If there was ever a time to do something u love for the sheer pleasure of it, that time is now.

Empire seeks to crush us to dust but just like our ancestors, we find ways to grow to blossom to persist. I’ve always wanted to create a zine + I finally did so. Drawing for the sheer fun of it, writing stories + captions, remembering, teaching, talking shit. My child self is well pleased. 

Funny how I got to this place tho. After years of designing and creating art for businesses, arts & culture departments, non-profit orgs + museums, I’m ready to tap out. I need space.

My art + my intellectual property is sacred. Let me pause and take a breath. What’s coming up a lot lately is protecting my work + my spirit from really extractive practices. This is not to say it’s all malicious and predatory because most of the people I work with are nice people — it’s the systems at fault, it’s capitalism, it’s standard business practices. But let’s call in divine order by telling the truth. Ancestors said I can’t worry about burning bridges if those bridges was wobbly af and not built to support me in the first place.

As an artist, I find it diabolical that clients want our shit on flyers, webinars, mood boards, decks, slides, book covers, conference materials, ebooks, websites + social media for free or damn near close to it

they love to use your ideas but never wanna hire an employee offering consistent income + health benefits but would much rather 1099 u

they want access to your energy, your culture, your style + your community

they create websites + sell merch with our art on it without crediting the artist, without permission or compensation

they want us to lower our prices for workshops in their spaces, further subtracting our coins

when they see u have art licensing fees in place they let u know your work is -no longer a good fit-

they make their spaces uncomfortable and unsafe for femmes by not listening to them, not believing them + not protecting them

they want u to sign contracts that state they are entitled to use your work forever n ever ah-men and u know what — my body + my spirit held up a very large energetic NO.

If u are intentional about the energy + spirit behind the art, the work, we need to move away from extractive business practices with creatives and model more reciprocity. Of course I will never stop creating art + writing but this is exactly where the zines found me.