We were lucky to catch up with Amani Heywood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amani, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you signed with an agent or manager? Why or why not?

My team consist mainly of me myself and I. I might not have a designated staff or team, but what I do have is love and support from not just my family, but the community of people I’ve built around me. All my friends, family, and people support me look out for opportunities and ways in which they can help me further my dreams and achieve my goals. I’m truly grateful for everyone in my life because without them this Artistic journey, I’ve dove into would be much more intense and difficult so for that, I think everybody for their help and support.

Ultimately my goal is to be signed with a Gallery that encourages Artist to reach their goals, their highest potentials and ultimately live the life of an artist. In the future, I see myself signing a representation deal with a major gallery that would allow me to produce 2 to 3 shows a year where I show exclusively large scale work. I love producing large scale pieces so to be able to have a space to not only produce the work, but also show it to the public would be a great blessing for me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Amoni Haywood, and I’m a large scale abstract expressionist from the Bronx. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been into arts and expressing myself. I’ve always been into fashion, collecting sneakers, clothes, and other random memorabilia that marked the error of time we were in. I knew I wanted to be a part of this cultural conversation or at least participate in the shaping of the community or culture around me so I became bent on solidify my name in the history books.

Before starting to paint, I would make leather bags and accessories from scratch because Fashion was always a big part of who I am and where I came from. I thought to myself, how could I get the people around me to know me feel me and understand me and creating clothes was my first outlet to build community.

Once the pandemic hit, and I could no longer be outside, my body craved for movement and excitement. After watching several documentaries on Mark Rothko, John Michelle Basquiat, Cy Twombly, I knew my next outlet was going to be painting.

Growing up, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, so reading was always a challenge for me, but in my later years, I’ve seem to turn it into my superpower. Often times in my abstract work you’ll see the swirls and scribbles, but they are much deeper than that. Growing up, I went to Catholic elementary school where they made you write in cursive. Being dyslexic and having to not write in English, but cursive seemed as if I was reading/writing in hieroglyphics. It is now that I’m older that I can show people an accurate representation of my visual experience with the English language. In my Work, each swirl could either be a word or a letter, depending on how the viewer reads it similar to how I had to decipher the English language, my viewers must decipher what I have written

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Honestly, the most rewarding part about being a creative and artist a person expressing themselves is that I’m showing others that they can do the same. I don’t think many people believe in themselves, so I’m trying to be the visual representation of what that self belief looks like. Through my art, and lifestyle I want to show people that their dreams and goals are possible. “I believe in you like I believe in me.”

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal is to empower the World. The goal is to give people the gas to get to where they need to be both mentally spiritually and physically. The goal always was and always will be to motivate others to achieve their highest goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://heywoodsstudios.com/
• Instagram: AmaniHeywood

Image Credits

From the Artist