00:00me finding my voice as an artist was it was a journey literally like leaving
00:10North Carolina with a sewing machine that my mom had gifted me and coming to
00:15California and that detachment from where I grew up what was the narrative
00:21that I basically want display in my artwork I'd actually took some big like
00:25square tablecloth sheets from my parents crib back in the day looking at the tag
00:31it said 100% cotton and then like going through my sketches like it also being
00:37about cotton it was like my ancestors gave me like this tap on the shoulder to
00:40like just go in you know taking the same cotton of slavery and using it as a tool
00:46to not only display the work but grow from you know a lot of my work stems from
00:55American traditional tattoos the intention is to actually show a reflection
01:02of true American history connecting these dots of how this sailor tattoos cross
01:09paths with the African diaspora at first glance it might just seem like just like
01:15a generic like image you know but but that image or that tattoo represents
01:20this passage across the Atlantic Ocean I honestly take great pride in and taking
01:26these images and flipping them into this narrative that's about black liberation you
01:31know black and white in particular you know it's just like it's just that natural contrast
01:39that's just so easy to register this is a conversation between black America and white America why
01:46not even take that element a further step you know and to actually put that within the work
01:52natural process of tattooing and the process of sewing they're very similar in a way you know they're both
02:08still using needles they're going in an up-and-down motion the way that you control the fabric and the
02:15way that you move it at a certain speed as well as like the machine and moving at a certain speed and
02:21it's just a great feeling you know the process of collaborating with bands I was trying to figure out
02:28what's the best way to have my art come through and take it from like a flat surface to 3d surface I
02:39kind of went into that same mindset of how would I approach a tattoo basically then I went to like
02:47my sketchbook I took out the images and I like moved it around and after I exhausted all my options I
02:54was like the front of the shoe like it just just give them what they want you know front and center black
03:00and white that was the way to do it
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