Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chipemba Salimu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chipemba, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning my craft has become something that I’ve realized is an ongoing process. I feel as a creative we get that “I cant wait until I get to this or that place of mastery” feeling, the reality of it all though is that we will forever be a student to our craft no matter what limits we break.

I’ve always done my best to make sure that I never forget my “why”. Never forgetting why I started will always keep me grounded when I’m en route to where I’m going. Sometimes this looks like creating with like-minded people, working on solo projects, being the subject of my own concept, studying people that I’m inspired by, building relationships with people that are further than me in the realm of creativity, honestly the list goes on.

One thing that keeps me going is accepting the reality that God allows me to be the person that I am. He gifted me with creativity which is how I know I’m destined for great things. “Why else would I have this much passion?” is a question that keeps me grounded if I’m ever doubtful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an anime loving, creatively sound, cinema driven, story telling, Zambian native, Oakland raised, canvas painting, household name! “ArtByBlack”

I got into creativity at a very young age, I started drawing in 2nd grade. I would draw Marvel & DC characters ever chance I got then started drawing every Super Saiyan that came out back when Dragonball Z was at it’s prime. As I got older I feel like I started seeing the world differently due to my love for cinema. Something about being immersed in a world built by creatives was when I knew life could be what you make it.

I didn’t discover that I was a story teller until 2016/17. Jayvon(Hytz), a San Francisco based photographer, encouraged me to invest in my own camera. What’s crazy is, this all started with me trying to book him to record a time lapse video of a painting I planned on working on. Bro denied my inquiry because he seen that I had an eye for creating, “Take what you were going to pay me and invest that in your own craft. It’ll benefit you in the long run”. That was the first pivot to the photographer and videographer that I am today. Much gratitude to him for helping me rediscover my way back to being a creative.

I became a photographer and started taking it seriously in 2017. I experimented with videography when I started providing short aesthetic type videos with every shoot. That’s when I realized I really had an eye for visuals. Don’t get me wrong, I have an eye for stills, but the eye that I have for visuals is almost therapeutic. I kept the duo going for so long that it eventually became something that I got known for. I locked in on bettering my videography shortly after that. The better I got, the more I started discovering that I had a habit of story telling with each video. Since then I’ve been known as the “unintentional, Intentional story teller” because honestly, sometimes I feel like planning is good, but life Is still about making it all up as you go lol.

Some of my inspirational styles are the styles of Spike Lee, and Quentin Tarantino. My goal for every video is to take the viewer into the world that I see when I’m behind the camera. I’ve taken a subtle step back from Photography because throughout the years I’ve discovered that my passion lays heavily in cinematic story telling. Pictures capture the moments, videos take us back to those moments, It’s almost an experience. The videos that I get really excited about are the wedding visuals. Being able to see my style of cinematography be intertwined with one of the most important moments in someone’s life is unmatched. I get to tell their story through my eyes, being a footprint in a main character’s story is always a blessing. This is why I do everything with intention, I want people to look back at moments I’ve captured of them and get a sense of nostalgia.

I discovered my love for music in 2019 when my bro, Malcolm, asked me to lay a verse on a song called “Team Winning”. That was one of the biggest pivots to the Music Artist that I am today. Much gratitude to Malcolm (WordplayHaan) for helping me rediscover my way back to music. That same year I dropped my first official single, “TMC Tribute”, a song dedicated to Nipsey Hussle after his passing. Shortly after that I dropped my first studio album “PS, Nov 15th: Vol 1”, I’ve creating an impressive catalog since then. Music to me became one of the first outlets of self expression. It made my story telling that much more enjoyable. Being able to story tell through my music started becoming a lane that I was building for myself. Throughout the years I feel like I’ve developed a “Trap Soul, Barry White” kind of sound lol. You can find me on all platforms as “ArtByBlack”.

I’ve been focusing on creating a world where I finally let all of my crafts combine, a full representation of art by Black. A close friend of mine, Elecia(QueenLecia) told me that I’m going to be a household name. Everyday I do my best to work towards that.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and a creative is knowing that people will always enjoy your work in a way that you will never know. Being able to become someone’s “original”.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that life Isn’t always as structured as the world makes it out to be. You can be who and what you want if you truly care enough to do so, especially if you’re fortunate enough to have the means.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: ArtByBlack
• Twitter: ArtByBlackCut
• Youtube: ArtByBlack

Image Credits
Photo of me: @_Hytz_ Other Photos: Taken by me Album Cover Art: @The_Garden_Samurai_Art