I say my long time inspiration because I think that I have always been a fan of certain visuals and this year I got to refine that with discovering my own self as well, as a creative and visual artist and person.
for this project, my obsession for series was finally paying off. It’s quite funny also because since a very young age I have obsessed with tv series to the point my mom would tell me to stop watching it. I would watch on my laptop while working, washing the dishes etc.
I remember thinking that one time, I will produce them ! Mostly because some of my favourite shows were abruptly aborted (ok maybe after 5 seasons)
I remember thinking that I would inject money in those projects so they can have a second life.
However, when I think about my childhood , I don’t remember watching a serie about black people’s daily lives or even with black people on it . When I would see them, they would do usually do something illegal and I wouldn’t say or even feel something about. It tells a lot.
When I think about my long time inspiration for this project they actually appeared couple of years ago as I grew up and started to think for myself, then I realised how black people were so absent of tv screen.
But not absent as totally not there just not present as alive, doing well, studying,laughing,dancing, living their lives the way I would live mine with my friends.
The only one was The fresh Prince of Bel-Air (see below) I loved this show so muchhhh !! Unfortunately I didn’t watch it when it was airing but still so good.
I started to watch Spike Lee’s movies, then Hood movies- 90’s! But still it wasn’t enough
then couple of years ago, I started to watch Ava Duvernay’s series such as Queen Sugar, Childish Gambino’s Atlanta, Issa Rae’s Insecure. That’s when I realised the kind of thing that I wanted to see on screen, small or big. Not love or comedy particularly for black people but some depth that was deprived from us for so many time.
when it comes to black masculinity,
here’s a list of inspiration for this project:
