Hello artists and art lovers. Welcome back to another artist feature. We are so excited to be doing weekly features again. This week, our artist feature is Yusuf Mohideen. He is a 19 year old artist from Hong Kong. He is creative, passionate, and a great artist all around. Without further ado, here is our interview with Yusuf.
1. How did you first get into music, art, or spoken word?
I've always been doing art since I was a young child, it's quickly become my coping mechanism. I would do it when I'm stressed, angry, happy or sad. It's always been an emotional outlet for me that's helped me cope all these years. Any medium of art like photography or fine arts has been an effective, cheap way of channeling emotions and my thoughts in a visual format, open to interpretation and free from bias. I truly believe it's a reflection of the soul.
2. Who or what are your biggest inspirations that motivate you to create art or write music?
I think just seeing how art is a shared community experience, an emotional purgation of sorts and seeing other people (doesn't have to be celebs) has given me inspiration to expand beyond my typical artistic styles like mandala designs.
3. How do you plan on using your art and music to spread awareness or make a difference in the world?
I am a humanitarian at heart so some of my art is inspired by social issues such as the black lives movement or equality-related things. A picture speaks a thousand words and it's so true especially considering how words can sometimes be so tedious for people to read but a message portrayed in a visual format can strike an impression and leave people understanding more about a certain topic.
4. What is your favorite piece of art that you have created so far? How about your favorite piece of music that you have written?
My favourite piece would probably be one of my pencil drawings of koi fish swimming around a red circle. An abstract piece that doesn't really have concrete meanings but is open to interpretation. A lot of my followers really liked that piece of art and apparently, it reminded some of them of some deeper philosophical meanings which I found fascinating because above all else, my aim in art is to inspire thoughts, to strike conversations and get people speaking about things that matter.
5. What are your current or future goals with your art, music, and spoken word?
In this capitalistic world of consumption and math-based job fields, it's proving very difficult for artists to strive towards making art a professional field for themselves, including me. But I will continuously do art, share it on instagram and do it for the sake of my artistic freedom and endeavours rather than simple monetization which only leads to overworking myself.
6. If you had the opportunity to spend a day with your favorite artist or musician, who would it be and why?
I think it would be Faouzia. She's one of my favourite underrated singers that deserves so much more media attention for the music she produces. She's also around my age and it would be interesting to know how she manages a college degree in engineering, a social life AND music all at the same time, and how she excels in all of those fields. I see her as one of my youth inspirations and I aspire to be like her someday.
7. Do you have any advice or tips for people that are interested in music and art?
I would say the most important thing to be and do in the art field is to be yourself because this authenticity is what makes you stand out in a huge crowd of people who are wanting to be recognized as well. Also, consistency in how much you post is crucial if you want to be remembered by your audience.
Well, that's all for today. Hope you all enjoyed reading the interview and getting to know Yusuf. Attached below are photos of Yusuf and his art. Bye for now!
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