Top Creatives Candy Chang
Dessa
It’s been a powerful year for Minneapolis native emcee Dessa, the only female member of eight-piece rap group Doomtree, a group so popular in the Twin Cities that mayor R.T. Bryback honored it with its own calendar day. In Dessa’s own words, rapping is “the skilled delivery of a full impression in a short sequence of words,” and the former spoken-word poet has been busy channeling her honed voice towards education and activism. She’s spoken at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Minneapolis’s Kennedy Center, participated in an interactive panel hosted by Soledad O’Brien, and regularly writes as a newspaper columnist and blogger. Catch Dessa tearing up the crowd with Doomtree at SXSW 2013.
New Orleans. Artist. Urban planner.
Ginger & the Ghost Musicians. Artists.
The Ghost: Yeah! I have a vision! I’m an Articulturalist! Planting the seeds of positive art wherever I go. I want people to nurture their senses and grow. To expand their creativity and ultimately, be inspired. I like the idea of making it easy for people to connect. An artistic path of least resistance driven by an optimistic aesthetic.
Interview: Anya Khalamayzer
I make public spaces more communal and contemplative through public art. There are a lot of ways the people around us can help improve our lives. At their greatest, our public spaces can nourish our well-being and help us see we are not alone in our struggles towards leading personally meaningful lives. With more ways to share, the people around us can not only help us make better places, they can help us become our best selves.
Anya Khalamayzer: How do you develop the curriculum for the master classes you teach at McNally Smith College of Music and at the Institute of Production and Recording?
Dessa: I try to identify skills that could be mastered and implemented quickly, that could make an appreciable difference in a young artist’s career—for example, the ability to write a compelling press release. I also encourage them to make friends or partnerships with photographers or videographers, because that trifecta can save a lot of money while making more art. Budding videographers wanting to make a music video for a class project often have difficulty getting permission from musicians to use their work. If they have a musician they regularly work with, they can ask to make a video for that artist, and the musician knows that they will have a promotion piece. There are ways to establish an artistic career through a cohort of talent-sharing that isn’t immediately instinctive for a lot of new artists.
candychang.com Photo: Kristina Kassem
Ginger: It’s a funny thing, vision: I think of all the pressure that word creates and then it hits me. VISION = DRIVE. VISION = INFINITE. VISION = ENERGY. VISION = POSSIBILITIES. My urgency to create comes constantly. Prolific combustion comes in spells through my voice and the fantasy objects and spaces I make. This project is the love child of our disciplines united. My vision is to acknowledge ideas and ignite new thoughts.
AK: You received the AWARE Award for promoting gender equality. Do you think that musicians have a responsibility to promote social change?
David Hobbs
D: I don’t think that musicians have any special moral responsibility because their vocation is more publicly visible than others. However, I don’t think that musicians are excused from the moral obligations that other people have by virtue of being a musician. If you’re modeling behavior that clearly has a detrimental effect on underage consumers, then there’s cause to reexamine your choices. But that would be true of a rapper, a plumber, a teacher, or a carpenter. “Don’t fuck shit up” is a rule that I don’t think any of us can become famous enough to escape. I think it’s not too much to ask of each generation as they leave their impression on the world.
Dallas. Owner. The Art Menu. Growing up in a creative family, I witness firsthand the mind-blowing art created in our own backyards— which never gets seen, because artists do not have a platform to showcase their work. I started The Art Menu specifically to highlight independent artists: sharing their work, stories, and creativity on a worldwide scale. Growing with the changing art market, rather than resisting it, we are a fullservice online gallery and art consulting company. Point, click, curate.
William Etundi Jr New York City. CEO. See.Me.
My mission is to enable and inspire the creative expression in others. There is magic in the moment when someone takes the risk of exposing their beauty and vulnerability to the world. I’ve seen it change lives. It’s an honor to be a part of that process.
AK: You worked with the independent “The Elixery” line to create a cruelty-free lipstick with proceeds going towards empowering women in developing countries. What do you think of using a symbol of feminine beauty to promote female strength?
see.me
D: I don’t, really. I think that often beauty is too conflated with strength. We don’t get our strength and intelligence from our beauty. That said, I still like to wear lipstick. We’re young and beautiful for a short part of our lives. It makes sense to enjoy that part, but it doesn’t make sense to elevate that part of us to a height where I take it for my identity.
theartmenu.com Photo: Lauren Silberman Photo: Robyn Hobbs Photography
photos: Kai Benson (upper). Elli Rader (Lower) 62 ORIGINMAGAZINE.COM
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