DIRECT TALK(VISION VIBES)

Draft transcript

Chloe Potter / Host:

I’m Chloe Potter and this is VISION VIBES, the podcast that brings you the inspiring stories of people from all walks of life.

Have you heard the expression: “the more personal the more universal”? The older I get the more I find it to be true. We can think we’re alone in the way that we experience being human, but if we’re brave enough to share our most private thoughts and feelings with others we often realize that we are far from alone. Our interviewee today is Chaz Guest, an African-American artist who counts Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie among his fans. His work, often portraits, focuses on the heritage that feels most personal to him, that of slavery and cotton farming. Despite the specificity of his subject his friends from a myriad of different backgrounds tell him they recognize themselves, their family and their memories in his work.

Chaz Guest:

I love my own culture. As an African-American and where we where we are from and all of that, what we endured and what and how we came to be even today.

So, I come from a line of people who were always interested in doing, pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and making the best out of everything. And then my grandfather, too, and mother and father. So, I come from a very strong line of great, strong people.

I love exploring um, cultures, right? But it felt like I couldn't really get into telling somebody else's culture without first really diving into mine fully, you know? For anything to start, you got to go to the root. And so, the root here in America was slavery and the cotton fields. And so, I wanted to bring about these are individuals that I painted. I wanted to the get into their soul and then depict them on the canvas.

And, you know, it was really interesting, all of my friends, cause I have friends from all walks of life, when they looked at these paintings, they said ah, that it reminded them of their mother or their grandmother or their grandfather. They could be Asian or European or whoever. And I was like, that was the indication for me that I have painted humanity. I have exceeded the color that you see on the canvas, and I've actually painted humanity by that.

I'm always seeking to, like, do other things, like explore other mediums, investigate other, other things. And especially when it comes to color, finding colors. A few months ago, we were invited to Tokushima by a friend. And to my great surprise, when we went on this farm, this indigo farm, BUAISOU, it just like, completely captivated my imagination with how they came about coming to this color from the ground, from the seeds, from the harvest, from the drying of the leaves, the mixture, the whole concoction is just absolutely fascinating.

I saw them make that beautiful, blue dye from the dirt and a seed. I saw the seeds. I saw them planting for the next season. From that dirt, these green, beautiful flowers. And then they harvest them. They, they even have to keep the bugs off of the leaves. That's so much work. It's too much work. And if you see a piece of indigo clothing that you like, just buy it. Don't worry about the price they work for it. Trust me, nobody is going to do it.

They have the leaves, and then they dry them out, and then they air them out and, and then they what have they got… ferment them. And then they start putting the, the water, alkaline water, the, the, the brand, you know, like oat because it's alive. You can only dye a couple of pieces at a time, because it's breathing. Even when I dyed some stuff it was on my fingers for a month. I was just like, I got to see how I can paint with this stuff.

Chloe Potter / Host:

One of Chaz’s painting from this indigo series is of a Japanese taxi driver who he met in Tokushima. You can see this painting and others by going to the NHK WORLD-JAPAN website and watching Chaz’s episode of Direct Talk. Chaz firmly believes that underneath our different “meat suits” as he puts it, humans being are all the same.

Chaz Guest:

I brought about this subject of, of the taxi driver who um... I just felt I felt him very interesting as a character. This was in Tokushima, and this was his job, this was his life he took pride in this one thing that he does for his life.

I'm the kind of guy that would always love to bring our likenesses together instead of our differences.

Chloe Potter / Host:

One way that Chaz sets out to explore and learn from different cultures is by making art with children around the world. Ultimately, he hopes to create a world art project, connecting children from different places. Chaz is influenced by his mum who always told him to be grateful for life, to choose to be and do good and to never give up.

Chaz Guest:

So, basically, we're all the same. Right. If you stripped off our skin, we're like this skeletal thing with a brain with two big eyeballs, like golf ball eyeballs, brain, spinal column with nervous system. You look like an alien, right? And then you put, like, this meat suit on, and then you look slap a color on…you might like do something. This the same stuff and it’s sort of like, what you think you're better? I mean I just don't get it.

I think it's easier to be evil and less than. I think it's harder to walk the road of righteousness or ah, divinity. If you can, if you can imagine the spirit of good. That's what my mother used to always tell me. And now it's matured in my body. My mother used to say, we are under the spirits of two powers. It's good and evil. She always said that. But the older I get, the more I can not only see it, but it's just true. And again, we come from a people that had to rely on hope. So, if you ask me that, I'm going to say, “You just keep trying to do your best. If you're blessed to wake up, you just go for the good and then you will be free from slavery.”

I love children. I love to see their pure, pure approach to things. And my, if I'm in Mexico, if I'm in the Gambia, West Africa or Senegal or, or even Japan, I got together some children. Um, where, where else? Oh, in, in France. You know, I think that one day it'll all come together as the World Art Project

Chloe Potter / Host:

During our conversation Chaz told us he sees life as an art form. It made me remember something British actress Helena Bonham Carter famously pointed out. She said: “I think everything in life is art. What you do, how you dress, the way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality, what you believe in and all your dreams. The way you decorate your home, or party. Your grocery list, the food you make. How your writing looks, and the way you feel. Life is art.”

Just like Chaz’s mum taught him we are all continually creating art with the actions we take, and the choices we make. What kind of art are you creating?

That’s it for today’s episode. Thanks for listening. You can find other episodes of VISION VIBES on the NHK WORLD-JAPAN website.

I’m Chloe Potter and you’ve been listening to vision vibes. Join us next time to enjoy more stories from around the world.