ABOUT

I started writing my name on things. That’s all it really was.

I did it it for two reasons. The first was an insatiable need to transgress and oppose societal rules I felt trapped into. Growing up Black in an environment whiter than the freshly primed walls I would “deface”, I always felt like I stuck out. If I was gonna be clearly identifiable cog in a horrible machine, I would do it my way. Most people live their lives following whichever silent or explicit code was hammered into their brains, making sure they never let their mask slip. Ironically, I felt most alive with a bally on.

The second reason was a desperate need to leave a mark behind. If a man falls in a concrete jungle and no one is around the skyscraper he is plummeting from, did he exist at all? Existence, through a name I crafted myself instead of inheriting it from birth, is in my view the purest form of expression and pride. The more I did it the closer I felt to my true self, eventually realising I had more to say than the same seven letters over and over again.

My work is a condensation of those two needs. My chrome characters are a two-dimensional reduction of my lived experience, my fights, and my pride. They oppose, struggle, and overcome, but they know their roots, their worth, and themselves.

Disobedience, and unconditional identity.