14 minute read
Abel Ngala
A DAY WITH ABEL NGALA
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The world is often telling us that social media tears us apart and that our world is shrinking because of it. A day with Abel Ngala will expel any such belief. We spent the afternoon walking from Central Park to the East River, eating dollar slices and asking the questions of creation that people have pondered for hundreds of years. We met Abel through his sister and social media, but our meeting was as true a human connection as one could ever have hoped. His vision and desire to create is the same reason we print a magazine: to question those before us and understand our piece in the puzzle. His clothing company “No Cain” was started in his college dorm and he oozes originality with that childlike sense of wonder.
(creator of )
What do you create?
Here’s what I have created so far: I’ve created clothing, websites, posters, and marketing campaigns, all with the hopes of soothing people. I started “No Cain” during my freshman year of college. It was born out of this deep, deep discomfort, and unsettled feelings about growing up, becoming an adult, and adjusting to the “real world.” I thought about leaving school initially, that’s what it was born out of, and everything I create is a response to growing up, saying maybe adulthood isn’t that bad, maybe with all the responsibilities and accountability that comes with it, there can be beautiful things. What was it that made you want to create something out of that discomfort instead of dropping out of college? It’s absolutely a way of reacting to it, but it’s an interesting route that not most would choose when going through a hard time.
That was this combination of things that I could never really have controlled—I guess just the way life works out. But it’s funny that you say dropping out because I remember the first week at Trinity, I went to the Student Success office and I was like, “Yo, I actually don’t want to be here,” and they gave me the form to withdraw and everything. I remember having a conversation with my mom, and we’re an immigrant family... and if you know anything about immigrant families,
when you come to America, you come here with dreams. You come here with hopes and aspirations for your kids to have a better life than the one you had back home. So mom’s like, “You know, I know you don’t want to be there. You have to understand your life is your own, but at the same time, there’s so many who sacrificed for you to be here, obviously, do your thing, do what you love, but also understand that in some way, you do have a part to play in this greater lineage, this Nigerian-Cameroon family that you come from.” That was something I understood and was something I could accept. The least I can do for my parents, going through all this shit they went through to come to America, I can get a bachelor’s degree, I can do that for them. And it worked out because now I’m here and making great friends. I get to work on dope projects, without school “Camp Trin” wouldn’t be a thing. My mom and my sister’s adamance about me staying in school and my coming across other cool brands, made me look towards art instead of dropping out or whatever other paths I could have taken.
It feels as though through your clothing and your website you are trying to create a mentality and space for people to exist. Not just you selling something, but rather creating something that can then maybe spark a conversation over an idea. Is that your goal, to keep engaging and getting people involved?
That’s a great insight because when I think about it now, I really do love the way people engage with me on Instagram and in person. Even you reaching out, us sitting here and having this conversation, is the result of work we’ve been doing for years. That is a result of work that’s been put in, so as a part of the brand, the way people engage with it, and the way people react to the clothes, that stuff is really inspiring to me. I think that there is a creative and artist in everybody, and if through me—getting my ideas out and making these tee’s—somebody can go, “Hey, I knew that kid, we were in class together,” you know, it’s not that hard, it’s not impossible. That’d be a really cool effect to have.
What is “No Cain”?
There’s always that moment when people put “No Cain” and my name together, so I’m sorry to take that away for a lot of your readers. But my name is Abel: there’s the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible. Pretty much it’s about these two brothers asked by God to come up with offerings. Abel gives his absolute best and Cain
doesn’t do the same, so God favors Abel and Cain gets jealous and as a response, Cain kills his brother. He kills Abel and therein lies the crux of the story: God punishes Cain, makes him walk the Earth with this shame. So “No Cain” is literally the inverse of my name but it’s also refuting the evil and jealousy and all these negative things. It’s the literal refutation of those ideas.
It’s interesting to label your company “No Cain.” You’re birthing a new vision, you’re flipping the story on its head, and in doing so, you’re reclaiming that story for yourself. How do you connect “No Cain” and “Camp Trin”?
Trinity is where I go to college. “Camp Trin” will forever be a part of the brand, just as an ode to college. I think it’s such a beautiful time in so many young people’s lives. I don’t know about you but I’m so different than I was when I was 18 years old. There’s so much growth that happens, and Trinity will always have kids coming through their doors. I’m sure each class will want to wear clothing that represents them and be part of that lineage. Where do you first see the connection between studying history and wanting to pursue your clothing brand “No Cain?”
I think it’s so important what you said about studying. In my opinion, I feel that is an underrated part of being a creative. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really see the value in learning about history or researching a ton until I took this history class. I had a great teacher, he was just a storyteller, from taking that class I saw that research is an important part of being creative, because art or creation is a cumulative act. It’s informed by the work of those who came before us and the work of our peers. When I say art is a cumulative act I mean it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We’re listening and responding. That’s where the idea of “Drop Science” came from.
What is “Drop Science?”
“Drop Science” is sort of an internal thing I worked out to help with my marketing. I just loved looking at brands and there was this one Kith drop and I was on my computer at 11 AM just reloading the screen over and over and I thought, “Yo this isn’t an accident,” somebody sat down and figured out when and how the drop
would be just so I would be at home, really wanting this thing. I wanted to learn about what they were doing, what they were thinking about. I think Instagram is a great, great resource if you’re able to go in there, get in, and get out. [laughs]
Have you successfully dropped something with those tools yet?
I had this whole plan for a drop and it did not go well at all, but I think it was a good exercise for me because there’s a certain level that I want to play at. I want to be as big as Kith, I want to look these people eye to eye as peers. I think it was a good exercise for me so I understood what it takes.
Earlier you brought up Instagram. Chuck Magazine was born from a revolt against digital publications. At a time when everything is on your phone, we wanted to make something that exists in the world, similar to your clothes. What’s your relationship with Instagram and sharing your work on digital platforms? Doom scrolling. You grew up here in New York—how has this space influenced you and your work?
New York is such a special place, and for a time I was just kind of scared because I didn’t understand it. I feel like now when people say New York, city of hustlers, I’m starting to understand what it means to put everything into what you do. In the video I made for a “No Cain” shirt drop, I’m sitting in the subway and I have this box next to me and it had all the shirts in it and I was on my way to the printer. I feel like that’s such an important part of any journey of creating something, most of it is pretty docile. You’re just doing your thing, there is nothing celebrated about it, capturing those dead moments. Those still moments, I think that’s what that video was about. At the end of the video “No Cain” pops up, I’m like, “Yo, this is life, this is what it looks like.”
It’s not as simple as just business marketing. I journaled about it, describing Instagram as a double-edged sword, you have to determine which side of it you’re wielding. I realized the only time I ever had an issue with it is when I was using it and I didn’t know why I was using it.
We spoke earlier about a program you’re in that is all about hiking and outdoors-based experiences. For me, nature is a way of finding moments of peace and quiet. As a New York City kid, how did you get into the outdoors?
The name of the program is Quest and I’m still in it. Pretty much we go and hike the Connecticut portion of the Appalachian Trail. We take incoming freshmen to different areas. Nature is really restorative and even just being here [in Central Park] and hearing people talk, it’s a beautiful winter day... there is something special in nature. I gave my sister a piece of mine when she was in Colorado with some friends. She was hanging out and took a few shots of her friends in my pieces while in nature and it really resonated with me. I fuck with nature [laughing]. l love hiking, I love backpacking, and rock climbing.
What do you think the purpose of a brand is and how does a logo define that?
I think branding is such a beautiful thing. If you look at all logos, Nike, Apple, Amazon, these aren’t complex logos, these are things a kid could draw if they wanted to. And when I think about branding, I think logos are a part of it but I also think there is an ethos, the way you treat your customers, what you say, the products you decide to make, the causes you support— that’s what branding is to me. The palette I made for “No Cain” uses red, blue, yellow—colors that remind me of childhood. They’re the building blocks that we used when we were kids. The goal of my brand, whether it is clothing or my website, is to lift a burden off my viewers’ shoulders whether it’s to enjoy these beautiful images or my clothing. Ultimately the most important tenant of any brand is going to have to be a commitment of being environmentally friendly and good to the Earth. For me, I don’t even know enough to plan that far in the future, but I do know I am setting intentions to not be confined to just clothing. The idea of being a creative and only doing one thing sounds terrible: I want to make an electric motorcycle. I spoke with that same history teacher, who was saying how he felt without art and we’re screwed... I don’t know how we’re going to explain to people the seriousness of climate change and not scare them. Art is the conduit to have that conversation, to get people to change. He said this in response to my idea of an electric motorcycle because it’s a great way not to scare people—motorcycles are cool.
I think you hit the nail on the head. You look at the science and the science is scary, but it’s also reality. Printmaking is a big part of my art, and I had a really hard time in the past year and a half because the process of screenprinting is wasteful. I love it when I’m doing it, but there is that thing in the back of my head where I know not everyone can do this. If everyone screenprinted as I was, there would be more waste than we could know what to do with. I sort of stopped doing it. I didn’t think I could preach that I want to be part of an environmentally conscious world while keeping up this wasteful practice.
I think that is just part of being a conscious human being: paradoxes and contradictions and hypocrisy. I’ve had similar reservations about my work. With clothing, there’s a lot of waste in the process. I think that’s for our generation to really take seriously: what’s our impact, what do we want the world our children live in to look like? You just don’t want people to shut down; what can you tell them if they’re not listening and don’t want to hear anything? This is why I love collaboration so much, why I found myself opening up more and more and letting other people into my creative processes. In that history class, we were talking about something called the geologic timescale, which is essentially the environmental history of the Earth and it takes you through all these periods. It really puts in perspective how small the human period in the history of Earth is. You look at it and it’s like, “Oh, shit, we’re new to this” (laughing). Recognizing this was incredibly humbling because even within that, I’m just one person in this whole history. I think we’re capable of so much more together.
Continuing the lineage.
