Meet (Chris) Friday: Trans-disciplinary Artist, Curator, Mother

We had the good fortune of connecting with (Chris) Friday and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi (Chris), we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
A while ago, while shopping for graphic tees for my young daughters, I went into a store filled with merchandise that said things like “Totes adorbs”, “OMG” and “Amaze”. I realized in that moment that as a Black person, I had only ever purchased and worn things created by people who did not look like me or talk like me and that my daughters would also have to live with this lack of representation as well. When thinking of racial injustice and inequality, most people think immediately of issues of systemic racism, economic inequality and the like. Rarely do we, as a society, consider injustice and inequality in terms of things like consumer goods. My chosen form of activism is not simply to bring attention to or to mourn injustice, but to actively imagine and create the kind world I want myself and my children to live in. To combat inequality and increase diversity in consumer goods, I created Lucy St. (Lucy Street), which is a collection of art, wearable art and retail merchandise inspired solely by the cultural traditions, food, language and rituals of the African diasporic experience. 

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Until now, Lucy St. was an early-stage digital community with a growing presence on social media and a retail website (www.Lucyst.com). Recently, I applied to the Miami Beach Open House program and got accepted. This means that for a limited time, there will be an actual Lucy St. storefront on Miami Beach. I am excited about this because, it seems surreal that something that started out as just an idea in my head will now have a physical form. It is in a way, indicative of what I try to achieve in my work as an artist, operating in the belief that we do have the power to change things in ways that we want to. We just have to start somewhere and see it through.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Art museums, galleries, projects spaces. Go see them all.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Everything that I do has been influenced by people I meet on my journey. In regards to Lucy St., I owe a debt of gratitude to the Ratcliffe Art + Design incubator, which helped me further develop my ideas and taught me the skills to bring them into tangible existence! Shout out to Jacek Kolasinski, Dimitry Chamy and Neil Ramsey, without whom, I would be lost. Also, my artist peers, family and friends who support me in every way they can. Lastly, shout out to Black folk! We lit and I love us forreal.

Website: Www.LucySt.com
Instagram: @_kinyobi_

Image Credits
Courtesy of the Artist