We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paige Taylor. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Paige below.

Alright, Paige thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Some things in life will come as a win and others will come as lesson, the common factor in both for anything worth gaining is always going to be sacrifice. How much are you willing to lose for a chance to gain what you want? I learned alot about risk and sacrifice from how i grew up. We didnt always have alot but my parents, somehow, would always make sure me and my brothers were okay. What i saw around me in my community however was a different story, not alot of my friends were that fortunate. I saw alot of them have to make choices they were unhappy with but this also taught me about sacrifice and what people would be ready to do to provide you know. Growing up in an environment like this, surrounded by what I was, my career path was seen as a long shot by most around me and even myself a couple of times. It all boils down to knowing what you want and how much youre willing to withstand and lose to gain it. Nothing is promised of course which is where the risk factor falls in but ask yourself are you willing to take a chance at falling from the sky to learn if you can fly?

Paige, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Visual Artist from and based in Kingston Jamaica. I specialize in Street Art, Illustration, and Graphic Design with an education from the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica. I got started in the field as a young child discovering their love for drawing at an early age like most others but really got that insight and push i needed in high school from one special art teacher who showed me there is indeed a path less traveled and with the correct work and guidance I can be successful while doing what I love and have a passion for. Since then I’ve gone on to work with local and international entities as well as spearheading the biggest street art project the island has seen renovating and recreating the downtown area of our capital city into an art district in a successful attempt at engaging the surrounding communities and reigniting nightlife. The space has now moved on to become a full-blown tourist attraction with monthly events that breathe life into the district.

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

the most rewarding portion of what I do is seeing how it is received and how it inspires those that interact with it, especially the street art and mural painting aspect. Being from streets similar to the areas I produce work in it is amazing to see how a mural can completely change the look and feel of an area and the pride the communities display knowing that they can proudly say this landmark is theirs. Giving back has always meant a lot to me and this is just another avenue for me to do that topped off by again being able to live by doing what I love every day, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

People often ask me about stability or how exactly I provide and I tell them the same thing all the time, I work just like you do the only difference is how we go about it. I may not be in an office but I have responsibilities and tasks just like you do every day. I think I can speak for most if not all artists when I tell you that it may not always be easy but we operate off of a deep-rooted love and as long as we are able to hold onto that ultimately wherever it leads us we’ll be okay

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigezombie/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/paigezxmbie