send inquires to texas@kingtexas.net
if i want to photograph you, then that is a different story (beautiful story).
if i want to photograph you, then that is a different story (beautiful story).
for the last couple of months. the constant battle with grief and gender identity almost made me give up multiple times. sometimes, I would find myself at 3AM scrolling through some medium of social media, and I would often bump into the process of Toyin Odutola. There was something about seeing an incomplete piece that resonated with me, because I was incomplete myself. And, when i attended her opening today.. i experienced completeness. I experienced memories of those who have passed away within the last couple of months, i experienced my identity as a male, i experienced my fear, my doubt, my blackness. Now… I stand here, ready to begin my transition, and preparing for a new journey. This is so deeply imbedded into the history of the soil we stand on, and deeply rooted into my veins. I will never forget the art that brought me to the well needed change I’ve embraced today.
I am working on projects with a couple of amazing human beings in order for others to not feel so lonely in their own process. I’ve never felt so completely open to sharing my life, despite the possibilities of losing friends, family, peers. However, that will only happen in scarce amounts because I’m surrounded by open, beautiful, intelligent, free individuals.. that love that kid for who he is.
Thank you @obia_thethird for the constant inspiration and congrats on the opening. We LIVE!
“ Be weird. Be random. Be who you are. Because you never know who would love the person you hide.
—(via theselittlewondersstillremain)
—(via theselittlewondersstillremain)
(via tionam)
Her soul is like being at the highest point. breathing in and breathing out.. thinking to yourself, “I am free to be me.” This was my photo/talk session with this beautiful, talented, magical person.
Thank you.
@rurujungle for B LAC KNESS (at Kale Kastle)
SOL . Brooklyn, NY (Kale Kastle) . 2013
Sol is a hip hop artist from Seattle, Washington. Sol left the United States on a ten month globe-trotting hiatus as part of the Bonderman Honors Travel Fellowship he was awarded at the University of Washington.
“Why I’m coming home (an open letter)
I’ve been around the globe. India, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Brasil, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, and finally my maternal homeland of Haiti. Ten counties in ten months, and the door is open to a world I’ve only partially discovered. This has been the most exciting year of my life! I’ve trekked into jungles miles away from the nearest human, settled in cosmopolitan labyrinths making dear friends and developing daily routines, I’ve been sucked in by paradise tropical islands on more than one continent, been touched by people and various struggles of the greatest importance and in desperate need of support, and fell for girls in more than one country, yet still… I’m coming home. Back to work.
It was 14 years ago that I wrote my first rhyme. More than half a lifetime has passed since then and the feeling music gives me is still the same. Art has always come naturally for me, even before I could read or write I was drawing, painting, and improvising music while other kids were playing outside. But it wasn’t until I first heard my voice on a recording, and when I stepped on stage, that I knew what my calling was. I could see the power in words and how the stage could be used as a platform not just to elevate the artist with the microphone but the people who surrounded him, soaking in the music.
I have been blessed with your support. An ever-growing following of people who enjoy my music, and value what I have to say. Few people are given this opportunity, and I view it as a privilege and treat it as a responsibility.
Everywhere I have gone on this spectacular journey I have connected with people through music. Strangers have turned to friends through shared rhythm and rhyme. I was welcomed into spiritual ceremonies in East Africa, brought on stage at Carnival in Brasil, welcomed in the studios and homes of internationally respected artists as well as unsung heroes and geniuses; all the while not-so-quietly soaking in my surroundings like a musical sponge.
However, all the while home was calling. My life and career back in the US was never far from my heart, and I spent many hours on long train, plane, bus and boat rides writing rhymes and thinking about my people back home. My responsibility to share and educate, and bring people together. I spent the first part of my career sharing… My life, my story, Yours Truly. Then I needed to further educate myself on life beyond my world. And now I head home, humbly ready to share my new vision.
Expect new music, new ideas, and more shows in new places. The Zilla is back.
I missed y’all.
Yours Truly,
Sol”
“ The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat.
—
—
James Baldwin (via eatcakey)
that cuts rather close to the bone
wow
(via girljanitor)
(Source: junkycosmonaut, via femmesaxifrage)
“ I want you to tell me about every person you’ve ever been in love with. Tell me why you loved them, then tell me why they loved you. Tell me about a day in your life you didn’t think you’d live through. Tell me what the word “home” means to you and tell me in a way that I’ll know your mothers name just by the way you describe your bed room when you were 8. See, I wanna know the first time you felt the weight of hate and if that day still trembles beneath your bones. Do you prefer to play in puddles of rain or bounce in the bellies of snow? And if you were to build a snowman, would you rip two branches from a tree to build your snowman arms? Or would you leave the snowman armless for the sake of being harmless to the tree? And if you would, would you notice how that tree weeps for you because your snowman has no arms to hug you every time you kiss him on the cheek? Do you kiss your friends on the cheek? Do you sleep beside them when they’re sad, even if it makes your lover mad? Do you think that anger is a sincere emotion or just the timid motion of a fragile heart trying to beat away its pain? See, I wanna know what you think of your first name. And if you often lie awake at night and imagine your mothers joy when she spoke it for the very first time. I want you tell me all the ways you’ve been unkind. Tell me all the ways you’ve been cruel.
—Andrea Gibson (via ohsheesh)
—Andrea Gibson (via ohsheesh)
(Source: wordsthat-speak, via bettychantel)
“ More and more I feel creativity is a commitment to what you love. When the demons of doubt take over or whenever the stress of life and work bog you down and you feel like turning in, it’s the moment you refuse to give it up that’s when creativity happens. That commitment is akin to going to the gym or similar: you ache and you hate it and you want to thrown in the towel…but you head over there anyway and lift weights or run that last mile. It’s the same in all creative pursuits. It’s a privilege to do what you love, even in the little moments we have, so to cherish it is to commit to it. For it’s in the sticking with it, and with all the energies and time invested, you do get so much back. And it does bring joy, even if it’s fleeting.
—Toyin Odutola, Creativity Decoded. (via tobia)
—Toyin Odutola, Creativity Decoded. (via tobia)
(via tionam)
“ I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights sleep, worked too long and too hard in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I’ve lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.
—John Steinbeck (via tobia)
—John Steinbeck (via tobia)
(Source: thelandlockedmariner, via tobia)
“ It is okay to be at a place of struggle. Struggle is just another word for growth. Even the most evolved beings find themselves in a place of struggle now and then. In fact, struggle is a sure sign to them that they are expanding; it is their indication of real and important progress. The only one who doesn’t struggle is the one who doesn’t grow. So if you are struggling right now, see it as a terrific sign — celebrate your struggle.
—Neale Donald Walsch (via streetetiquette)
—Neale Donald Walsch (via streetetiquette)
(Source: onlinecounsellingcollege, via streetetiquette)
good afternoon from the kale kastle
crown heights . brooklyn, ny (kale kastle) . 2013
Paulie Anne Duke pre-snowball fight . Kale Kastle . Brooklyn, NY . 2013
