This week on the podcast we’re visiting points east, west, north and south with my guest who began his professional career as a graffiti artist on the streets of Houston, Texas in the late 1990s at the age of 16. By the 2000s, he had evolved into an acclaimed Primitive Abstract and Primitivism painter, a body of work he calls Living Dreams.

As you’ll here in the conversation, he does not sit down and plan his paintings. He dreams them. The images, the phrases, the poetry you see on his canvases come to him in a dream state, and he wakes up and puts them down exactly as he received them. The patterns behind them are sound itself, translated into color and shape. Look closely and you will find Mayan glyphs, Native American symbols, Egyptian and Sumerian script, alongside a language he invented entirely on his own.

His work has traveled as he has. From Houston to London, from Osaka to Miami, from Brooklyn to Bogotá and Cartagena, from Santo Domingo and points beyond. Wherever he lands, the questions in his art stay the same. Wealth against poverty. Integration against segregation. Power, and who gets to hold it.

He does not just make the work for commercial purposes, he gives it away. A significant share of every piece he sells goes straight back to the people he paints alongside, the ones working hard for very little, the ones the world calls poor.

He is, in his own words, the Dreamer and the Dream.

Where to find Wambo?
mwamba-salim-wilson.com

On Instagram
In Books

Other topics of interest:
[U.S. Armed Forces Sports]((https://armedforcessports.defense.gov)
On Abstract Expressionism and Neo Expressionist Artists
Living in Thailand
Visiting Sweden
Fun times @Six Flags
On the Columbian Art Scene

In case you’re curious about the studio tour, check out the video episode on YouTube.

Special Guest: Mwamba-Salim "Wambo" Wilson.

This week we’re going full circle with Zimbabwean-American, Vimbo Watson. Born in Zimbabwe, Vimbo’s family relocated to the US before she spoke her first words. Nonethless, her mother tongue has remained in her heart and has been a foundational part of fullfilling a life-long passion to uplift people and especially those in need back home. After a career in education as a teacher and principal, she’s now applying her administrative talents as the Director of Development for Kuda Vana Partnership an American-Zimbabwean non-profit operating a children's home and school in Zimbabwe. A passionate speaker and professional development provider she often translates her enthusiasm for learning and education into teaching others how to make time for wellness and self-care in their daily lives.

Where to find Vimbo?
vimbowatson.com
On LinkedIn
On Instragram
On Facebook
On Youtube

What’s Vimbo reading?
Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make--and Keep--Friends by Marisa G. Franco PhD
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Drowning and other books by T.J. Newman
Books by Brené Brown
The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

Other topics of interest:
Mutare, Zimbabwe
Clans and Totems in Zimbabwean Culture
On Trauma-focused Therapy

Special Guest: Vimbo Watson.