Episode #13 Yaw Tony: You're A Fine Quality

Join me as we take a deep dive with an Artist who is said to be breaking all the rules of colour. Yaw Tony an Architect, Artist, and Graphic Designer that also has an extensive fashion line. What are his boundaries with colour? Does he have any? What inspires these rich and wild designs of intricate and bizarre stories? They are flooded with intensity of pure hues and symbolism. 

Yaw Tony has a unique perspective with these three disciplines he weaves his own interpretation of contemporary values with his cultural heritage that shines brighter and bigger. We go beneath the surface to uncover where Yaw's inspiration really lies. 

Where do his artworks take us? Is it the stories he wants us to understand, or is it the meaning behind his colour choices? What is his story-telling really communicating to us? Or are they interpretations of ancient allegories or legends? Can we use them today to change our lives?

Enjoy more artwork from Yaw Tony:

https://yawtony.com/

Podcast Interview Credits
Sound Effects from Pixby
Audio Links from https://freemusicarchive.org/
Podcast by Carolyn Botelho

Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Creatively Thinking podcast. Join Carolyn Botelho as she uncovers the inspirations behind some incredibly creative minds that are orbiting our local communities. Hiya Tony, so happy to meet you digitally. 
 
 I discovered your black palette work and had to meet you and chat with you about it. Hello, how are you doing? Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.
 
 Yeah, I kind of didn't really give you an intro there, but I can do that now. So yeah, you are an art, you are an artist, architect, and graphic designer. Those are some heavy hitters in the art department. 
 
 And I'd like to ask all artists, what was it that caused them to choose this field? Was it working with your hands, your emotional insights, or something else? Well, that's a good question. I think I can remember, I've always been drawing as a little kid. Yeah, I've always been drawing. 
 
 And I remember back in my architectural class, I was always drawing something, even when lectures were going on. And so most of my artwork, I guess, yeah, I'll say it started from there. I mean, in high school, I was doing art, before high school, I was doing art. 
 
 But then I think things that I designed, or I worked on that going on social media, and why not, mainly started off when I was in my architectural class, and I was just sketching things out. Yeah, so I think it came naturally for me. I don't remember a time that I actually picked one over the other.
 
 Yeah, it's just part of who you are. Yeah. Yeah. 
 
 No, it has. Yeah, it has always been. Yeah, it has always been like that for me, I would say.
 
 That's great. Reading about your career, I saw that you love to use colour as your main vehicle of expression. What is it about colour that resonates with your type of storytelling? Is it symbolic? Or is it how the public interacts with your pieces that is most important to you? So I have this thing I've been trying to explain for some time now, like I see colours in my head. 
 
 And most of the time, I try to mimic what I'm seeing in my head. So the whole colour theory system doesn't really work for me. So I've always seen colour as a means of connectivity with humanity. 
 
 And I see colour as a very intimate thing. And the ability to have like an impact on human behaviour. So when I use art, when I use colour for my art, they are more of therapeutic purposes, I would say. 
 
 And so when, especially when I was doing the exhibition, Black Palette, I was treating it as like each colour representing an individual, and each colour having value of itself. And like when all colours mix together, they create one value. And when you take that value out, you get all the other values. 
 
 So I was, yeah, I was using colour to represent, let's say, humanity per se, or the individuals that become society. So yeah, but yeah, colours have always been the main, I think, apart from the stories that I play with, I think colours are always the main tool that I use because it has the ability to draw the viewer into the world, or the stories I'm trying to depict, I guess. Yeah. 
 
 So it's always like a bait, I would say. Yeah. It draws them in, right? It draws them in, yeah.
 
 Within your three-discipline career, have you found over the years that one of them has taken centre stage in your creative practice, or have they all lined up congruently? Does your creativity have favourites, or does it have an ebb and flow way of working? Yeah, I think they all complement one another. These are big questions, aren't they? Yeah, I know, I know. I think they all complement one another because when you see my artwork, there are series that I do that you see are very geometric shapes. 
 
 So you can tell the influence of architecture in there. And then maybe even the use of colours, you can tell us. So I would say they complement each other. 
 
 I think it's more or less a marriage, marriage with the three disciplines. But which one do I enjoy, or which one do I think I have much control over? I think I'm doing the art. It's like I'm in a world by myself, and I'm able to control the narrative, more or less. 
 
 The impossibility becomes possible in that world. And the stories that I'm telling, I'm able to see them in a way that it's like I see them first, and then I try to convey what I'm seeing, so that I'll be able to share with the viewer or the individual that is before the artwork. I always say that I use, like I break all colour rules to make all colour rules. 
 
 To me, I always say that when you look in nature, all the colours are there, and they all work perfectly. So to me, all colours work. It's just a matter of how you convey the message. 
 
 So in the world of arts, I have control of how, yeah, more than when I was working in an architectural firm. It's very restricted, and it's very rigid that you don't have control of the environment per se, but in the art world, yes, I do. And I think I enjoy that much more than when, yeah, yeah.
 
 Well, that's what I wanted to ask you was kind of a secondary from that question is the architecture and graphic design, those are very sort of rigid, structured environments, right? Yes, that's correct. So that's why I was like, how does that work with art? But you find that they can work together? Oh, yeah, they can work together. There are times when my practice in graphic design or my practice in architecture will influence what I'm trying to convey. 
 
 And it's just that with the art, you think freely, but having some practice in structure, that which has structure enables you to kind of convey the story in a very direct and structured way. So I think it's much more confined in some of the areas that I will be, like some of the subjects that I'll be playing with. Because of my architectural background or graphic design background, I'm able to structure in the way that it's systematic and it's straight to the point, you get it. 
 
 And at times when I play with stories or, I don't know, parables that I hear somewhere that I think they're very universal and they're very deep. In those aspects, the artwork becomes very, it becomes very abstract that the individual has to dive in, dive in, dive in more before they are able to understand what I'm trying to say or I'm trying to play around. But there are times that you see the artwork is just straightforward. 
 
 You know what I'm trying to do. And that's when the structure aspect comes in, I think. Within your work on Black Palette, you indicate your approach is the unseen that ultimately drives your design. 
 
 Within everyone is something precious. Can you expand on this? Is it from your perspective or more from your storytelling that this concept emanates? I will say both. I will say both. 
 
 Black Palette exhibition, again, was essentially about humanity and the value of individuals. I was playing on the concept that every individual is valued and before a nation can become a nation, first the individual, well, you have the individuals that becomes family and then they become a community and then they become a nation. So I was playing on the concept that for our nations to be in a perfect harmony, the individual has to be, let's say, in the right state of mind. 
 
 So then the family becomes in a right state of mind, then the community, and then the nation. Because I believe that everyone on the earth is equal. We are equal in terms of value, but we have different purposes in life, which makes us different. 
 
 But in terms of the value aspect, I believe that everyone is equally the same. So I don't believe that there are some that are born leaders and some that are born followers. I don't believe in that concept. 
 
 I believe that the moment that we think that one is supposed to be a leader and the other is supposed to be a follower, then we've been conditioned to find ourselves much more valuable than the other. And as I was doing the research for the exhibition, I came across a few concepts which became sort of the source of the exhibition. The idea that there are only five questions that every human being on earth is trying to answer. 
 
 And these five questions are the source of everything that we do and everything that we're trying to achieve in life. That these five questions fill everything, pretty much our governmental structures and religious structures and families. And so doing this research kind of made the exhibition much more deeper than what it appears. 
 
 And it was fun putting it all together. These questions like, who am I? Why am I here? What can I do? Where am I going? What's the other one? So who am I? The last question is, where am I going? Yeah, where am I going? Yeah. So that has to do with your picture. 
 
 Yeah. So there are these five questions. And then when I was playing on that concept, it unfolded. 
 
 So the exhibition became much more deeper than I even planned. So who am I has to do with a question of identity. And where am I from has more to do with ethnicity question per se. 
 
 And then why am I here has a question to do with your purpose in life. And what can I do has to do with your potential. I believe everybody has a gift. 
 
 You don't give yourself the gift. So you are born with a gift. So the question is, why do you have the gift? And then where am I going has to do with your future that every actions that you do now in your present will always affect your future. 
 
 So then the exhibition became very fun when I was actually structuring it. But yeah, and yeah, and I was like, okay, whatever actions that I take now will affect what will happen in the future. So and I was playing on the concept that we have to kind of make sure that we make the right decisions now so that our future will always be what we expect it to be. 
 
 So it dived in in a very interesting way. And yeah, it was fun putting it on the exhibition. Your vast fashion line of wearable art on the life liveth in me site. 
 
 Was this developed using your knowledge of your cultural heritage? Or was it a fusion of contemporary themes that weaved into your cultural background? I would say I would say a fusion because even though I was born in Ghana, I grew up here most of my life has been here. And for very interesting reason. I think growing up, I heard my father play a lot of like music coming from Ghana, but unconsciously, I was taking in all these stories without even knowing that this was happening to me. 
 
 So when the way this, the brand or the scarf brand started, it was all by accident. I was, I think when I was in architecture, my architecture was probably like second year, third year. I created an artwork and I posted it online and I got approached by Vitra Museum and Guggenheim.
 
 There was a group exhibition and they wanted my piece to be part of, but they kind of requested the artwork to be on fabric because it would be easier for them to take it down. It was like an exhibition, was traveling exhibition as we say, which went on for like almost five years. So they wanted it to be on fabric for them. 
 
 So I created the artwork and I put it on fabric and that's how the whole notion of, oh, I can apply my artwork on, let's say silk or I can apply the artwork on canvas in a way that, or any type of fabric in the way that it can be wearable. At the same time, it can be displayed in a gallery. So that journey actually happened by accident and yeah, it has been fun. 
 
 It took me a long time to find, I guess, the right fabric, the right company to work with. Yeah. Initially I wanted everything to be done in Canada, but that just wasn't possible and I had to outsource. 
 
 And so the company that I deal with, everything is done in England. So I just do the artwork and I send it to them and then the printing and finishings and everything is done and then they ship everything back to me here. So it has been an interesting That's great. 
 
 Another way to sort of diversify here. That's correct. Yeah.
 
 During your career, has any of your, didn't I just ask you that? Wait a minute. Okay. It sounds similar.
 
 Similar question. During your career, has any of your disciplines of practice like graphic design or architecture tried to make you commit to one of them alone or is your multidisciplinary practice incredibly diverse? There is no way to contain it. Do you see it as the stories before the medium? Yes, I think. 
 
 Well, it kind of depends because there are some artworks that I create that is because I saw some image in my head or I saw some colors in my head that it wouldn't get out. It won't leave me. So then I try to mimic what I'm seeing. 
 
 And then many times I will hear a story or I'll be playing back these songs that my father would play when I was young. And then now that I'm older, I kind of find much more value in these stories and the progress of like, oh, that was a very interesting story to visualize and then turn into an artwork. But I think this, all the mediums or all the practice that I'm in or the disciplines that I'm in, I think they have helped shape where I'm going and how I structure the artwork. 
 
 So I wouldn't say one has much more influence, I'll say. I'll say that in all fairness, I think they all complement each other in a way that I'm able to find a very interesting way to present the stories that I'm telling. So I wouldn't pick one over the other. 
 
 I'm very appreciative of having the ability to be able to be in these three disciplines, even though I tend to do the artwork more than the rest. But in fairness, they all complement one another. Yeah. 
 
 So I'll say, yeah, I think I'll say that. I'll say that. Yeah, well, it's like you're able to take what you need from those mediums or those disciplines and just make those specific aspects work for those specific projects, you know? I would say that, yes. 
 
 But whenever I need something that needs to be more geometric or isometric in terms of whatever that I'm designing, then I tap into the architecture scenes. And then I guess maybe even how I use colors is because of my background in graphic design. And then the rest is just putting everything together would be my background in art. 
 
 And yeah, so they work perfectly and I wouldn't change it for anything. And we'll be right back. And we'll be right back.
 
 Where do you see the architecture as maybe the foundation of the work that you do or as it already comes in in different aspects and different parts of the projects? I think they come in different aspects, but at times you have these knowledges, this knowledge like trapped in your subconscious mind and you pull it without even you being aware that you are using things that you have learned or yeah, things that you have learned over the years. So I would say they come when they are needed to be used. I don't even think about it, to be honest. 
 
 When I'm creating, I just tap into this world with just me and I create whatever that I'm trying to create. But I don't think I really think about it in that aspect that I'm going to tap into my background in architecture or I'm going to tap into my background in graphic design. It just comes naturally to me.
 
 When you begin one of your pieces, is it the story that decides the medium or is it the process of communicating the work that gets you to decide the medium you choose? Or is your creative process different than that? That's a very interesting question because I was having a discussion with my artist friend the other day and I was saying, oh man, it has to be the stories that chooses the kind of medium that I use. And then he was saying otherwise. But I think it's the story that chooses the medium because when I have the story in my head, I'm trying to convey in a way that what would be the best way for someone to understand what I'm trying to paint. 
 
 And at times I'll be like, okay. So what I've done is the artwork that are on the scarves are totally different from the artworks that I normally would have for exhibitions. And I've been trying to separate the two, but it's very difficult because people do know that it's the same person behind it. 
 
 So as sitting down, thinking about it, having thoughts around it, I've come to realize that there's no need for me to separate the two. I'll just try to work as naturally as possible. But I will say that the stories do help, do actually finalize which medium to execute. 
 
 I will say the story does. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.
 
 Winning the Best of Craft and Design Award in 2023, was this an award that seemed to sort of pigeonhole your talent that you didn't expect? Or is winning any award an honor for your multidisciplinary practice? How has being a multidisciplinary artist impacted your career in a positive way you didn't expect? The award was, that was an amazing surprise though. Because, yeah, no, I wasn't even thinking about that. I wasn't even thinking about Toronto Outdoor giving out an award.
 
 So when they approached me, I think the Saturday of the event, they approached me and I was like, oh, this is amazing. Was it a Friday? No, I think it's, yeah, one of the days they approached me and I was like, oh, this is amazing. So, but I think the award presented me before Toronto Outdoor patrons that they probably have never seen my work before. 
 
 And also the artists that participated in the event. So I was very honored to be part of or to be recognized for my work that I'm doing. And I think also having the ability to dive into these three disciplines makes, it kind of makes me, I don't want to say makes me special among my artist friends, but it makes me unique in a way that I'm able to express myself in a very different way that they might express themselves. 
 
 They might have different backgrounds, why not? But I'm able to tackle them in a way that is very storytelling but is very structured in a way. And I think when people see that, for some odd reason, it makes it easier for them to gravitate to my work. So, but yeah, the award was amazing.
 
 Then that same year I got, I was awarded for CAFA for the scarf design, which was also, I was like, so last year was a very interesting and amazing year for me in terms of the world that I'm in now, expressing the disciplines that I'm in. It was very, I was amazed and very delightful of the recognition that Toronto Outdoor and CAFA, CAFA. Well, what's CAFA? I'm not familiar with that one.
 
 So CAFA is Canada Art Fashion. Let me, let me get the exact, because this is going online. So yeah, so CAFA, and you know, the interest in this, a lot of people, I'll talk about CAFA and they're like, what is CAFA? So CAFA is, what is it? What's the meaning? I'm not even seeing the, so it's Canadian Art and Fashion Award. 
 
 And they awarded me for the scarf. So it was the accessory of the year. So yeah, so right after the Toronto Outdoor Festival, I think in October during last year was a CAFA award and I was nominated and I won the award for that. 
 
 So that was, that year, the end of the year was amazing because as an artist, you want people to recognize your work because not that you, you are doing it for that, but when your work is recognized, it's a good feeling and you kind of want to, yeah, push yourself and create more, have more dialogues with your work. So I was very grateful for everything last year. Yeah, it would make you feel really special for what the crafts that you're doing as well as, you know, your artistic background and everything, yeah.
 
 Being of a religious background and of a career that shares these stories from your Black culture, what has been your social and political views from this perspective? How has the art world received it? And has the message been missed or has it been identified in gallery exhibitions? Very interesting, very, very interesting question because it's interesting. A lot of people do say that, do say that my work do convey a lot of religious topics or subjects, but I do believe in God and I believe in, I believe in God in a way that I think without God is almost, our compass in life do skew a bit, but I would say I'm not that, I'm not religious per se because I feel like religion is, there's too much dynamic and too much, which kind of make things a little bit fuzzy on the other end. But yes, I believe in God and I always, I hope that my message has not been missed because I tend to deal with ideas that, that goes beyond race, culture, politics or social structures. 
 
 I tend to deal with subjects that deal, that deals with the inner, the inner man or inner person. Yeah, you don't want to get everybody all freaked out about the right pronouns and things. Which goes over most of our social structures because I believe that the inner man, and when I use the word man, I'm speaking in a general sense, not in a gender form, but the, yeah, I know, I know, I know. 
 
 So when I, when I say that, yeah, the inner person is much more important than like our social construct and things like that because we, and I don't, and I try not to have my work, like I don't want my work to focus on race per se. I believe that your skin color do not define who you are. I see skin color as a suit that makes you legal on earth. 
 
 And the moment you, you leave earth, like the moment we cross this atmosphere, we need to put on face suits. So your skin color more or less makes you legal to function on earth. So the inner person is much more important than the suits that they're wearing.
 
 So that's how I perceive anyone that I interact with. So my artwork, yeah, I try not to, I try my possible best to convey ideas that makes us better people more than what our social construct say. And yeah, that, and it gets deep, it gets much deeper when we start to have these conversations.
 
 Yeah, because there's so many, I guess, layers with your, with the stories you are telling. Yeah. So it's, yeah.
 
 Interesting subject. Got a whole other podcast about that. Yes. 
 
 Yes. I do. Yes, because I do get into a lot of artists talk and then when we have these subjects at times, we might be saying the same thing, but from a different perspective. 
 
 And at times it gets very, it gets very political and very social structure driven. And, and at times I'm like, no, I'm not really, that's not the path that I want to go. I believe that the inner person is much more important than what we structure per se. 
 
 And if the inner person is in, if the inner person is correct, then everything else will be correct. And so I focus more on that than any other subject per se. And yeah, social, social contracts kind of thing or constructs.
 
 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
 
 Where do you see your career in 10 years from now? Do you see yourself moving your practice to Europe or the USA, or do you see yourself staying in Canada? Has your creativity and use of color had a global effect to negate the possibility of moving? Well, it's quite interesting. The past few years I've been getting a lot of, let's say invite outside Canada. So, which is good. 
 
 And I'm very honored for that. And I mean, I see myself doing projects in Europe and the States because I feel like the art culture is totally different from what we experienced in Canada. But I cannot foresee myself leaving Canada completely because I've lived all my life here. 
 
 So I think it will be very difficult for me to move completely, but to extend myself and do projects outside Canada. Yes. I have an exhibition next year in Canada, in Ghana. 
 
 And I have this year, I have a project in Italy and Las Vegas, I think in the summertime. So I am gradually extending myself and I think I prefer to do that than to relocate. And when it comes to seeing myself, apart from my artwork, I'm trying to push my artwork all over as much as possible. 
 
 I'm really aiming to push the scarf brand to become a fashion house as much as possible. I've received a lot of great feedback when I do trade shows and people get to see their scarves. They always compare me to Hermes. 
 
 So I'm pushing the brand to become or to have that quality as much as possible. So that's the aim. That's the aim, yeah.
 
 Being a practicing abstract storyteller that uses architecture, graphic design and art, as well as being involved in a number of websites and organizations, what has been your main objective over the years? Has it been the story, the message or your experience with the public and how they consume your creativity? I feel like, I think the previous answer kind of covers this, but yeah, the main objective when I'm creating any of my artwork is pretty much to have a dialogue with the inner self because I feel like the greatest discovery any person can discover is self because once you discover self, then the concept of self-love makes sense. Then you and I can equally love each other because it is almost impossible to love somebody if you don't love yourself. So when I'm creating these works, these are the main subjects that I think you will find throughout all my artwork. 
 
 And like I was saying before, there's about 8.1 billion people on the earth and what we are seeking for or what we are in pursuit of is all the same. Every human being wants their needs met and when human beings' needs are met, we function effectively. And when the needs are neglected, we malfunction. 
 
 So our goal in life is all the same. It's just that we find different paths to achieve the goal. So yeah, I tend to have conversations that builds of us trying to find ourselves more than trying to pursue the material things that we, somewhere, somehow, we think that if we're able to get these material things that we will discover ourself in that. 
 
 But it shouldn't be because there are people in very, I would say, misfortune areas in the world and they are much more happier than people living in the first world. Like when I went to Ghana last year, you interact with people and the level of happiness and then you compare it back to us living in the first world country. At times, it just doesn't make sense because we think that they don't have so much. 
 
 But the meaning for life is so profound in a way that it kind of makes you want to rethink what is the purpose for life and why you and I are living on the earth. So I think that is much more important in my work than when I'm trying to convey these ideas. Yeah.
 
 I would say. Yeah. Do you think that's like you were saying, like in sort of the first world countries, they determine wealth as happiness and in the poor areas, there is much more of a different kind of wealth that they understand. 
 
 Do you think that that kind of relates to self-love and the impact? Yes. I 100% believe that. There are people that they lack self-love and they think that getting material things will fill that void. 
 
 And so we are always on the excursion trying to find the next new thing because we feel like that will secure the void that we feel inside. Then meeting people that have no sense or no desire for these material things, but yet like the value for life is much more meaningful in a way that for me personally, it was a dynamic shift for me having meet people in this state. Because at times you would think that they don't have, so they shouldn't have any appreciation for life.
 
 But yet you have interaction with people in such, and then they cannot wait to wake up and see what life will bring. And it's quite interesting to see. It's very interesting to see. 
 
 And I feel like the conversations that we have in the West needs to dive in much more deeper when we are talking about the purpose of life and more than the things that we are pursuing. Yeah, and there's a greater appreciation with people that have less. And we'll be right back. 
 
 And we'll be right back. So this next question I feel you kind of answered, but maybe you can expand on it, I guess. Working in three similar but uniquely different fields, have you been able to incorporate them as you work? Or does your architecture background sit on the sidelines as your artistic skills shine and vice versa for your graphic design? Like I was saying, even though the three disciplines uniquely do have a unique field per se, I think in my world, like I was saying, it's a perfect marriage, perfect siblings.
 
 They all complement each other, enable me to serve the world with the gifts that I have. So I would say they complement each other. To me, architecture is a form of art, but in a very different approach per se. 
 
 And graphic design is a form of art, but in a different approach. So to me, they're pretty much the same. Now would you say architecture is more just 3D graphic design in a sense? Yes.
 
 Does your storytelling focus on colonialism, folklore, or how contemporary values have changed our perception of these topics? How has technology over the years impacted your practice professionally, both positively and negatively? I see technology as an amazing tool. It is an amazing tool that has made my life way much more easier. Because even me creating the scarves, I have to send a digital artwork, a digital version of my work to the manufacturers to be able to produce. 
 
 So without technology, it would be almost impossible to create some of the areas that I'm diving myself in. But I see technology as a tool, but I focus more on the individual that is using the tools. Because the tools are never the problem, the individuals are the problem. 
 
 So I think I was having a conversation about the advancement of AI. And then I was saying that AI can be a tool that can be used in a very positive manner or in a negative manner. And it all depends on the individual behind the tool that is more or less, how would I say, feeding the information for the AI to function. 
 
 And if that individual is not, I would say, if it's not correct, then the information that they put in will result in a way that the AI response will not be correct. So as much as technology is a beautiful tool, us using the tool can use it in a way that the response can be unfair and biased and discriminative in a way. So yeah, that's why I'd like to turn, I think, like I've said, all my work is really dealing with us as individuals more than the things around us, the physical things do not have the ability to think. 
 
 But us human beings, we have ability to use the physical things, whether for good or bad. I can use, I can see, extract metal from rocks and then use that metal for a knife. And then I can use the knife to cut food and eat. 
 
 And then others will use the knife for other means that are negative. So it's always the individual behind the tool that is the problem, I would say. And in terms of, I love to use folk laws, I use folk laws and I guess proverbs and things like that as a vehicle to transport ideas for change and not focus more on colonial structure. 
 
 Because for us to change, we have to address the issues and move on. Then when you dwell on the past, it does affect your future, per se. So I'm more interested in us moving forward, how we better our thinking so that the future can be beneficial for all of us and that we don't repeat that which we did in the past. 
 
 So yeah, yeah. You don't want to go back there? Yeah, yeah, it isn't at all. And at times, you know, I think you have to have a different mindset. 
 
 You have to be able to have a vision because once you have a vision, then the future can make sense. And I think most people like to dwell on the past and the way to fix the future. And at times, they never get to move forward. 
 
 They get stuck in the past and then the generation passes and then the generation that comes up to them repeat the same thing. But I think the dialogue and the discourse that we are to have, it has to have much more meaning for the future than what the past has done. So I hope for a better future. 
 
 So I tend to deal with ideas that can secure the future more than just getting stuck in the past. It makes a lot of sense to move forward and think of stories that will help us move forward in a positive way. Yeah. 
 
 All right. Well, that's the end of our interview. That's all the questions I have for you today. 
 
 So if there's anything else you'd like to add, I would love to hear from you. No, no, it was amazing. I think the questions were very, they were actually amazing questions. 
 
 At times, yeah, it had me thinking in a way that it was good. I enjoyed it. So thank you so much. 
 
 Well, I really wasn't sure. No, it's fine. I get asked all these questions. 
 
 I don't, I'm okay with any questions that anyone asks per se. Yeah. Well, I really wasn't sure. 
 
 I really wasn't sure about that religious question. I thought, oh, I don't want to get people all out of sorts with that. You know, okay.
 
 I'm always learning anyways. Yeah. But I never, I never usually see that. 
 
 I don't think I've ever seen that where on somebody's bio, like it's like right away, the first thing they say is that they believe in God, you know, I was just, that was something, but then that's it, but no, I'm not saying there's nothing, anything wrong with that. It's just, it's just, I've never seen that. And I thought, you know, maybe I should ask something about this and yeah, it was all right. 
 
 Yeah. Nice to know where your stories are coming from. Yeah. 
 
 All right. Yeah, no problem. I love, I love getting to know the artists just in our community, you know, see what people are doing and understand where they're coming from. 
 
 Where they're coming from. Yeah. No, a hundred percent. 
 
 It's quite interesting. I think the more you have a chat with artists, you realize that, I think artists, we, how would I say, like, we always start the conversation with, I guess the things that we are practicing. Whenever we see things in the society, we address it by using the mediums that we use to come to have a conversation and artists always start the conversation and then there's discourse or dialogues that unfold whatever that we are going through. 
 
 So artists have a very interesting way that they perceive life and it's quite interesting when you have a chat with artists. Even me, when I have talked with other artists and I see how they approach the topics that are in our society, I'm always intrigued. So yeah, it was a very good interview. 
 
 I really enjoyed it. But I just wanted to ask, when did you start using Yaw as your name? No way. Really? I thought, I so thought, so thought it was like just marketing, but that's actually the name you were born with? Oh, wow. 
 
 That is so cool. That is so cool. Yaw is actually my, so Yaw is my name. 
 
 Tony is, no, yeah, Yaw is my name. So Tony is, my father, growing up, I heard, my father's called Anthony. And so growing up as a child, people just start calling me Yaw Tony, Yaw Tony. 
 
 And so I use that as my artist name. But yeah, so Tony has been like, Tony is also like, it's like a nickname more or less, but Yaw is my real name, yeah. Oh, wow. 
 
 That's awesome. Because I really so thought it was a marketing thing. Yeah.
 
 Yeah, thank you. All right. And I will get that out to you as soon as... My pleasure.
 
 As soon as I can and I'll talk to you again, yeah, in the future and see where you're at. Okay. All right. 
 
 Thank you. Thank you so much, Yaw. Take care. 
 
 Bye. All right. Have a good day.
 
 You too. Bye. Bye.
 
 Join me next time as I go down another rabbit hole with another creative professional on their insights, their inspirations, and their ingenuity. Transcribed by https://otter.ai