1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by FX's Fleischman Is in Trouble, 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzie Kaplan, and Adam Brodie. 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: The strama tells the story of recently divorced Toby Fleischmann, 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,320 Speaker 1: who dies into the world of app based dating with 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: the kind of success he never had in his youth. 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: Then his ex wife disappears, leaving him with their two 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: children and no hint of her return effectus. Fleischman Is 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: in Trouble, streaming November seventeenth only on Hulu. Good morning, peeps, 9 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: and welcome to wikate FP Daily with Meet your Girl 10 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: Danielle Moody recording Not So Live from La Folks. I 11 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: want to give a round up of the bullshit that 12 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: has transpired this week. You know, I spoke about this 13 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: yesterday and I said that they are a myriad of 14 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: people who want us to be satisfied with incremental change, 15 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,240 Speaker 1: who are making pronouncements about what in fact is inside 16 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: of the Build Back Better Plan and the fact that 17 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: it was dramatically cut in half because of two senators 18 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: who are so in the pocket of corporations and the 19 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: wealthy that they don't see the needs of three hundred 20 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: and thirty some odd million Americans that they don't care 21 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: about the needs of three hundred and thirty some one 22 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: million Americans. I think that one of the greatest tragedies 23 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: of the last I don't know, eighteen nineteen months at 24 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: this point of COVID is not just the deaths. That 25 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: obviously is a major tragedy. Over seven hundred thousand Americans 26 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: have perished. The other greatest tragedy that I see unfolding 27 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: right now is our government's inability to use what we 28 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: learned about broken systems, broken agencies and use this chance, 29 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: this opportunity under the Biden administration to create massive progressive 30 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,080 Speaker 1: overhaul of our country. If there was nothing else that 31 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: we learned during this global health pandemic, it's that our 32 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: schools don't have the right infrastructure, That there are some 33 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: schools that have had hvacts from decades ago. Right, that 34 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: our children across this country we're breathing in polluted air 35 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: before COVID, Right that there were no air purifiers. That's 36 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: just the basics. That there were children across the country 37 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: who we knew didn't have access to broadband, right making 38 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: it narrowly impossible to be able to keep up with 39 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: their counterparts who may be better off economically. We knew 40 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: that that childcare costs in this country are out of control, 41 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: forcing parents and caregivers to have to make critical decisions 42 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 1: between whether or not they're going to be able to 43 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: pay for a mortgage or their rent and also pay 44 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: for childcare, which in some states like the one that 45 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: I live in in New York and the one that 46 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: I'm currently in right now in California, have some of 47 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: the highest childcare costs in the country, where you are 48 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: looking at maybe three four five thousand dollars a month 49 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: right if you have more than one child that requires care. 50 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: That we've had no real investment in universal pre K 51 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 1: and all of these things that the pandemic illuminated for us. 52 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: What are some of the other things that we've seen, 53 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: The historic amount of storms, the intensity of those storms, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, 54 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,919 Speaker 1: and how they cost billions upon billions of dollars in repair. 55 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: And so to not look at these really critical times 56 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: that we are living in and not look at where 57 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 1: the opportunity lies for us to improve upon broken systems, 58 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,679 Speaker 1: and instead decide that either we're just going to continue 59 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: to kick the can down the road or be happy 60 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: with the crumbs that we are given. You know, I 61 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: was never one of those people that believed that government 62 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: was broken, right, obviously, because I've spent my entire professional 63 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: career working in and around the federal government, right, whether 64 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: I was working on Capitol Hill or as a lobbyist, 65 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: or as a advisor on policy, or working in media 66 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: speaking on the issues that are plaguing our country. But 67 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: I always felt like, well, well, given more information, with 68 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: more people galvanized, right, more citizens paying attention and demanding better, 69 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: that we would get better. Right. So that was the 70 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: whole premise behind starting woke AF in the first place. 71 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: It was like, well, if more people had been conscious 72 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: right to the bullshit in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen, 73 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: then maybe we wouldn't have gotten a Donald Trump. Maybe 74 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: trumps m wouldn't have been able to take hold and 75 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 1: spread like a cancer across this country in the way 76 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: that it has. But the reality is is that when 77 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: I sit back and I look around now, and I 78 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: think about how it has been ten months since the 79 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: Biden administration entered into power, and I keep asking everyone 80 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: that I come into contact with from various walks of life. 81 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: Do you feel better? There is not a person that 82 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: I am coming across that says yes, I do. So 83 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: what does that mean about people thoughts and feelings about 84 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: how our federal government is working for us. It means 85 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 1: that more people are feeling let down, disappointed, angry with 86 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: the ways in which they're seeing this political theater play 87 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: out around this legislation and others. I mean, it was 88 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: just over the summer when Corey Booker was holding a 89 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: microphone saying, well, after eight months of quote unquote good 90 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: faith negotiations with Republican Tim Scott, we're not getting any 91 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: police reform, regardless of the fact that as a country 92 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: and as the world watch George Floyd have his last breath, 93 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: hath his life squeezed out of his body by a 94 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: police officer. And before George Floyd, and after George Floyd, 95 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: too many black and brown people have been killed by police. 96 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: But over the summer, our political leaders walked in front 97 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:19,440 Speaker 1: of cameras and threw up their hands. Then it has 98 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: been the same situation with voting rights, which in my opinion, 99 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: should have been the first thing outside of the rollout 100 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: for vaccines, should have been the first thing big initiative 101 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: that this administration was taking on following the death of 102 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: fucking John Lewis. It is not enough to put people's 103 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: names on legislation that you have no fucking intention or 104 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: strategy to pass. Oh, the George Floyd Policing Act, Yeah, 105 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: and it's as dead as George Floyd is. The John 106 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 1: Lewis Voting Rights Act, wonderful marker, but that's dead in 107 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: the water too. But at the same time that two 108 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: are these important pieces of legislation that would begin to 109 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: reshape and reimagine broken systems. Then they want to turn 110 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: around and pass Juneteenth legislation and then at the same 111 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: time make Juneteenth a federal holiday. But guess what, you 112 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: can't teach it and damn near half of the schools 113 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: in this country because they now have bands on actual, 114 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: real and inclusive and comprehensive American history otherwise known as 115 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 1: critical race theory. So when I look around right now 116 00:09:55,440 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 1: and I'm sitting back and I'm thinking to myself, is 117 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: government broken? Like? Are we just done? Because we realize 118 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: just how ineffective our political leaders are because they are 119 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 1: so bought and sold by the people who fill their 120 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: political coffers. If citizens United had never happened, Right if 121 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: that bullshit Supreme Court didn't decide that we could just 122 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: have an influx of money into our political system. Do 123 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: you think that Kirsten's cinema would have found herself across 124 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: the pond when major negotiations would happen because her constituents 125 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:44,959 Speaker 1: eyes would have been on her and what she was doing. 126 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: But she's not beholden to them, so she could care less. 127 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: Minnie saw her presiding over the Senate in a denim jacket, 128 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: flipping her hair like she's some teenage girl trying to 129 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,959 Speaker 1: get the attention of some boy or girl in their class. 130 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: That's how serious she looked. So without deep accountability, and 131 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: dare I say actual fear of what your constituents will do, 132 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:22,959 Speaker 1: namely voting you out, then what are you actually doing? 133 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: Where is the where is your get up and go? 134 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: You have none? I told you yesterday there's not one 135 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: billionaire in West Virginia. But right now Joe Mansion doesn't 136 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 1: want a billionaire tax because it's the billionaires that feed 137 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: his energy company that are his shareholders. Forty years, this 138 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: man has been representing a very destitute state in this 139 00:11:55,760 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: country for forty years which tells you a couple of things. Either, 140 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: the people are so desperate and so unable to put 141 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: food on their table to go and pick up and 142 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,440 Speaker 1: fill prescription drug medications because they don't have enough money. 143 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: They're so busy and underwater with their day to day 144 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: that they don't have the attention to wonder what is 145 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: my senator actually fucking doing for me? And I think 146 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,679 Speaker 1: on both Democrats and Republican sides, that that's the way 147 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:36,720 Speaker 1: they fucking want it. Keep people in despair, keep them 148 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: in dysfunction, so that then they're not paying enough attention 149 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: to know that you are literally picking their pockets, that 150 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: you are literally doing nothing that you took an oath 151 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: to do. I said yesterday it is time, I believe, 152 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: for us to move away from our focus on the 153 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: presidency and on Congress, not to not vote. That's not 154 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: what I'm saying, but I'm saying the fact is is 155 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: that the federal level ain't where things are at. It 156 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: is at the state and local level. And you know 157 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: who knows that fucking Republicans who are running for everything 158 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: from dog catcher to school board to city council to 159 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: state representatives because they know that they have no policies 160 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:34,839 Speaker 1: that anybody gives a shit about, and as a matter 161 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: of fact, they know they don't need them, because when 162 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: you're the party of no, no one is looking to 163 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: you to offer a damn thing. They're just looking for 164 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: you to roll back the clock so that you can 165 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:50,360 Speaker 1: feel better about your racism, so that you can feel 166 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: accepted in taking off your hood and letting people know 167 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: how you really feel. But the question that I continue 168 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 1: to ask is, if we know that to be true, 169 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,079 Speaker 1: those of us who have the ability to be tapped in, 170 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: then why aren't we messaging that. How is it that 171 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: our government can be so ineffectual and these people hold 172 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: jobs for fucking decades and do absolutely nothing. It's why 173 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: I ask myself at the end of every week and 174 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: midweek and at the beginning of every week, what am 175 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: I doing? Because I want to actually be of service? 176 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: Because unlike our representatives right now, federal representatives, I want 177 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: to be of service. I want to help people be better, 178 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: do better, think clearer, understand their power and wield it 179 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: in a strategic manner. I try and inform as many 180 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: people as possible. This is one of the reasons why 181 00:14:57,520 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: we're going to be doing full video of the show, 182 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: but then offering the audio for free because I said, 183 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: I need to reach more people. I need to do 184 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: what I can do in my little corner of the universe, 185 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: because our democracy is slipping away, and it's not even slipping, 186 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: it's being pushed over a cliff. And the people that 187 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: we call on to represent us and be our voices 188 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: are the ones that are silent right now, with their 189 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 1: hands in their pockets, looking everywhere but at us. And 190 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: it's time that we start looking at each other and 191 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: ourselves and saying what is next? If this is broken 192 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: and we can't reimagine where we go with this current system, 193 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: then what do we do with it? Coming up next, friends, 194 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: is my conversation with a brilliant, brilliant Nigerian British artist, DeCicco. 195 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: We have a deep conversation about his understanding of blackness 196 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,600 Speaker 1: and how he uses his understanding and his depth of 197 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: knowledge and his Nigerian roots to create some of the 198 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: most beautiful pieces I've ever seen. And if you are 199 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: on Instagram, look up a Sicco asi Ko and look 200 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: at his work. As we get into this conversation about art, 201 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: about beauty, about blackness, and about purpose, folks, I am 202 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: really excited to welcome to woke f for the very 203 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: first time, an artist that I came upon on Instagram 204 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: when I decided that I was no longer interested in 205 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: just following politicos and no longer interested in misery and 206 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: wanted to fill my feed with beauty. A Sicco is 207 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: an incredible artist that encapsulates the beauty of blackness and 208 00:16:56,240 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: the ordination and the spirituality and the royalty. That's what 209 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: those are all of the words, uh that come to 210 00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:07,639 Speaker 1: my mind when I see your work. And so I 211 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: just want to start off with one appreciating you because 212 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,159 Speaker 1: in a time when still regardless of what part of 213 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: the Black diaspora you come from, you still are not 214 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: inundated with black beauty. You still are not inundated with 215 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: black success um and and excellence and innovation um in 216 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:31,119 Speaker 1: a way that we should be in the in the 217 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,880 Speaker 1: twenty first century. So I want to first ask you, 218 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 1: you know, about being about the label artist and what 219 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 1: that what that means to you and why you've chosen 220 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:49,360 Speaker 1: um the subjects that you have. Okay, thank you so much, 221 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: Daniel for allowing to talk. It's always good to talk 222 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,439 Speaker 1: about the work and always a share ideas. So for 223 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 1: me things, so my stories are strange. One. I so 224 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,000 Speaker 1: I didn't start out as an artist, and that's an 225 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: interesting word artist. I think I'm a human being navigating 226 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: is the life and navigating who he is and how 227 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:23,359 Speaker 1: he fits in the world. And then art is my 228 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: form of expression, my way to talk to the world, 229 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: my way to talk about the things that inspire me, 230 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: but also talk about the things that kissed me off 231 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: and talk about the things that I love, but then 232 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: the things that I want to shout about. And so 233 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,639 Speaker 1: artists kind of my way to express and to talk 234 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: about those things. So the word artist has kind of 235 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:57,880 Speaker 1: come with that whole. With that whole, I guess paradise. 236 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: But I didn't start up as an artist. That I 237 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 1: started out. You know, I've got a Nigerian parents, So 238 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: I started out as a I have a master's degree 239 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: in biotraumatics and I'm a chemist, um, you know, trained 240 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:19,400 Speaker 1: in university and I worked in the pharmacy pop industry 241 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,920 Speaker 1: for you know, quite a couple of years and then. 242 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: But I was always interested in art and it was 243 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: something that fed my soul. You know. My dad was 244 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: a collector and he had worked all around, and I 245 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: was also interested in European arts. So a lot of 246 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:37,360 Speaker 1: these things kind of fed me. And then I think 247 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: when it was time and when my work had developed, 248 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: I took that progression to become I guess the word 249 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: is full time artist. So it's been an interesting journey, 250 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: but I find for me it's a way to talk 251 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: about the things that I want to talk about. It 252 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: it's my journey understanding blackness. You know, I didn't just 253 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: all the world blackness till I moved to the UK. 254 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: It was in the UK that I found out I 255 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: was black. In Nigeria, where I lived till I was 256 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: about sixteen seventeen, I didn't think I was black. I 257 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: just thought I was I was just a guy. And 258 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: then I came to kind of found out was black. 259 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: And then so when I grew older, those other things 260 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,920 Speaker 1: I started to talk about through my work to celebrate 261 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,119 Speaker 1: my blackness, but also to um talk about the things 262 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: that was there in your journey, which is so interesting, right, 263 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: I think that we all enter into I'm a child 264 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 1: of immigrants to the United States myself. My family is 265 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:54,320 Speaker 1: from Jamaica, and you know, there is always this idea 266 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: that there's only certain track that you can go into, right, 267 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: because your family wants you to have great success, and 268 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: great success means finance, financial stability. Right. What was the 269 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: tipping point moment or was there a tipping point moment 270 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: for you when you are you have your masters and 271 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:19,119 Speaker 1: you're working in pharmaceuticals and a chemist and you're just like, so, 272 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 1: I don't want to do this anymore, or this is 273 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:27,199 Speaker 1: not allowing me to really express my full self. I 274 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 1: still feel like I'm shelving a part of myself. Was 275 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: there a moment or a series of moments that led 276 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 1: to you saying this is what this is who I 277 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: want to be or how I want to express myself 278 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: full time? So that's an interesting question. There was no 279 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: definitive moment. There wasn't some sort of Eureka explosion about 280 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,959 Speaker 1: this is the time. And I think, you know, as 281 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: as we get older, we have to be smart about 282 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: the about the sort of steps we take. And for me, 283 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,679 Speaker 1: it was actually a gradual thing. And I was in 284 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 1: no rush because I actually did it once where I 285 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: did quit everything and I said, you know, I'm going 286 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: to be a full time market to quit my job, 287 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: and you know, I'd saved some money, and it didn't. 288 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: But I know why I didn't work because I wasn't 289 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: the artist that I am now. I wasn't fully leaned 290 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 1: into who I'm supposed to be as a person. I 291 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: don't fully activated that part of myself. And it was 292 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: when I started, when I went through a self discovery 293 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: journey of knowing that actually I just shouldn't be making 294 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: the work for other people. I should be making work 295 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: about my journey. And then and in some ways that 296 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: was a transition from being a photographer to being an 297 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 1: artist where the work has more meaning and it has 298 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,880 Speaker 1: more debt to it. So there wasn't that definitive moments, 299 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: and for some people there is, but I didn't have 300 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: the luxury of that. You know, I'm married, and you 301 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: know I can't just there are two people involved in 302 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:16,360 Speaker 1: that equation, so I can't just jump everything and just say, hey, 303 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: you know what, We're going to go and live on 304 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: somebody's couch right now and be a what what's the word, uh, 305 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:30,719 Speaker 1: struggling artist And the Nigerian narrative. Nigerians don't do struggling, 306 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: you know, um not have any money in their profits 307 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: kind of art that it doesn't work in our narratives, 308 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:39,200 Speaker 1: and those are some of the things I picked from 309 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: my parents, as much as it was challenging to express 310 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: to them, this is what I do. I've learned a 311 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: lot of things about how to take the family, of 312 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,879 Speaker 1: how to be responsible, of how to build a life. 313 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: And I learned that those bits from them. So I'm 314 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: a balance between both of those worlds and I've learned 315 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: to navigate them well over the past couple of years. 316 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,960 Speaker 1: What was it about moving to the UK that had 317 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: you really begin to understand your blackness in the perspective 318 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: of other people's view of you? Right? Because you understood 319 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: yourself in one context living in Nigeria being around people 320 00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: who who look like you, right, who are in all 321 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,399 Speaker 1: sorts of positions of power, right from prime ministers and 322 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: presidents and you know, nurses and doctors and all of 323 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: these different things. How did you understand then your black 324 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: or begin to understand your blackness through what I'm assuming 325 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: is the white gaze, right is through white people's is 326 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: through white people's eyes as a post through your own. 327 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:56,400 Speaker 1: How did that come about? So this is so late. 328 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: So first, living in Nigeria, there's a lot of imports 329 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 1: of Western culture. So from TVs to film, so you 330 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: in some way do you start to see a reflection 331 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: of what other people feel black people are. Um, you know, 332 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: so the narrative is a gang banger or or or 333 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: drug dealer or or or he's he's the person that's 334 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: always going to get killed before you know, the film 335 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: gets anyway, before we get halfway through the film, you 336 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: get killed, which is interesting because black people have this 337 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: amazing self preservation. So if there was a real life situation, 338 00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: the black people are definitely not going to get killed first. 339 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: So I don't understand how the how it goes like 340 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: that film. Um, but so I started to see through 341 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: this influx or Western culture, you start to get an 342 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: idea of how you're going to be view But it 343 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: didn't prepare me for when I actually moved to be 344 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,719 Speaker 1: kid because I moved at about sixteen seventeen. But also 345 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: in some subconscious way, I don't think I appreciate it 346 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,640 Speaker 1: being black. I just kind of went, you know, I'm 347 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,399 Speaker 1: just a human being, just I'm kids, I'm living my life. 348 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: But it was because of the stuff I'd been fed. 349 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: So I moved to the UK, and then there was 350 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: this whole thing of how people approached me, how people 351 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: pronounced my name, how they thought that. You know, we 352 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: swung from tree in Africa and we didn't have any technology. 353 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: And this is always the interesting one. We speak a 354 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:49,120 Speaker 1: really good influition for a Nigerian, for an African. Oh, 355 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,879 Speaker 1: I've heard that one like a thousand and many times. 356 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: It's not even a thing. It's actually not a thing. 357 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 1: And sometimes I will cheekily reply, um, we speak better 358 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: English than you. You know how to use consonance, verbs 359 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:08,239 Speaker 1: and proverbs well in a sentence. I'll respond like that 360 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,639 Speaker 1: in a sort of cheeky way. Um. So you start 361 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:17,119 Speaker 1: to get an idea that you are different because of 362 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: the color of the skin. And I didn't fully appreciate 363 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: that until I started to get as I started to 364 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: get older. So I lived in Brixton when I first 365 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:33,120 Speaker 1: lived to the UK. Brixton is likened to Brooklyn. It's 366 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: an area that we redeveloped. A lot of black people, 367 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: you know from the Caribbean, lived in Brixton, but it's 368 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:45,160 Speaker 1: gone through a gentification and now that's not casting. Um. 369 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,920 Speaker 1: So I lived it, and I was surrounded by a few, 370 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: quite a few black people. But once you step out 371 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,199 Speaker 1: of Brixton. We start to see how people view you 372 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: and how they how they you know, Bucher your name 373 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: and not in a I don't understand how to pronouncing him, 374 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: but in a sort of derogatory way, right, I don't. 375 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: I'm not even gonna trouble myself to and extend myself 376 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: because you're not deserving of even the proper pronunciation. Oh yes, exactly. 377 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: And and you see these sorts of things are there's 378 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: a certain sort of superiority. Um, you know, I've come 379 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,640 Speaker 1: to live in your country, I come to school here. 380 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: I'm a British citident. You know I was born here 381 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: when I was a kid. But I've come to school 382 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 1: here and you know i'd got back. Um, but there's 383 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 1: a certain level of superiority to how people view you, 384 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: and that comes across in the way they speak. So 385 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: all of these things were things that I kind of 386 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: took in and absorbed. And um, there's a certain level 387 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: of being a Nigerian where I'll push back and say no, 388 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 1: you can't talk to me like that, or you can't 389 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: you can't behave like behave like that to me. But 390 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: the challenges there is still a taken on with human 391 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: beings and they will still be There's levels of build 392 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,640 Speaker 1: up and in some ways can cause trauma. And those 393 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: are the sorts of things that affect you know, me 394 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,800 Speaker 1: as a person and affect a lot of you know, 395 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:24,280 Speaker 1: Nigerians or Black people or Black British people who live here. Um, 396 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: so that that whole thing had kind of been simmering 397 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: under the surface. So for me, when I started to create, 398 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: I found an avenue to speak about black people in 399 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:44,040 Speaker 1: positive life. More so women. M I my narrative has 400 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: been you know, my mother was quite a strong, powerful 401 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: and Nigerian woman, and she kind of shaped my ideas 402 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: of womanhood. And then my my dad's sisters as well 403 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: were quite powerful. And then you know, growing up in me, 404 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: I've met all these beautiful, amazing women, married to an 405 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: amazing woman, and so all of these different things that 406 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: kind of start to shape my my narratives of women, 407 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 1: and that feeds into my work. And then one of 408 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: the challenges is whenever I go back to Nigeria, I 409 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: see how women are treated them. Women are treats to 410 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: their second part citizens and some of these things that 411 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 1: come from colonial narratives which have fed into our culture 412 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 1: and to women are treated, you know, unfairly. So I 413 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: want to edify women with my work as well and 414 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: show that women are beautiful. Black women are amazing, you know, 415 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: they are the pillars of the community and of the society. 416 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: If women were gone and the sort of contributions they 417 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: you know, contribute to our societies, if those weren't there, 418 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: societies will crumble. And people might not fully agree with that, 419 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: but it's to be able to frumble because at the 420 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: grassroots women are really important, you know, holding its time together. 421 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,960 Speaker 1: I mean, I could not agree more. And it is 422 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: always shocking to me. Women make up you know, half 423 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 1: of the world, right I'm in I'm in the United States. 424 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: We make up over half of the population in the 425 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: United States, and yet when you look at who is 426 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: in power and who has power, the numbers are paltry 427 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: in comparison to the actually you know, to the actual 428 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: demographics of of women in this country and around the world. 429 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: And I mean, you know, there are so many campaigns 430 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: that have been that have been done about letting women 431 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: learn and letting women you know, lead, and doing all 432 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,959 Speaker 1: of these things because at the essence of it, you know, 433 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,760 Speaker 1: women are essential, right and not just essential in the 434 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: way in how patriarchy wants to see us as essential, 435 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 1: which is just as producers, right, we manufacture maybe's and 436 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: so that is our sole purpose. Um it is so 437 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: much there, It's so much more expansive than that. Um 438 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:07,959 Speaker 1: there is. And I am not an artist, but I 439 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: appreciate art. And the thing that I appreciate, particularly around 440 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: some of the pieces that I've seen with you, is 441 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: the way that the blackness comes through. It is the lighting, 442 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: it is the depth, like the like the only thing 443 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: that I can think of is richness. It is, I mean, 444 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:36,240 Speaker 1: it is I've never I've never seen anything like it. 445 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: And I want to talk to you about that, about 446 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:43,280 Speaker 1: this this richness and in the lines and the you know, 447 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: there's a particular series and forgive me because the name 448 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,280 Speaker 1: of it is not coming to me, but it is 449 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: a particular series. And the women are in a range 450 00:32:54,320 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: of what looks like warrior attire and there and it 451 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,840 Speaker 1: is like this expression of femininity of power. But again 452 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: there is it's the skin and the coloring looks like 453 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: I could reach through and just grab it. Can you 454 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: speak about that? And like that, the technique and and 455 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: and the and the thoughtfulness behind it yeah, of course. 456 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: So for me, it's skin is important. Um, it's texture, 457 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 1: how it reflects light. Um, those things, especially with black skins, 458 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,800 Speaker 1: just how that looks. It's focus riches and you know, 459 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: I mean in the UK we don't get that much 460 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 1: sun here, which is not great. But in in in 461 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: or whenever I travel in a hot climate, you just 462 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: see how the sun bounces off and there's a there's 463 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: a shine. You know, our skin is beautiful and it's 464 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,440 Speaker 1: just amazing to see. And for me, I want to 465 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: photograph that. And it's not just photographing it from a 466 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: from a I mean, this is how I saw it. 467 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: It's also about this is how I feel about it. 468 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: This is how that black skin makes me feel. It's howful, 469 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,960 Speaker 1: it's beautiful, it's something to do celebrate. It might not 470 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 1: be prevalent in media, but this is how I see 471 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 1: black people. This is how I see black women. And 472 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: I photographed there and I thought, and I try as 473 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 1: much as I can to um show complexity, because there 474 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:42,880 Speaker 1: is a complexity there. To show strength, to show vulnerability, 475 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: to show um all these different emotions that we carry 476 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: as as a black race. And those for me are 477 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: the ways because technique is great um in terms of 478 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 1: showing me things, but it's more how does that make 479 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,799 Speaker 1: me feel? And how do I photograph that? Or how 480 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 1: do I make that in a photograph? And I think 481 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: that's kind of how I approach when I'm photographing women. 482 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 1: So in some cases, I want to show their strength. 483 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: In some places I want to show their vulnerability. Depends 484 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:25,240 Speaker 1: on the stories. I did a body of work called Conversations, 485 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: and it was about FGM female genitalium, new relations cultural practice, 486 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: which still happens in Nigeria and in parts of Africa, 487 00:35:37,719 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 1: And for me, I wanted to show the vulnerability, but 488 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 1: I just didn't want to show the vulnerability of what 489 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 1: women go through with these acts of violence committed against them. 490 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,120 Speaker 1: I also wanted to make sure that those women or 491 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 1: whoever I was photographing still had a level of dignity 492 00:35:55,840 --> 00:36:00,239 Speaker 1: and grace which black women exhibits. You know, they uh, 493 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 1: you know, black women go through a lot, and you know, 494 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,040 Speaker 1: it's a sad thing. I think that at the bottom 495 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:08,040 Speaker 1: of fooching when you look at to raise them a gender, 496 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:13,719 Speaker 1: so they they go through all this stuff, but then 497 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 1: they still hold their heads high and they are still 498 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:21,680 Speaker 1: powerful in the midst of how they are treated, portrayed 499 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,759 Speaker 1: in in in our society. So for me, I want 500 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: to be able to show aspects of that complexity. And 501 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: so in that work conversations I spoke to women who've 502 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:38,080 Speaker 1: been through this, who've been cuvert in the in their teams, 503 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,799 Speaker 1: and I wanted to show so I used all these 504 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,959 Speaker 1: conversations that I had with them to make the work 505 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:48,160 Speaker 1: um And you know, the work came about because I'd 506 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: never heard of it. So as a man sitting in 507 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,680 Speaker 1: a place of privilege, nothing I've ever happened to me 508 00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: like that and hearing that, so my thought, this is 509 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: not even something I thought happened in my culture and 510 00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:07,479 Speaker 1: cultured something I love and I want to put most 511 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:10,799 Speaker 1: So for me, it was important to talk about that, 512 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,640 Speaker 1: which is something you know that should stop. You know, 513 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 1: as cultures, as we evolved as human beings, our cultures 514 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: evolved and things need to some things need to be 515 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,879 Speaker 1: edited out. We need to know that happened, but those 516 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: things need to be removed from our cultive society. So 517 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,280 Speaker 1: for me, it's it's that whole thing. I want to 518 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,760 Speaker 1: show the beauty and entify who we are with black people. 519 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,120 Speaker 1: I mean, it's just your work is so extraordinary an 520 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,240 Speaker 1: a word came into my head. I kept trying to 521 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: express to friends when I would send your page to 522 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,319 Speaker 1: them and say, look at look at this art, like 523 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 1: look like you know, and I kept trying to like 524 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: articulate what the what it reminded me of And it 525 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,360 Speaker 1: is the way that you create the depth of texture 526 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:06,840 Speaker 1: of skin. It's like looking at the most fertile soil 527 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:11,560 Speaker 1: that you've ever seen. It is so rich and so 528 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,840 Speaker 1: black and so and like where life is coming from. 529 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,680 Speaker 1: It's and and that is It's like it's the it's 530 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: the texturedness of of like the most fertile soil is 531 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: how like is how I see it when when I 532 00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:30,919 Speaker 1: when I look at your art, um you know. Last 533 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:36,360 Speaker 1: question for you is the world as a whole is 534 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:41,840 Speaker 1: in such turmoil right now, um racial reckonings happening in 535 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: the United States as well as UM in the UK 536 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 1: and just around the globe right the idea of pervasive 537 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:55,160 Speaker 1: white supremacy and how it has been how we have 538 00:38:55,239 --> 00:39:00,400 Speaker 1: been inductrinated in so many ways. How do how do 539 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: you come to understand how art can help articulate that reality, 540 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 1: that pain, that frustration, Like how do you go about 541 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:20,520 Speaker 1: thinking about encapsulating than this now that we're in in 542 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: your in your work. Hmm, that's good question. Um. I 543 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:32,919 Speaker 1: think the should be a level of authenticity and that's 544 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,960 Speaker 1: one of the things that I try to show because 545 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:41,799 Speaker 1: I'm in this world. I'm my work is inspired by 546 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:47,760 Speaker 1: African heritage, but also my British heritage. I've spent more 547 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: my life here than when I was than when I 548 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,239 Speaker 1: lived in my year, so I've grown up here, thank you. 549 00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:00,160 Speaker 1: But I think it's and I've seen this as a 550 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:06,560 Speaker 1: way within the black community, there is a very strong 551 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:12,879 Speaker 1: move to talk about the things that we are going through. 552 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: It is very important to talk about the narrative of 553 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,480 Speaker 1: who we are. And I feel people are, you know, 554 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 1: artists are being very authentic to who they are and 555 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:27,160 Speaker 1: talking about the injustice they feel or what they see 556 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: on the news or what they see in society. I 557 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:35,640 Speaker 1: created a body work called the Black Life Matters, and 558 00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:42,239 Speaker 1: it was after George Floyd's passing in the summer of 559 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,760 Speaker 1: last year, and you know, just seeing that happened made 560 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 1: me come front my issues as well with racism, and 561 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,560 Speaker 1: you know, just hearing all the news cycles. I mean, 562 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,800 Speaker 1: you you are very much you watch the news and 563 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:00,279 Speaker 1: you are in the news cycles, and you understand that 564 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,399 Speaker 1: if you take everything on board, you can just wake 565 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:11,719 Speaker 1: up real every day and just exactly it affects. And 566 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,400 Speaker 1: so what I find and what I feel am blessed 567 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:19,360 Speaker 1: with is as an artist to use my work to 568 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 1: as a form of therapy for myself, but also to 569 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: be able to speak to the world about being black 570 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:34,040 Speaker 1: living in the UK or being black living from you know, 571 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 1: conversations that can be friends. And I think we need 572 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:45,480 Speaker 1: to be authentic and also emphatic to each other because 573 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:49,120 Speaker 1: we all have this just one plan. This is it. 574 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 1: There's no other, there's no so we have to work together. 575 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:02,520 Speaker 1: And as an artist, mind is to contribute who I 576 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,279 Speaker 1: am as an artist, to be able to talk in 577 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:09,399 Speaker 1: spaces about my journey, because I feel like the more 578 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 1: we get to understand each other, the more we get 579 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:15,560 Speaker 1: to understand where we're coming from, then we are a 580 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:20,839 Speaker 1: bit more open to hear each other's journey, to get 581 00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:23,359 Speaker 1: each other's competitions. I mean, as you know, just being 582 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: online can be quite a crazy place. Um. You know, 583 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: I can put up a body of work and some 584 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 1: people just come from and you know, and they have 585 00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:37,440 Speaker 1: their opinions. But I feel I wish we were a 586 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:40,319 Speaker 1: bit more open to each other and to listen to 587 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:44,239 Speaker 1: each other and not be so fast to say, oh, 588 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:51,160 Speaker 1: your cancel or your cancel. It's we need to There's 589 00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: there's a lot of growing that we all need to 590 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,799 Speaker 1: do together people. And so for me, my work is 591 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: to be able to talk about my experience, to be 592 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,160 Speaker 1: able to share a bit of my world, and you know, 593 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,440 Speaker 1: I hope in the hope that you know a bit 594 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,239 Speaker 1: about me and we can have conversations. We can sit 595 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:15,040 Speaker 1: down and not fight, but have conversations. We might not agree, 596 00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:18,600 Speaker 1: and we're not supposed to. All of the six seven 597 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:24,319 Speaker 1: billion people, we're not going to agree, but we do 598 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,080 Speaker 1: it with dignity, and we do it with great and 599 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:31,600 Speaker 1: we do it with empathy. And that's what I hope 600 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:36,040 Speaker 1: in some place, in some way my work will will 601 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,239 Speaker 1: bring to the world and um, you know, it will 602 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,279 Speaker 1: be a legacy thing. My work is not just about me, 603 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:45,640 Speaker 1: also for people who are going through what I do 604 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:50,400 Speaker 1: or an igerency've moved here to then understand what it 605 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:55,279 Speaker 1: is and to understand the space of women in society 606 00:43:56,120 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: so beautiful I can't express to you how gorgeous and 607 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:05,600 Speaker 1: powerful and honest your work is, UM, and I am 608 00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:10,080 Speaker 1: just so fortunate for the opportunity that I stumbled upon 609 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:14,160 Speaker 1: it and then was able to get into conversation with you. 610 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:19,600 Speaker 1: It's it's surpassed my my expectations so much. Thank you 611 00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:23,480 Speaker 1: very much. UM. Is it will your I justum quickly 612 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:27,400 Speaker 1: for those who would love to see your your work? 613 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,320 Speaker 1: Does it? Will you? Do you show in the States? 614 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:35,200 Speaker 1: Do you have a show in the States coming? Or um? 615 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:42,760 Speaker 1: A virtual virtual? Oh oh and not at the moment, 616 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:47,880 Speaker 1: but people can stay stay follow me on Instagram there 617 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:52,520 Speaker 1: is I'm always announced new things. UM. I have a 618 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:58,600 Speaker 1: gallery I work with and the great so hopefully we'll 619 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:01,480 Speaker 1: be showing some more. But I was, I was very 620 00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:06,239 Speaker 1: fortunate this year we did h The images from A 621 00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:10,480 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matters were moving around the US, so they 622 00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:15,799 Speaker 1: showed the New York Planter somewhere I think, and this 623 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:20,240 Speaker 1: was the work about you know where I was working 624 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:25,680 Speaker 1: flum the British and American flag and it was about 625 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:29,360 Speaker 1: that period when George Floyd's cost Yeah, yeah, I felt 626 00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:33,239 Speaker 1: about the institution. So that work did move around the 627 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:38,000 Speaker 1: US during I think, Yes, it was the song earlier 628 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 1: on some of this year it shows great um but 629 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:43,960 Speaker 1: um I there are a few things in the pipelon, 630 00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:47,879 Speaker 1: so hopefully the next year they will be in. But yeah, 631 00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:51,120 Speaker 1: looking forward to sharing new work. I will have my 632 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,160 Speaker 1: ice field because I would just love the opportunity to 633 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:58,040 Speaker 1: see the work in person um and hopefully you would 634 00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:01,880 Speaker 1: be able to meet you in person as well. A 635 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:06,239 Speaker 1: SICCO thank you so very much for your time and 636 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:11,600 Speaker 1: for your talent. Just really appreciate you. Thank you so much, 637 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:19,239 Speaker 1: thanks for your opportunity. That is it for me, dear 638 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:23,400 Speaker 1: friends today on woke a f as always Power to 639 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:26,680 Speaker 1: the people and to all the people. Power, get woke 640 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:28,520 Speaker 1: and stay woke as fuck.