Meet Slink Love | Master Artist

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

Hi SLiNK, is there something you believe many others might not?
There’s this sentiment that I think stems from the concept of “the survival of the fittest” and it’s created this back-breaking hustle mentality. I do not believe that’s success or useful or even survival. An equal part of survival is rest and repair not just flight or fight. It is made evident throughout the whole of nature, from the animal kingdom to plants and fungi that “rugged individualism” is detrimental to not just the species but the entire ecosystem. We get nowhere alone nor do we heal in isolation. I want to be clear that alone time is vital and there is also a tendency to run away from our inner world – this is also just a manifestation of living in flight/fight. So yea, it’s just all about balance, accountability and grace <3

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My work uses the rubble left behind in colonization’s terrible wake, to reconstruct what utopia can look like, here in the everyday face of global crisis. Problematic or not, i believe the complicated performance of my subjective identity is simultaneously a universal experience. My work deals with the absurdity of sustainability; while also thriving in the joy of creation. i, and my work, argue that a lowercase “i” lifestyle would lead to a society built on a slow ontology; and thus a truly abundant life for all. Currently, i’ve been focusing on plastics in all her forms from styrofoam, to chemical compounds to xenoestrogens. My practice right now searches for ways to aid the Earth in digesting rampant human waste – in an effort to re-contextualize “uselessness” – while prioritizing play and pleasure activism.

My work includes garments, paintings, sculptures, writings, events, performance and in-between things. i create from a place of radical authenticity, which may sound redundant, but it is tragically rare. When it comes to “contemporary events”, i believe too much emphasis has been placed on a generalized idea of comfort, instead of intentionally complimenting the weaving that is a curated social experience. To accomplish the latter, i live a lifestyle of learning and experimentation. i believe the status quo is not the status quo; and that it is the role of the artist to bring forth the unimagined.

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.
Here in Cincinnati, the end of the underground railroad, there is no shortage of potent places. TIME FOR ANOTHER LIST heheheh :3
1. The underground subway system – so much history and memories.
2. Crosley tower
3. Walk the Banks and go under the Purple People Bridge.
4. Check out my favorite stoops & broken stairways: Queensgate, Brighton, and OTR specifically. But not the yuppie shops and gentrified eateries. Those places are gross and 3CDC needs to be stopped. This cities history is wild and there are so many community resources but cliques, old wounds and greed keep people apart.
5. Cruise the boujee hills of Mt. Adams into central parkway and look at the architecture and graffiti
6. Spring Grove cemetery & St. Joseph Cemetery,
7. Mt. Echo & Mt. Airy
8. Blind lemon, Longfellows, Midcity Restaurant, MOTR, Homemakers 50/50 Gin Club, Findlay Market, CAM (Cincinnati Asian Market), Northside Yacht Club/Northside in general, and Roots, Seeds & Oils.
9. The CAC, CAM, Dsgn Cllctv, Mean st. Gallery, Union Terminal, City Hall & the DAAP graffiti stairs.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh boy I have a long list. I am a firm believer that individuality can not exist without or separate from multiplicity. We are everything and everyone before, after and with us. But without going into a metaphysics poem I’ll just make a list of my current top 10….or 20 lol.
1. My mom
2. God/Love/Spirit/Conviction/Grace/Forgiveness
3. Art & writing
4. H8ters
5. Me
6. Tom Robbins
7. Maya Angelou
8. Toni Morrison
9. Czeslaw Milosz
10. Water
11. Abolitionists
12. James Baldwin
13. Cincinnati
14. My peers and contemporaries
15. Plants & herbs
16. Indigenous knowledge
17. Juxtaposition as a tool for discourse, learning and aesthetics.
18. Lists. – seriously though I love them
19. MOVEMENT & routine
20. Astrology & ancient wisdom.

Website: https://www.slink.love

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slink.love/