I’m Trying

Aw, yeah. It’s another #BlackExcellence365 Artist Spotlight. We’re continuing our celebration of Black artists on Tumblr and how they use their medium to navigate conversation about identity. This week we bring you the gift of your new favorite Afrofuturist, Pea the Faery (@peathefeary ).

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to be an artist. How has Tumblr been a place for you to find your voice?

I’m Pea, a digital artist and creator of things in general. I have been an artist since I was a child, but I have only taken myself seriously over the last two years. I have had a Tumblr for a long time, however, and I started using Tumblr as a place to find memes my friends hadn’t seen yet. Then I realized it was a place I could publicly love myself without judgment. I began to share my art on Tumblr because I am my art and I thought it would be cool for my mutuals to see more of who I am.

What communities do you identify with both online and IRL?

I am definitely an Afrofuturist and mystic. Anything involving fantasy holds my interest. I used to think that it was because I was an escapist, but really I believe there is more to this world than the mundane and I love to share that idea.

How did you come up with your featured piece and how might this relate to the broader conversation surrounding the #BlackExcellence365 campaign?

I am in awe of black women. I am so happy that I was able to incarnate into the body of one and I believe we hold deep magic in our blood. I try to express that feeling of magic and mysticism that comes with being a black woman. Because I don’t think a lot of us know that about ourselves. I grew up consuming a lot of fantasy and sci-fi media and I never saw black women involved. But I have always been in love with anything magical as long as I can remember. With this piece I wanted women and girls to see that they can be seen as fairies, pixies, witches, and elves. These archetypes are traditionally visually represented by white women (beautifully), but I wanted black women to see themselves the way I see them.

Your work encompasses powerful and inspirational women such as Beyoncé, Zendaya, and Janelle Monáe. How do they inspire you?

They are exactly that, powerful. They are women who see their worth and share their art unapologetically. Their self-expression is a gift to everyone and they are an inspiration to so many young people that I wanted to pay homage to them, thanking them for how they have publicly loved and accepted themselves. I truly believe that growth and spiritual expansion begins with the desire to love all parts of yourself and the more people willing to love themselves the better off the world is.

How did you come up with your current futuristic and magic artwork?

I was actually raised in a super religious Caribbean home and I wasn’t allowed to watch pretty much anything having to do with magic (I still haven’t read Harry Potter to this day. I’m sure I’ll get around to it). I was an extremely obedient child. However, the way I rebelled was with my secret obsession with anything involving mysticism or fantasy. I secretly read a lot of fantasy books. Some that, honestly, no kid my age at that time should’ve been reading, but it’s too late now. And some of the visuals just stayed in my head forever. I also have had quite a few mystical experiences and when I stepped away from religion I started to explore my love of magic and sci-fi again, mostly as a means of self-development. The more I expanded my view of what life really is to me, the more certain images, ideas, and colors would show up in my head to the point where I felt like I was going to lose my mind. The only way to get them out was to draw them. It is the only thing that calms me down sometimes. So basically ideas fill my head, I write them down, and draw them when I have the energy to and that’s pretty much it.