In the summer of 2019 I got offered a cool opportunity. I had been chosen by VIBEarts to participant in the Desire Lines project, presented by RBC and Pattison. It involved producing and facilitating a creative workshop, and creating some pieces to be showcased in a TTC subway station in January 2020. I had never been involved with such a multi-faceted project, but was excited and intrigued. Now being at the end of it, I can say I am happy I took part.

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shits trippy; found this in my mailbox after a night of mischief and fun. Pree coo start to 2020, the year of reclamation. Lesgettit. Happy New Year errbody, kiss ya self. @torontodotcom 🙏🏻

A post shared by The Hairless Hyena (@nicholasridiculous) on Jan 1, 2020 at 1:37pm PST

I have already posted about the workshop I had created for this project, CC; scrappax. It was a great experience, and I look forward to continue to expand my workshop portfolio and facilitating prowess. To bring this workshop to life, I brought my work with VIBEarts together with my work with the Free2Be program at Woodgreen Social Services. In hopes to help inspire some youth and build that self-belief and autonomy through creative endeavors. I also did an interview with toronto.com for an article about the project, which was printed in a couple different newspapers across the GTA. Speaking about my work, and inspirations, alongside the other talented artists from the project. I have never had this type of exposure so it was a cool experience to see myself on a newspaper, and in a subway station.. Kind of funny, coming home to that. We all got to come out sometime! Take a gander.

With some great help from some really fantastic friends, I was able to create my photograph piece, melk; dontcry4me. It is a part of my ongoing series entitled “melk”. It grew from my interest in the little white lies we tell ourselves, and eachother, to make it through the day. The things we overlook just for comforts that don’t matter. I have always known my spirit animal to be the hyena. I find great inspiration in my totem, and often paint it with the colors of my soul. In the case of my second piece, laff.trakk, I used that image to represent a turn in our modern consumption habits. Forcibly fed a constant stream of content, with our backs against a hard dollar. An audience turned product, turned joke. Curtains fall, who’s laughing now?