We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leah Abucayan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Leah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Yesterday the city of Doraville held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a mural I recently completed. Being able to cut the ribbon with the mayor and hearing stories from people of the community about the area and why the mural was significant to them made it one of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever done. . Working on the Buford Highway Mural in Doraville with Living Walls ATL really made a huge impact on me as an artist. The City of Doraville used to be very strict about public art. In fact, it was illegal up until recently when the city finally approved public art. I had the great privilege of being the first artist to do a mural in Doraville since the law passed. Not only was it the first for the city, but this project was a big stepping stone for me as well, since I don’t paint very often. I’ve done a few smaller indoor murals with minimal color in all black and white, but when Living Walls ATL contacted me to paint a 70’x40’ mural with them off Buford Highway, I was overwhelmed and ecstatic. I experienced many “firsts” on this project. It would be my first full-color mural, first time using a lift of any sort, first outdoor mural, and first mural in Doraville. Yet, they trusted me to do it even with my lack of experience. I admit I was pretty nervous to take this project on, but with their wisdom and guidance, I was confident that I could create a mural in Pinetree Plaza that would properly honor and represent the flavors found along Buford Highway.
Besides taking on a new medium and giant canvas, the meaning behind the project was one that really resonated with me and extended beyond the wall itself. I have always loved food and sharing my culture so being able to do both made it the perfect project for me.. I had a personal connection to what I was creating.
My inspiration came from the international flavors along Buford Highway. I wanted to express how food brings people together across different cultures. My vision was to depict a family-style meal or spread to showcase a festive feast. There is just such a definitive love language when it comes to food and sharing a meal, no matter what country you come from. l. I come from a Filipino background and, we have a specific meal known as “Boodle fight” or “Kamayan” where you eat with your hands and all the food is presented on banana leaves, I thought this tradition could be symbolic of sharing the story of our cultures together so that’s why I used it as my main inspiration for bringing all the international foods together perfectly laid out on one unifying banana leaf. The name BuHi is the focal point for Buford Highway, but also the word “buhay” (with the same pronunciation) in the Tagalog language means “life” which I think was appropriate for Pinetree Plaza and tying all our cultures together through a visual representation of flavors.
This entire project was just a wholesome and positive experience from working with an amazing team to meeting local business owners who brought us snacks every day, to daily visits from kids and future artists who watched us paint. This mural broke a lot of barriers and allowed me to connect with so many people from the community, I knew that I did my job well, after hearing people share how they related to the mural, tell me their immigration stories or point out foods from their culture on the wall. The positive response from the community made this project the most memorable and meaningful.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The name is Leanza. (But you can call me Leah!) I’m a Filipino graphic designer from NorCal and my preferred medium is duct tape.I collect fannypacks. I like eggs on everything. Now I reside in Atlanta, Georgia with my husband and dog, Pepe. I studied Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I currently work as an illustrator and graphic designer for the CNN Digital Art Department. Previously, I interned at Walt Disney Imagineering designing print collateral and environmental signage for Walt Disney parks, resorts, and cruise lines. My love for art began at a very young age. However, my art journey really began to take shape at the age of 11, when I started my own business crafting purses, bags, and wallets out of duct tape. Today duct tape is still one of my favorite mediums, but I now use it to create custom portraits. My art has taken many forms and has progressed into creating different things such as murals, chalk art, digital design, duct tape portraits, product design, and even book illustrations. Some of the projects I’m most proud of is doing a duct tape mural on a Mercedes-Benz G Wagon as a gift to the legendary golfer Bernhard Langer for the Masters Tournament 2022. Just recently for AAPI month this May, I had the honor to be featured in an ABC’s of AAPI coloring book that allowed kids to learn about AAPI stories and see themselves represented. I also did a collaboration with BoxLunch and Hot Topic for AAPI as well and created a line of Filipino inspired designs. I’m also really excited to announce I’ll be launching a collaboration with Lululemon called Rep Your City and my designs will be representative of Atlanta. My mission is to make a positive impact on the world by inspiring others with my art and passion for design.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
A lot of what inspired me to become a designer was my childhood dream of designing for Disney one day… After attending the Academy of Art in San Francisco and majoring in graphic design, I dreamed of landing a design job at Disney Consumer Products. I ended up joining the Walt Disney World College Program and working a summer running the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. After that summer, I finally landed a professional internship. It was Disney’s Yellow Shoes Creative Group, which specializes in advertising and marketing. I thought it was my big break, but unfortunately,I lost that internship due to being short 3 college credits. I was devastated and wasn’t sure I would ever get an opportunity like that again. So with determination and tears in my eyes, I went back to school to complete my last few credits and maybe try again. After finally getting my associate’s degree, by some coincidence, my graduation ended up being on the same day as the first day of my new internship for Walt Disney Imagineering. I landed an even better internship position than my original opportunity at Disney’s Yellow Shoes. . My devastation turned to determination and opened better doors for me later on… It was some of the best years of my life being able to design for Disney parks, resorts, and cruise lines. You can still see some of my designs in the park today. Some of my work included logos used behind the scenes for the Disney Test Kitchen where international chefs bring new Disney cuisine to life, to the environmental displays at the Ganachery chocolate shop in Disney Springs. I went on to extend my internship 3 times but decided it was time to move on since they couldn’t offer me a full-time position. . In a nutshell, I learned that even with all the determination in the world, things don’t always go according to your plan for reasons beyond comprehension. Accept your setbacks and don’t let it stop you from continuing your journey and creating new goals because there may be new pathways being paved and opportunities being opened that are meant just for you. Fast forward 8 years later, post-internship and living in Atlanta working as a graphic designer for CNN, Disney calls me back and offers me an opportunity to paint a mural at Disney Springs. It was a very surprising and exciting opportunity. It brought me back to being that kid who wanted so badly to design for Disney and here they were calling me. . I couldn’t be happier. So the moral of the story is to just keep going, always put your best foot forward, and opportunities will fall into place.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Be yourself and have a story to tell. For other artists out there, don’t be afraid to try new art forms because sometimes you find new and different mediums that will help you grow in your passion and creativity. I love to post my process and progress more than focusing on the finished art pieces and projects and I think that’s what people are drawn to and can relate to the most. It makes art feel more accessible and encourages others to create themselves. I think you can appreciate things more when you understand the thought and work that goes into art so I try to share that and inspire others to get creative as well.
What helped me grow my audience wasn’t my big commission projects working with cool companies, but just simply creating art for issues and things I care about. Since working for CNN, I’ve been a lot more informed about what has been going on in the world and in politics so I’ve been advocating for decisions or raising awareness for issues going on. Especially during this pandemic, so many negative things were happening from covid, politics, racial injustice, mass shootings, rulings being overturned, etc…it was important for me to help where I can and use my platform. By making difficult news and events digestible through art, it allows people to feel more comfortable sharing information or gets them to have an opinion, some could call it artivism. My most viral post that increased my audience by thousands each day was an illustration of Spc. Vanessa Guillen who was a soldier who disappeared and Breonna Taylor who was shot in her apartment by the police during a no-knock warrant. I wanted to bring attention to the injustice of these women and along with each illustration I also like to add informative posts and links to where you can help.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellaleah/
- Other: https://www.behance.net/hellaleah https://hypebeast.com/2022/4/mercedes-benz-g-550-bernhard-langer-art-car-leah-abucayan-golf-legend https://www.ajc.com/neighborhoods/dekalb/doravilles-first-mural-aims-to-capture-what-makes-buford-highway-unique/MVY2JOCSMVGFREEDNENENMQUVI/
Image Credits
David Cook, Mercedes Benz