aquarium glass”. I’m just like this should be a private place, leave me alone.