DAKARAI AKIL

The burden of the black artist is the audience's expectation of them to only be informants on topics of racism, societal norms, and trauma in their communities. Dakarai wants to portray a different view of the black experience—specifically, the experience itself. "Though my work is always centered around blackness, this time I'm approaching this work as my true, raw self. Exposing my own humanity and the humanity of us all from my culture. Going outside of our trauma– by simply just existing. We exist beyond our trauma. This collection is a radical approach to allowing things to just be. No meaning, no agenda, no lesson or hidden messages."

Inspired by conversations Akil had with his mother, Dakarai explores the concept of existing without the necessity of explanation.

"For this show, I opened up about giving very little to no thought into my creative process but instead pulling from feelings that would cause my best work to be essentially void of any explanation. These works are a form of nonverbal communication. Being naturally guided solely by feeling with each cut that goes into a completed collage. It is impossible to prescribe meaning to most of my hand-crafted work due to its nature."

-DAKARAI AKIL

Dakarai Akil is a Los Angeles-based collage artist, designer, painter, and editorial illustrator originally from Cleveland, OH. Creating a signature style with his collage work, Dakarai uses each piece as a small window into the worlds of black surrealism & Afrofuturism. Each piece tells its own story that is entirely up to the viewer to create based on their own observations. When creating these collages Dakarai focuses on color, shape, and composition to tell a story or to give the viewer a unique feeling. He has published numerous fine art books presenting collections of his work. Over the past 10 years, he has had work published in publications such as The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Reader's Digest, and several more.