Meet The Ema | Retconist Artist & Truth Seeker

We had the good fortune of connecting with The Ema and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The, what role has risk played in your life or career?
The greatest risk one can take is to be pulled into the delusion that any of this is real.

The English meaning of the word “risk” is “run into danger”; but the roots of these words amount to something more like “flow into vapor”.

Most of the things we fear, like getting fired, disappointing people, dog bites, etc, are part of a game we chose to play, not the inherent nature of reality. Wolves live in the woods; dog bites only happen in homes because humans chose to play the game of “I want to own a domesticated wolf”.

We say we assume the risk of being bitten by owning a dog; but the real risk is deluding ourselves into forgetting he’s a pampered wolf.

Risk itself is not real but rather an element embedded in the games we create, facilitated by parameters we’ve agreed to based on our personality and morality.

The risks that people associate with high payoffs on Wall Street, for example, only exist because the Wall Street/stock market game exists. Before money was ever a thing, do you think hunters entering the jungle were more afraid of a hostile tiger or a hostile takeover of a business?

I’m not saying to avoid these games. I’m simply saying that the only way to win is to remember that it is a game and to not take it too seriously. When we succumb to emotions & outside influences instead of submitting to a disciplined mind and body, we run the risk of losing control & killing someone over Monopoly money. There’s no “Get Out of Jail Free” card for that!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m navigating the art industry pretty quickly, all things considered. First half of my life was art, art, & more art until music took over for a couple decades. I think a couple factors contribute to why I was able to connect with museums, galleries, respected critics, etc, in under a year.

By the time I decided to take art seriously as a career in 2022, I hadn’t spent my young adult years treating art as if it’s the Game of Life; I learned the larger Game of Life & applied it to the art world. Being separate from the influences, unattached to the norms, etc, I had nothing emotionally invested. That made it easy to see with more objectivity the various cracks & entry points–and it’s always in the conversation.

Once you take in a sufficient sampling of the organism that is the art industry, you get a feel for what it says about itself & what it’s repeated throughout the ages. In particular, I paid attention to lectures by Jerry Saltz. Art critics are the mouthpieces of the industry & have their noses to the ground. Artists aren’t talking to each other. Galleries aren’t talking to each other. Critics are some of the only ones talking & listening to EVERYBODY, so they know the flavor of the macrocosm.

I already knew how to create, so I wasn’t going to pay some school to tell me how, when, or why to create. I instead learned how to listen like a critic. That allowed me to observe works by the masters and hear what they were really saying, not what others said about them.

A valuable lesson I carried over from the music business is that the MUSICIAN musicians care how good a musician you are, but the businessmen–the actual industry–is more concerned with public perception of you & how that translates into sales.

Talented people die broke everyday, and terrible musicians find ways to get rich. You have to decide what you’re really in it for & stick to your guns.

At the end of the day, I think my art is about freeing the color black from its association with slavery & Jim Crow in art, even from Pan-Africanism. That doesnt mean erasing the conversation, but evolving it.

Melanin is dark for the same reason outer space is, but we choose to keep it a local superficial matter instead of a universally existential matter. Fire is will & black is the product of everything that burns bright. It isn’t the “absence of light” but the presence of the unperceivable section of the spectrum & evidence of its relationship to the womb of all creation. The Universe was created in an explosion, and the carbon ash left behind became the building block of life on Earth. The substantia nigra (“black substance”) of the brain gives us conscious control of this accumulated body vessel of ours.

Black is more than a stereotype, it is an archetype, and not one bound to an identity; but to the primordial black “nothingness” that gives all identity its sense of somethingness. Changing the language we use around “black” causes a shift in the perception humankind in its entirety has of itself.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
General tours are a given, you have the well-known attractions in any town; but I learned from the rich folks that dinner parties are the ONLY way to close out the trip with a bang. They’re like cookouts on chill mode, but not quite as snooty as a wine mixer–something anybody can enjoy. I call up whoever has the biggest, nicest house in my circle to host, & invite a nice blend of people from various industries & social groups. It’s a great way to give my guest a taste of that city’s overall soul.

After all, the physical city is just a reflection of the people who live there. Seemingly 100% of the time, if I put a guest in an environment where the food, company, & entertainment is curated only to the degree that nothing mood-killing happens (like drunken club shootouts), but it’s left general enough to where anything magical can happen, they always have the best time.

I have a friend who turns these into art showings at his loft. It adds an entirely new dimension to the dynamic.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I learn from every single person & every experience. It only occurred to me recently how easy it is to remember the big, drawn out relationships with prizes & rewards. At the same time, we forget those brief, perfect moments, sometimes with strangers.

Around late 2012 and early 2013, I’m working the closing shift at Walgreens in Uptown Charlotte, NC. I’m focusing on being a hip-hop artist/producer at the time & had been discussing with a few coworkers the idea of us all relocating to Hollywood but not taking real action toward it.

This particular night, it’s just one other coworker and me, and we’re having a great conversation. We’re still talking feverishly as we lock up and are walking out the building. Shortly after we split paths & say our goodbyes, I’m standing on the corner trying to remember which direction I need to take the bus to get home. It’s my 1st time catching the bus in Charlotte. I live about a mile away & typically walk instead of driving since parking is expensive Uptown.

A guy comes out of nowhere and asks seemingly with concern,

“What are you doing?”

Without giving much thought as to who or why, I immediately respond,

“I’m trying to figure out which way to go…”

Suddenly, the man is grabbing me by the shoulders with both hands, and looking me directly in the eye. I’m just now getting a good look at him. He has these crazy-colored auburn-gold eyes that I’ve only seen one other time during an equally peculiar encounter. He has this ambiguous appearance, similar to Keegan Michael Key–bald, with the kind of skin tone & facial features that could be from anywhere in the world.

Reacting to my answer, he’s responding as if it’s life or death,

“It’s not ‘where you’re going’; it’s where you’re supposed to be.”

As I’m taking it in mostly as a wise & general statement, he’s continuing with,

“Do you have any idea how talented you are?”

Now, I’m wondering who this guy is, whether he knows me somehow or if maybe he’d seen me perform somewhere. For some reason I’m feeling like we’ve met, but the time frame is nearly impossible considering the short time I’ve been in Charlotte.

Just as mysteriously as he’d appeared he disappears after walking in a particular direction. Unless he’s hiding behind something, there’s no way I shouldn’t be able to still see this guy either driving or walking off. I have no idea where he’s gone.

The next day, I’m asking the coworker, who’d only said goodbye to me seconds before the stranger appeared, whether she’d seen him. She’s having trouble remembering; I’m having deja vu of the last guy with weird eyes who told me something deep, disappeared, & none of my coworkers were paying attention.

By that point in my life, I’d learned to trust my intuition, especially regarding wisdom from strangers/messengers. I took it as a sign to get serious about heading to California. I packed up my car & drove clean across the country. I met celebs, filmed a reality show pilot, & participated in a seminar/program that transformed my perception forever. I credit my experiences in California for everything that came after, such as becoming a Qigong/Tai Chi instructor & working with Wu-Tang Clan.

For that reason, I don’t see it as one person or another making the impact; but a chain of people who got out of the way long enough to let the same one powerful force speak through them to deliver guidance to me when it mattered most.

I’m hesitant to put labels on who or what any of these people or experiences are due to the attachments people have concerning certain words or religious implications. I’ll just leave this experience here & let you view it through whichever lens allows you to draw something useful & inspiring from it.

Website: https://www.the-ema-art.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_ema_art

Image Credits
Jarvis Orange Derrick Whitby