April Bey - A Trip To Atlantica

Drawing from her own experiences in Bahamian and American cultures, April Bey’s work as both an artist and educator critically explores themes of race, identity, supremacy, and colonialism.

- By Evan Pricco and Doug Guillen. Portrait by Blair Meadows.

A self-confessed Blerd, Bey loves sci-fi, Harry Potter, and fantasy, and takes a deep love of reading as a vehicle to break away from the past, imagining new futures, and creating a world they want to see. In the series Atlantica, Bey reimagines every aspect of life down to the very currency that is used. The work itself takes multiple forms, though steeped in a sharp sense of humor and a keen eye for design. Editorial-esque figures dressed in visionary glitter and sequins submerged in a nest of rainbow-hued fur. Fashion models brandishing the text “Colonial Swag” stride forward, strongly campaigning on behalf of this decolonized utopia. We spoke to Bey at the crest of a wave, following a standout solo presentation with Tern Gallery at the Armory in New York this past fall.

Evan Pricco: Thank you for waking up early with us, April. I would assume, as a professor, you’re used to this.

April Bey: Yeah, I’m up at 4:30am every morning.

EP: Wait, wait. What?

Because I have to get the things I want to get done, done, before I get to my classes. So it can be hard to make art when you spend four hours with other adults helping them make their art and making them feel special. When you get home, you just want to relax and knock off and watch something. So that’s usually when I get a lot of my practice in.

EP: Did someone teach you to be that disciplined with your own creative time or is it something that you just had to learn as all these artistic and career opportunities appeared for you?