What if the secret to breaking through creative blocks wasn’t pushing harder, but listening more deeply? In this tea talk, I get deep with collage artist Dakarai Akil, whose work combines vintage photography with bold, surreal compositions and motion. His style is often called Afro-surrealism and I can see the past, present, and future of Black culture is alive in his work. And lately, so does he—because now he talks to his art while he’s making it. Over a bowl of matcha green tea, we discuss what it means to listen to your work instead of trying to control it, how that changed his creative process, and how you can start doing it too—even if you’re not a visual artist.Topics include:* How to talk to your creative work* What it means when it talks back* Personal vs. commercial art* Ancestral influence and creative identity* Why curiosity matters more than inspiration

Watch this episode as a video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/uf1TtgP3YT8

🖼️ See more of Dakarai’s work: www.dakaraiart.com✨ Preorder my book Baoisms: Everyday Epiphanies of a Mindful Artist and support the channel at: www.baovomusic.comIf you got something out of this episode, please share it with a friend. Thanks!