[What’s your name and tell me a little bit about yourself]
My name is Franki Phoenix, I’m 29, I'm a Taurus, Visual Artist & Model.
A lot of where i’m at right now is focusing on empowering other black artists...No matter what you do follow your f***ing dreams…
[With that mindset in mind, what empowers you in your artistry?]
Music is a very big motivator for me… Most of my projects may come from some song titles, but I think music is the best way for us to put some sort of tangible feeling to an emotion. When you hear someone singing it takes you to a place where it's like, damn, that’s how I really feel.
For me when it comes to creating a project, everything stems either from a life experience or something that I daydreamed about as a kid, and I daydream A LOT. As a visual artist I'm constantly in the clouds and trying to figure out ways to get my messages out.
[If you had to give any other black creator any advice to go out and do something, what would it be.]
Create what you want to create and don’t put due dates on your projects. We live in a world where social media is like a bottomless voracious well. No matter how much you produce and how much you put out there it’s(social media) never going to be satisfied. It puts you on this rat wheel where you feel like you have to constantly put something out to be relevant. Sometimes just living your life is the best way to have inspiration for your art because life imitates art. When it comes to keeping your art alive, especially as a black artist, you have to be authentic as possible. Use where you have been and where you want to go, once you’ve answered those questions you can put feeling to it and build from there.
[Concerning recent activism and speaking at events]
I haven’t always been into public speaking but this summer i’ve been doing a lot of work with different Trans Rights organizations founded by gender non-conforming and trans people of color. They focus on bringing resources to the city of Austin to those groups. I was invited to the LGBTQ rally for BLM, and gave a speech called ‘All Black Lives Matter’. Honestly everything has been progressing from then, different trans and gender non-conforming people from all walks of life, we’re all just building a community organically. What I really want to focus on with my art is mental health awareness for black people, not just because of Covid and the police brutality stuff going on, but the message that I really want to get out now is that taking care of yourself and choosing to thrive and be happy as a black person is a form of protest within it self. Because we live in a country where we’re constantly fed that we can't have this or you can't do that. Even with the first black president, he was mixed race, we’ve never had a black-ity black black president. I feel like a lot of what is successful in America is based on what is palatable for white people. I feel like as a black artist i’ve gotten to the point where i’m not trying to make anybody feel comfortable, especially white people. My experiences are my own and when it comes to telling our story we should be allowed to tell them (without filter).
The main thing that i want to leave with is that black success, black happiness, black excellence is a form of protest. We’re taking what belongs to us these days. We’re not asking for a seat at the table, we’re making our own and I love that.
Take care of yourself, choose to live, choose to be here and not just pay bills. Don’t just be here, be f**ing FABULOUS! That’s what I want to hear from black people, not ‘i’m alright’, (i wanna hear) i’m GREAT. It's not enough to just be existing anymore.
