This Pride, we talked with YTTP teammembers about what it means to have pride in who they are and how this impacts how they connect with themselves and the world around them. We invited this group to take over and guest edit To The People. Here, they can bring their stories (and the stories that are important to them) to life, and highlight the artists and advocates who are bringing Pride To The People.
This week, Chantee Willis—YTTP’s Influencer Relations Coordinator—is taking over To The People to introduce her friend Frank, a Perú-born, Seattle-based multimedia artist whose work is based in social commentary.
I first met Frank in Seattle while working together at a start-up skincare company. Frank was the visual artist, a creative photographer, which immediately gave them cool points. This brand was known for their cool, airy design. Frank led the way in creating that. I was instantly taken with their story—an immigrant from Peru, who LIVED for art and creation. A queer artist who was working on a coffee table book of boundary-pushing photographs of friends and lovers in their bed. When I was asked to guest edit and feature an artist who inspired me, Frank came to mind instantly. Frank embodies Pride on every level, and it emanates in every piece of their art.
— Chantee Willis, she/her
Influencer Relations Coordinator at YTTP
Read on for Frank’s responses to the Youth Questionnaire, and click here to view their work.
Question 01: How do you help others?
By making them come to their senses.
Question 03: Where are you most free?
On the dance floor.
Question 05: What do you dream of?
My grandma.
Question 08: What is your coolest trick?
I can befriend my sleep paralysis
demons.
Question 09: What is your favorite memory in nature?
Learning how ro ride a bike
as a kid and crashing into a rose garden under the full moon and bleeding to thorns.
Question 10: Describe your relationship with your ego.
Ego Death
Question 11: What is your favorite flower or tree, and why?
White lilies, they
smell delicious.
Question 12: To you, what is the most soothing sound?
A group of friends
laughing in a bathroom.
Question 14: If you could encourage others to support something you believe to be universally beneficial, what
would it be?
Women’s rights.
Question 15: What is your personal goal for this year, month, or day?
Stay
hydrated.
Question 16: What song lyric, lines of a poem, or other excerpt best describes your
outlook?
Beetles and eggs and blues and pour a little everything
else
You steam a lens stable eyes and
glass
Not get pissed off thru my bird lips as good
news.
Still we can find our love down from behind
Down far behind this fabulous, my turn
rules
— “Cherry-Coloured Funk,” the Cocteau Twins
Question 21: What’s required to achieve true unity?
Love for Nature.
Question 28: What does your oasis look like and feel like?
It looks like my bed
and it feels like a cloud watering the rainforest.
