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

Akaimi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

My creativity is genetic. My father’s side hustle was architecture. He designed and built homes- including my childhood home- and other structures in my hometown Austin, Texas. My father and his brother even built the church my grandfather pastored, which is now an historical landmark.

My mother, an elementary teacher, also had a very keen eye for design and aesthetics.

Both my parents encouraged my creativity from an early age.

I always loved art. I knew at the age of 5, that I wanted to be an artist. However, I became a teen mom at the age of 16. When I graduated high school the following year, I knew I needed to pursue a career that would create financial stability for myself, and I enrolled in Beauty School, becoming a licensed cosmetologist at the age of 18.

I loved my career! I was able to meet new people, and I enjoyed the aspect of making others feel good about themselves. I traveled with my coworkers to hair shows in Atlanta and Chicago, where I became fascinated with the wild and outrageous hairstyles created for the catwalk during fashion shows at these events. They were truly magnificent sculptural masterpieces in and of themselves.

One evening, I was doing yard work, while my sons, ages 2 and 3, played in the front yard. We lived on a very busy street, so I would look up from what I was doing every so often, to make sure they were safe. The last time I looked up, I accidentally grabbed the blade of my electric hedge trimmers- the ones that look like chainsaws- and nearly severed all four of my fingers on my left hand. I still don’t have feeling in my ring finger to this day.

Needless to say, after multiple stitches, and a lengthy and painful recovery, I was unable to work for an extended period of time. I was self-employed, and had absolutely no income- not to mention weekly booth rent was still accruing. That was the moment I knew I needed a backup plan.

I decided to enroll in Austin Community College, but I had no idea what I wanted to study. I went to the library (keep in mind, there was no such thing as internet for public back then) and checked out a book that contained aptitude tests. I took one of the tests, and the two suggestions were Copywriting and something else called Commercial Art. I loved writing in high school, and even had some of my work published. But I’d never heard of Commercial Art, It sounded cool, since it combined art with words, so I decided to double major in Creative Writing and Commercial Art.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’d taken a position as an Art Director and relocated to San Antonio in 2012. Shortly thereafter, I became extremely ill. After running out of FMLA and PTO in April 2013, I was forced to either return to work or lose my job. I had not gotten an accurate diagnosis to receive long term disability through my employer. Unable to continue working, I resigned my position as Art Director in June 2013. Later that month, I was diagnosed with Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia, and began treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX.

I had weekly doses of chemotherapy for roughly two years. During this time, I started drawing and painting to distract myself from the drudgery of my everyday life. I decided to post one of my paintings on Facebook, and to my surprise, my friends wanted to buy them. I had no clue this would turn into my opening a gallery in Westside San Antonio, and becoming what it is today.

During the span of 10 years, I’ve battled blood cancer, gone through domestic violence, been homeless as a single mom, and slept in hospital lobbies. But I’ve also had solo exhibitions, sold paintings around the world, managed to support my children through the sale of my work and even gotten a Mayoral Proclamation from the City of Houston.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As a society, we need to eliminate the “starving artist” mentality. I had a professor ask me once, why there aren’t more Black artists. My answer was very simple. Culturally, and as a society in general, we are taught to believe that the only way to be successful is to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or play pro ball. The definitions of success need to change, and artists should be compensated for the value we bring to people’s daily lives. We should not be expected to “entertain” the public for free on social media platforms.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I have a love-hate relationship with NFTs. On one hand, I think it’s a fabulous opportunity for digital artists. It also allows the artist to make residual income on the resale of a piece. On the other hand, it limits additional passive income for reproductions, which many traditional artists use to leverage the price of the originals, to make art more accessible at different price points.

Contact Info:

• Website: akaimidavis.com
• Instagram: @akaimi.the.artist