Azikiwe Mohammed is a Guy Who Makes Stuff | Art21 "New York Close Up"

(machine clattering)

- [Azikiwe] Hi,

thanks for stopping by my
name's Azikiwe Mohammed.

And we're here at my studio in Jersey city

at Mana Contemporary.

(upbeat jaunty music)

I'm trying to think
what I have to take out.

that would be fun.

Let's see.

(bags rustling)

Oh, police piggy bank right.

Check it out.

(coins clatter)

Tight.

This is a fun one.

"May your house be warm,

your friends be many,

and your sausages long."

Then look, I just happened
to have one sitting here.

This is one of mine.

Those are the names of four
different black beaches

across the US.

So it's research.

All this stuff is useful for in here

while I'm making things.

(sewing machine whirrs)

My job isn't the capital "A" art person.

The word artist feels a little funky,

kind of like something

emanates from you

from your, you know, cult of genius,

behold, right?

That's the whole, get outta here.

Doesn't make any sense.

(machine whirrs)

I'm not very good at precious things.

So I don't use that word "artist,"

I suppose I would self describe

as a guy who makes stuff.

Builder, I say a lot.

I build a pretty wide variety of objects.

Gold jewelry, paintings,

neon sculpture, furniture

photography, puppets,

clothing, tapestries, embroidery work.

Trying to use what I know
best as a touchstone.

There are some things

that are clearly very specific to

black people and black homes.

In general, wood is a
less expensive material.

So you'll find it in a lot of
lower moneyed people's homes.

Warm colors to come home to,

are the opposite of being
yelled at by a manager

Tones that live in spaces

that I know have said yes to me.

(machine engine rumbles)

When I'm making spaces,
it needs to be inviting.

- Hi. Hello.

If you're interested

we're having painting
classes here, outside today.

So just hop over to the tent,
you have to say hi, and we'll

we'll give you some stuff.

Thank you very much.

- [Woman's Voice] Can you paint anything?

- Yeah, you can paint anything.

This is meant to be a
starting place for you.

- [Woman's Voice] Okay.

- But if this starting place

ends you up somewhere
else, that's also fine.

The only rule is that you
get to say yes to you.

- The thing that I hope
to make most frequently

is something that covers
some form of a need

for someone.

I'm not sure what kind
of sandwich this one is.

I think meatloaf sandwich, right?

Ever had one of those?

It's not a great bottle of wine, right?

But it works.

One of the things that's a bonus

of the art space is you can turn one thing

into another thing pretty easily.

So I make fake food and then I can sell it

and then turn that into real
food that I can give to people.

(trolley rattles)

(coins clatter)

(bag ruffles)

- [Man's Voice] Thank you, thank you

- [Azikiwe] You're welcome.

One way to say yes to a need
that we all have is food stuff.

You know, you gotta, you gotta eat.

- You're welcome.

- Every other week

we distribute approximately
140 bags of food

Each bag a solid three to five meals

- Best salad ever.

- You're welcome.

- Make things less shitty for whoever.

That feels like the only thing

that humans are supposed to do.

Home for me is in
Tribeca, lower Manhattan.

I've lived there my whole life.

A lot of people talk
about lofts and artists.

I didn't know any of those people.

No, my dad is a working photographer

in addition to school photographer.

The relationship that I had to the arts

was workers.

It's a job like any other,

people that live here, that work here

those people are normally
left out of the story

of what New York is, right?

Like who are the people

as part of the 42nd
street cleanup authority.

So trying to figure out how you can add

some of those humans

back into this space.

So the idea was a souvenir shop.

Generally in black and brown neighborhoods

is always jewelry, liquor,
pizza, thrift store.

You can sort of start piecing together,

both who's buying what
in the neighborhood,

what people are interested in.

So it's all of the things

that are normally in those spaces.

Just slightly different

speaking to a New York
that I know very well.

- [Announcer] ♪ Big Apple
Gifts And Souvenirs ♪

- [Azikiwe] Welcome to Big
Apple Gifts And Souvenirs

protecting you from the rain.

Stay warm and stay cool at the same time

Big Apple Gifts And Souvenirs.

It's a souvenir shop.

Yeah. Here, come on in.

Yeah, so trying to have objects

that include a lot of the
other people that live here

work here, that are from here.

If tourists are going to
be coming to that space

to find objects and say this
is what New York looks like,

I think it's a missed opportunity

to not have some people that
look like us in that suitcase.

When you can hand somebody
back an object that is them

that has their stories inside of it

and that they can hand to somebody else,

there's not a lot of information
that needs to be exchanged

cause the object is
doing the heavy lifting.

- It's a starting place.

Not a, not a, not a destination.

- [Man's Voice] Yeah. Wow.

(paper rustles)

- [Azikiwe] The role of an artist

is still in service of whomever.

This should be something
that you're able to take

or something that we can share together.

And myself as a maker of objects,

this seems to be useful to
humans, to whatever degree.

So as long as it's useful
then I'll keep doing this job.