ART EATS WORLD
Boy meets art.
Art, in its purest form, is something found either within one’s self or the world that exists around them. Through self-discovery, our experiences inform our artistic identity and help shape us for the world we live in.
While sitting within the four walls of my friend’s dorm room a while back, we talked about which city is home to the best black creatives. I always rep the 305 (I’m from Broward County), and she was going strong behind Atlanta. The conversation continued for a while, our pride was at stake. Everything came to a head when we sparked a heated debate over which place had harder black music (Atlanta won the argument but don’t count out South Florida, ever). The conversation was so long that I began to consider our setting; Tallahassee, Florida. The home of FAMU.
Atlanta, Miami, New York, and Chicago are the premier hubs of black creativity but Tallahassee also has something to say. It’s teeming with black creativity and triumph, although it didn’t feel like that at the beginning of my time here. I was more to myself at the beginning of my college career in fall 2021. I stayed within my shell and never broke out. I never looked to see where anything creative was happening here.
Creativity was a fixed and narrow idea for me. I still needed to learn what creativity could be. Creativity was simply entertainment, like rapping or singing. That felt like the only way someone “creative” could exist, especially at an HBCU in Florida. Coming to FAMU wasn’t initially a place where I saw any creative landscape where I could create and grow. Most other people didn’t see Tallahassee as a place for creatives, either. I didn’t see myself as a visionary, but others did, even upon arrival at FAMU. Like Giahni Bosquet, a FAMU spring 2023 graduate. Giahni is a music producer and poet who “embraces their jagged edges and filters that ether into the material.” He has a smile like the sun and finds ways to make even the most straightforward answers sound poetic. He and poetry are a perfect match. He weaves stories that blend into his life story. Through his DJ mixes, he also combines songs from the past and present, from hip-hop to kompa, all through his lens of culture. His art speaks well beyond him. Being around people like Giahni helped me weed through my creative identity, and the revelation of Tallahassee’s Black art scene was even more illuminating. Living here throughout my first year of college, I’ve learned the creative scene is something you must seek out for yourself.
“You gotta get it out the mud,” says 3rd-year FAMU public relations student Derrick Taylor. Derrick is a photographer and CEO/creative director of CMNTY Studios. Closed off to most, when working on his projects with CMNTY, his creativity shows to be a hidden gem amongst most. Derrick’s work showcases our college community in a new light by highlighting black culture, creatives, and art through his lens. My favorite examples of his work are his project with Tribe Vintage (a student-run brand on FAMU’s campus specializing in vintage HBCU apparel) and his “New Year, Same Culture” video project. Both of these put FAMU under these rose-colored glasses that those who go here only would think it exists to us alone. Derrick acknowledges how Tallahassee looks on the outside but also how there’s so much here to be discovered. “Tally can be an eyesore to some, but it’s so much under the surface. It’s like a gold mine.” After digging through the troughs of similar events and normal college town behaviors, you find people who showcase things far beyond FAMU and out into the larger community and the world around them. Moni Fagbamiye, a second-year student at FAMU and founder/head designer of Aworan, says, “There are so many young creatives here with ideas and perspectives that translate through their art in really dynamic ways.” Moni’s designs draw on her own cultural background and current streetwear and high fashion, even hosting fashion shows highlighting other black designer shows as one of the many dynamic ways creatives constantly show their skills and crafts.
My sophomore year at FAMU is coming to a close, and I’ve found an artist’s safe haven in a place where it isn’t expected. Getting more involved and, more importantly, joining a poetry organization on our campus, Voices Poetry Group, helped me see more and more what FAMU can offer creatively. Beyond helping cultivate my creative writing and performing skills, it allowed me to meet others like me who also want to find a place where creativity can be developed into a more mature and expanding skill. Giahni says his “taste and approach are now refined” due to his time here.
Some may view their four years here as a boring stop along their journey, but FAMU and Tallahassee are breathing examples of a place that inspires and quickly. Tally boasts a myriad of performers, dancers, poets, writers, and filmmakers. Tallahassee, while relatively known as a college town, is starting to be recognized as a creative hub for various forms of creative expression.
FAMU creatives weave themselves into the larger tapestry of the city’s black artistry that grows larger with each person who comes to spend time here. I, for one, only hope to be able to sew myself into it soon like those mentioned here and those outside. “There are little pockets in Tallahassee where you can see creativity,” Derrick says. The city's black creativity landscape is collected within little bubbles across town, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t actively changing and growing. Moni and Giahni said that while it is hidden away, the creative scene is growing and should be looked into more.
I will go home to Miramar for the summer, only 10 minutes away from Miami, which has its scene in its own right. Beyond missing FAMU for the friends and experiences it’s allowed me to have, I will look back to FAMU as a place of burgeoning growth for black creatives. A place where I and many others can find a home and community. A place where our creativity soars far beyond the four years it took to cultivate it.
Art is world.
published May 24, 2023
