Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Zakia Wells. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Zakia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had started sooner?
I wish I started taking myself more seriously sooner. I say this because when youre in the ages of childhood til the age of 25 there are way more opportunities and resources for you to be apart of. But I felt like a late art bloomer due to my upbringing, the circles I freqeunted and even my own social anxiety about the art world. The more I grow into myself as an artist now at the age of 26 soon to be 27 I see that much of what I was struggling with as a younger artist; could of been solved so easily with a mentor during an internship. I wish I kept making bracelets as a child and found someone who saw my vision vs me giving up on craft after craft because the timing or enviroment just wasn’t right for my dreams.
Zakia, 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?
To know me is to know how to bribe a magical squrriel with a cookie. I am very much a homebody and leaning towards introverted but I’ve trained myself to be extroverted for networking sake. My personality described by friends is that I am more of an experience but at the same time my mouth can be lethal. I wrote poetry as a child to combat feelings of isolation and depression due to not fitting in with students around me. I drew birds, chibi dolls, colored my own story covers and wrote many stories to escape my reality. I always was found in a book during recess or lunch time; I hated all the noise of school. I just wanted to learn and go home to my mom. I grew up in the area codes 53209 and 53206. The school I attended for majority of my life no longer exists but 35th Street School definitely honed my turning emotions into art at an early age.
I arrived at my current place in the artist world by having an extreme loss in my first years of being an adult. I lost my only sister. She was my catalyst to paint out my emotions, connect to my spiritual self and with her death; my symbols that I am known for began to appear in my work. I began to draw without thought and stopped trying to imagine what I couldn’t see anyway my entire life. I came to find out that I may have a condition called aphantasia where you lack the visual imagery in the mind. But when I am sleep; my imagination is vivid. My art I create is about what I cannot actually see but what I feel from myself, from people, from my journey as a young black woman in Milwaukee. I mainly paint goddess paintings and my artwork is used as therapy for many of my clients. They have reported being happier or even how the artwork itself has stopped them mid seizure or it’s improved the energy in a room. I came to the conclusion that I have been doing energy work even before I know about it. My art has always been spiritual in a sense; if I cannot see what I want to paint but I can feel and breathe life into it…that must be enough. That action alone is highly spiritual and intuitive.
What I want people to know about my art is that: I create for myself but I also create for the young black girls who didn’t have a artist role model that looked like them. I still cannot find a mentor who is doing what I do, successful about it and runs a nonprofit in milwaukee. So, I am becoming her. My art is a journey about a woman finding her divinity in a city, in a world that tried to snuff it out very early but now they are beginning to see how much pouring love and art into a heart can do much good in this world. I am proud and thankful that I have been able to teach hundreds of children art through my journey. I am thankful I have inspired many of my friends and community by just contining my practice even when I don’t feel like I am good enough to be in the room. I want readers to know that I am human and I want us to be able to enjoy this human experience in a different way than just viewing art; I want everyone to know that they are art just as they are a God.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
First we can stop telling artists they will starve. Without artists many people would be without homes,clothing,food, and basic items we enjoy today. Every inventor is an artist. Every architect is an artist. Even computer programmers are artists. They all just use a different tool to create their art. Artists are essential to the economy and way of life I say. In my ideal world; artist would not have to pay rent. They could use that money towards helping their community through their gifts.
We could have more mentorships, more workshops for the youth and eldery. A starving artist is a dangerous one; so why not feed our artists so they can thrive instead of hurt themselves or another? I would love society to just value artists humanity above all.
See your artist as a person who was born to create; they don’t always know what to do with this creative energy. We need to be able to guide artists to a way thats assisting this world in healing more than ever now. Especially with how art was removed from schools for years; bring back the arts and watch cities heal faster than ever.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My first goal is entirely selfish: I want to be known in homes all over the world. The second goal that I have thrown around since I was a teenager: I want to own a nonprofit or building to host exhibitions, tarot readings, reiki healing and house artists for an entire year so they can focus on their craft without the risk of being homeless.
Both goals are ambitious but my journey so far is definitely leading into both turning into a reality within the next 10-20 years I’m hoping.
Contact Info:
- Website: zwartspirit.com
- Instagram: zw_artist
- Facebook: Zakia Wells Art & Spirit
- Linkedin: Zakia Wells