Worst days, best days, and Sudbury’s vibe: meet muralist Yung Yemi

Photo provided by Yung Yemi

Yung Yemi made his way north (from Toronto) to give us one of his Afro-futuristic portraits that marry intersectional concepts and ideologies from pre-colonial times to present day, across regions, religions, and political lines for this year’s festival.

As he paints his piece in Old City Hall Lane, Yung Yemi, aka Adeyemi Adegbesan, took a few minutes to tell us about how he decided to pursue art and what he’s thinking about while he’s away from home.

What inspired this piece?

This mural is basically a continuation of the work I do that celebrates the cultural heritage of African and Caribbean communities throughout the diaspora. I include a lot of symbolism that speaks to those backgrounds. But with this piece, I also wanted to incorporate some nods to the environment here. So, there are a few things in here that also speak to this specific region and the natural environment you guys have here.

I'm a multimedia artist. I work across a lot of different styles, so I have a background in photography, and I do a lot of collage work and stuff like that. The mural I'm painting here, it's more of a-two dimensional style, but it relates to some of the digital mixed media work I do as well, in terms of the content and the subject matter. I tried to really focus on simplified lines and conveying messages.

Photo provided by Yung Yemi

How did you start making art?

I've been making art my whole life. It just wasn't always in a professional capacity. But I got to a point in my 20s when I realized it was the thing I wanted to do more than anything else. It just felt like the most natural thing I could do careerwise. At that point, I started really working towards making that a reality. It took a couple years; I was definitely moonlighting for a bit before I was able to make it work full time. Art has always just been there. When I have the worst day, it's the thing that picks me up. And when I have the best day, I still feel inspired to make art. So I just feel like if you have something in your life that you want, that you're drawn to when you're at your lowest point and at your highest point—that just tells you that's what you're supposed to be doing.

What do you think about when you paint?

On this particular mural, I've been really listening to this city and the sounds of everything that's going on. I've been in my mind, it definitely wanders because you're just doing the same thing, it's such a meditative task. My wife just gave birth to our first child in March, so I've been thinking about my little daughter a lot while I'm up there. So, I'm not thinking about anything too specific, a lot of my attention is honestly just focused on the work.

Any parting thoughts?

I've had a chance to walk around downtown and take in some of the murals from previous years. It’s done at a really high level. Every time I visit a city that has a mural festival or a mural programme going on, it hits right away—you notice it. And Sudbury definitely has that vibe. Right away, you're like, “OK, yeah, there's something cool happening here.”

Photo provided by Yung Yemi