CONTINUING TO DEVELOP MY THEORIES & PHILOSOPHIES!
Directly from Liam Ian.
As I’ve taken time to ponder over the Artwork we’re striving to create, I’ve also had to mull over what its all supposed to mean in this modern world with all the current and modern issues of the day. Racism and an oppression of Brown people in America. The dismantling of democracy within a place that had its beginning in the enslavement and degradation of others. The rise of technologies running parallel with the apparent rise of fascism and authoritarianism. The reversion of African American progression within American society with an almost equal distortion of progressive principles and values. I’ve been pondering over these things.
Today I stand ready to continue the journey and endeavor of creating—creating with purpose and meaning. the mission isn’t just to create but to create with conscience and intention. A reflection of who we are as Black and Brown People and a blatant concern and interest for who should become into and for the future.
INTELLIGENCE. ETHNICITY. INNOVATION.
It’s all fundamental to who we are and what we should and must even become. It’s too not important and essential to acknowledge the past—that which has profoundly made us who we are—but the hope and potential of how we shall shape the future. While—as the primary Artist and Entrepreneur—it’s my job to set the tone, vision, mission and direction for the enterprise, I’m striving also to stay honest and true to who I am and those experiences that have made and shaped me with a pure intention for addressing the future.
As social media has become a cornerstone of identity and culture nowadays, I believe People of Color, Ethnicity and Culture must not sign our souls away for the hope of becoming more. We must move beyond the confines of the definitions and expectations of this world to get back to more natural paradigms and perspectives.We’ve lost our connections to spirituality and nature in favor of commercialization and capitalism. As I envision a world for People of Color that is stepped in spirituality and community, I also see the presence of nature and technology to compel us towards greater and greater goals and objectives.
In creating lately, here are the ideas, concepts, theories and philosophies I’ve been playing around with;
Something Like Afrofuturism
Reimagining the future through Black and Brown cultural lenses by blending ethnicity, science fiction, spirituality, history with African diasporic knowledge, wisdom, aesthetic, and empowerment. I believe that the facts of the designed and applied torment and struggle of the African American—including those within the them—help to illuminate and justify the speciality of who and what we are therefore to serve as the call to rise rather than submitting to an ever strategic diminishment and fall. - This includes and builds upon the use of symbolism, fashion-inspired, and tech-infused imagery that highlights African American (Black and Brown) identity and resilience with an intention for what was the past to inform the future. Stylized portraits and speculative design that projects the power, possibility and potential promise of impactful Black and Brown Futures.
Sankofa Principle (from Akan Philosophy)
“Go back and get it” — Looking to the past to inform the future (*…while using the ideas of the future to appreciate and celebrate the past). We must encourage retrieving the forgotten or suppressed while embarking on the journey into the undiscovered country that is the future. African, Latino and even Asian motifs, patterns and historical references in modern urban art and design. The use of photography to draw parallels or illuminate contrasts between past struggles and current realities. - Ancestral memory, cyclical time, cultural continuity and historical wisdom.
Music & Hip-Hop Aesthetic
Anchored in urban expression, the hip-hop aesthetic is rebellious, rhythmic, and raw often shaped by struggle, resistance and community storytelling. - The incorporation of graffiti styles, remix culture, streetwear, dance and lyrical themes mixed with an anticipation of what’s to come in the future. Visual sampling—like layering photos or design elements—as metaphor and message.
Critical Race Theory in Visual Culture
Race and systemic power influence representation. Identity and access or the lack thereof to the resources and means to resisting stereotypes and the offering or presentation of new narratives. - The effort is to create work that continues to challenge racial tropes and stereotypes while centering on Black and Brown humanity, nuance and complexity. To highlight systems of inequality and associated traumas without reducing subjects to trauma by being culturally to universally encouraging and empowering. - Representation, resistance, systematic critique, truth-telling, and expansive dialogue on the potential to affect the future.
Continuing With An Abstract Application
At a foundational level, I’m continuing to work with an abstract mindset therefore creative direction. What I’ve observed about this modern day is an over-indulgence on the physical form for and of People of Color in artwork and media. Because I believe there’s something substantial about “the abstract”—relying on the viewer to establish, create and extract their own ideas and concepts—there’s more room to encourage, inform and inspire deeper levels of thought and critical analysis. The incorporation of ideas and themes within creating abstract art compels me and any artist to think more creatively and intellectually with greater meaning and appreciation for the viewer to be their own potential creator.
CONTINUING WITH OUR PROJECTS!
We won’t be hinder by these matters of the day—we will continue on with the projects we’ve laid out . . . and more if needed and the opportunities suggest. As we further develop, we will push forward in developing works, products and services to encourage, inspire and empower. We’re not done because we’ve just begun! I am and we are LIAM IAN™.
CONNECTED: CONTINUING TO DEVELOP MY THEORIES & PHILOSOPHIES!
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