TAKING A RISK ON ME...BUT THAT'S OKAY!
I am what I am and that’s complicated. Not more complicated than anyone else but then again perhaps.
—A Message from Liam Ian
It isn’t my goal to become a grand commercial corporate platform. No. It’s not my goal to hide behind lies or misperceptions. It’s not my goal to create a character of my “authenticity” but more my goal and intention to be as best as I can be to appreciate, encourage and inspire others. My goal is and has been to some degrees to have served the communities that have made my life so abundantly complicated while rich. Thru the traumas of abuse and dysfunction, deprivation and loss, depression and a lack of self-confidence, mistakes and muted successes, I’ve succeeded in achieving much more than what I would have ever guessed. It is today my task—as an Artist, Designer, Photographer, Father, Husband and “Black” Man—to serve as the representation of what an African American Man could be…beyond the confines of descriptions and identities that have become socially acceptable and commonplace.
I’m not here to submit. I’m here to create.
As I continuously point out—to a fault I might add—I am not a perfect person. I am not perfect but I am also unique and very different. I’m not more special than the next yet I am special nonetheless. I’ve survived much while never giving up on my goals nor the gifts for which I was blessed with early on. A man of the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s, I am complex full of good and bad stuff. I grew up in different hoods never really having one particular “home” except for those areas I would then come to represent. I’m DC. A DC native, I’m heavily artistically influenced by New York to Los Angeles to African European ideas and concepts. While I’m much more now a Jazz, R&B and Alternative music enthusiast, I embrace the fact that I used to submerge and saturate myself within Hip Hop, Rap and Go-Go. Smoking Black-N-Milds, drinking Old English 40’s and going to the club every weekend was my thing. My fellas were more my family than anyone or anything else while the pursuit of fine Black Women were always on the agenda. Sleeping on couches and even benches, I’ve grown. I’ve grown to sleep in peace within my own bed with someone who would not only be the mother of my child but my Ride or Die.
Within the “positives” of my life I’ve also had to deal with the negatives that helped paint if not just reveal those positives. I’ve grown…and yet…I’m still me. I’m still me and I’m proud of that. Not perfect. Still toxic. Still nasty. Still a lover of everything that was once the pinnacle and prime of Black and Brown African and Latino American Urban Culture, I am still me…but more.
Working With Me…
…will always be a risk. People should know that. I’m an Artist, Designer and Photographer willing to take on just about any project to push the boundaries of what is familiar and what I can do. Taking a risk on me may pay off or not. Taking a risk on me may pay off early or later. Taking a risk on me is a risk but I have yet Mohave let anyone down. Models paid. Contractors paid. Clients served. Collaborations achieved. I’ve had my ups and I’ve had my downs but after over 12 years of entrepreneurship with 4 years being LIAM IAN™, I’m proud to say I’m still here. I’m still here, this business is still here, the goals are still here…and still being pushed forward.
I’m no saint and I’m willing to admit and stand on that every single day…but that’s what makes me, my business and what we do authentic; I’m truly doing me and us and if you can’t see the artistry within that, then we just won’t be working together. It’s that simple.
I can be found in many places within social media as a man and a business. No matter the location I will however stand on also appreciating those that have given and supported me. My artistry is continuously fueled by Art, Design, Fashion, Style, Photography and other forms of media that helped convey the changing landscape of Black and Brown Native American, African American and Latino American identities and communities.
*Truly I never thought I would be at the place that I am but I feel fortunate. I feel fortunate to have it and because of it. I never considered myself to be much but I also knew that there was a lot inside me and I’m thankful. I am thankful. For whatever I gain—thru the failures as much as the successes, I’m thankful and grateful. As I am—we are—poised and positioned now more than ever to include and collaborate with others, we’re striving to making it happen. The transition is from Artist to Art Direction is proposed to be the goal of 2026. We’re planning now to gain a creative foothold on tomorrow.
CONNECTED: TAKING A RISK ON ME...BUT THAT'S OKAY!
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