Today we’d like to introduce you to Cedric Umoja.
Hi Cedric, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I began like so many others, drawing as a child. This is what fuels my creative prowess to this day! I grew up between the second and third generations of Hip Hop Culture. It had and still has a profound effect on me. The Culture itself is much more than just music, informed and influenced many. I gravitated towards the Art that came out of the Culture, graffiti. I studied and played with graffiti letters, characters, and hand styles and found myself deeply engrossed in comic books, also. These two forms of Art played a huge role in my desire to further cultivate the creativity within. Some years after attending the Art Institute of Atlanta, I became a student/apprentice of Tony Cacalano. Tony was a Yale graduate who studied with the founder of the New York school, Jack Tworkov, he curated for Walter Chrysler, Jr, and had a very successful career as a professional Artist. I had the privilege of being under his tutelage for around five years. Sometime shortly afterward, I began exhibiting and selling locally, slowly venturing within the state then eventually, outside of the state.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This creative path I’ve chosen has been rewarding, to say the least, however it hasn’t come without sacrifice. It wasn’t easy to exhibit and sell work in the beginning. The biggest challenge I faced was having people understand my Art and see value in it. This has taken years as well as a lot of work. Today, I find myself with far more maneuverability and opportunity than I was ever privy to previously.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a multidisciplinary artist, Hip Hop practitioner, and internet radio show host/producer. I create drawings, paintings, sculptures, films, collages, installations, and performances. My Art practice’s focus is through the lens of Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism in these last few years has become an area of interest for the general public. As a matter of fact, just recently the Kennedy center opened its doors up to Afrofuturism through visual art and music. It’s slowly and surely becoming a recognizable Art movement, though it has been around for decades.
I’m proud of how my work impacts its viewers. It has the ability to touch the lives of all who come in contact with it. When people sit with it long enough. Truths, futures, and magic will be revealed to them.
I think I set myself apart from others by spending hours upon hours engaged in my Art practice focused on being as true and authentic to myself as possible! Some may think this is easy, but it’s extremely difficult to walk the path of originality in the creative world because acceptance of what’s new is rarely easily digested by the general public.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Yes! In 2020, I published a book! Spirit, Truths, Magic, and Futures features a decade of drawings and because I’m a big fan of music, I wrote some liner notes on pieces to share more about what’s behind the work. You can find the book on Amazon* (See link in the “other links” section). My love for music has also opened the door to a radio show! “Sum’n for Tha Cultcha” runs six days a week from 8 pm -9 pm est. So, tune in to www.raidtheradio.com and rock with me!
Contact Info:
- Email: Umoja.artofficial@gmail.com
- Website: www.CedricUmoja.com
- Instagram: Umojaizm
- Facebook: Cedric Umoja
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Truths-Magic-Futures-Tabernac-EL/dp/B08RB5959J
Image Credits
Roni Henderson-Day
