We were lucky to catch up with TC Carruthers recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, TC thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

Coming from Memphis, I feel like you’re expected to look and act a certain type of way. Growing up, I knew that I was different but I couldn’t exactly put my finger on what being different meant at the time. I knew that I didn’t want to fit into anyone’s stereotype or idea of who I should be, but I didn’t know where to start when it came to breaking free from those traditional standards. My environment was horrible, and I knew that I had to get out of that. You don’t really see a lot of people from Memphis who are able to turn their dreams into a reality or even make it outside of Memphis. So, I decided to be the first to be unapologetically me. I think at first, I didn’t really have a lot of support because people didn’t give me a chance to tell my story. Now though, I think that the misunderstood people like me see me and think okay if they can be successful and break those traditional standards, then I can too.

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?

My name is TC, and I’m an artist and Fashion Designer. I started creating art when I 16 years old. My high school teacher, Mr. Weddle, introduced me to artists like Romare Bearden and Kehinde Wiley. I automatically was intrigued by collage work and Mixed Media. My art teacher threw me into collage and I was instantly good at it. So, I ran with it. From then on, I focused on perfecting my craft as an artist. When I was 17, I realized that I wanted to start creating my own clothing because I didn’t really see clothing for gender nonconforming people like me. That’s how I created my brand GoodKidRageWrld. I grew up wearing thrifted clothing and hand me downs, so I wanted to build off of that and create garments out of reused clothing, focusing on sustainability. As I grew older, I decided that I wanted to figure out how to combine my art and fashion to create wearable art, and it lead me to where I am now. I think what sets me apart from other artists and brands is my creativity and originality. My art reflects my childhood and my experiences as an adult, and no one can tell my story like I can. I just want people to know that they don’t have to be what other people expect them to be. Follow your dreams because it can happen. There’s nothing that you can’t do.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding thing about being an artist is being able to take up space in places where you normally don’t get to see people who like me. I love when people get to see themselves in my art because when it comes to art, I feel like it’s a bit intimidating for minorities because we normally don’t see ourselves in that type of institute. So, I’m happy to provide the opportunity to invite black people into the art world and into my world.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson that I had to unlearn was that art has to look a certain type of way and that you have to have an educational background to be considered as an artist. No-one can tell you how your art is supposed to be because they didn’t live your story. As long as your dong fou versionr most authentic of what four art should look like, then you’re good. You can’t train someone how to do art, they just have to have that in them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://goodkidrageworld.square.site/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tc.ragewrld?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=