Triptych (n.) Three creative things appreciated together.
The Purpose of this blog:
- To humanize myself outside of the events.
- To show love to the all of the creative things I enjoy.
I wanted to start by acknowledging three pieces of art that have shaped me.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I’m a creativity enjoyer, not an expert.
Plastic 100° Celsius by Sampha
There were couple choices I debated putting here: Frank Ocean’s Pink Matter (Amazing Andre 3000 verse), Warm Winds by SZA (The second half with Isaiah Rashad is heavenly), Thump Shit by EST Gee and 42 Dugg even popped in my head (a half joke but song’s hard). But I have to give the nod to what I think is Sampha’s best song. The songs continues to have relevance in my life regardless of where I am. I’ve heard it stripped down, I’ve heard it played live (shoutout to Saturn), and it just never gets old to me. I love a good status quo song, explaining to the audience where they’ve been or where they’re at. Solidified in the soundtrack to my life.
The Kitchen Table Series by Carrie Mae Weems
I wanna say I stumbled upon Carrie Mae Weems work in my photography class in high school (shoutout Mr. Moncrief). There was something about her grounded, slice of life work that spoke to me immediately. The ideas of using a kitchen table to subvert expectations of her identity as a black woman and the use of the same setting to create a world was just cool to me (Did I know all of this at the time? Of course not; I just thought the photos looked cool.) What I feel like this work did for me is it allowed me to start figuring out how to craft stories and ideas from everyday life.
Moonlight (2016) dir. by Barry Jenkins
To this day, it’s hard to quantify what this movie did for me. I can tell you how I pirated the movie and watch it one sitting in my childhood bedroom back in 2017 (post Oscar’s gaff) and it was the first movie that “I got”. How my decision to change my major from criminal justice to broadcasting was heavily influenced by this film. That my sole purpose is to create something as beautiful as this. But even as I write these words, I don’t think I do my relationship with this film justice. This is my favorite film. Is it perfect? No, but it encapsulates everything I want to be in a creative.