Today we’d like to introduce you to Tinks Lovelace.
Tinks, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always wanted to tell stories for as long as I can remember. Human stories. To help us to come to terms with the nature of this human experience: the contrast, the conditioning of fear-based separation, the eventual surrender to love. When I was younger, I found it a great reassurance to identify with others from different religions, backgrounds and races that may have gone through similar or very different experiences to me.
These stories shaped me: how they got themselves up again the morning after their worst night, how they found beauty in the colour of the sky on their daily two-hour walk to school, how a dog brought them back to joy. Sitting and listening to others: they were my teachers, my classrooms, my universities. They brought me back to being whole. I want to spend my whole life making other people feel less broken.
Has it been a smooth road?
Moving to Los Angeles and seeing the work being done here was a little unnerving. I didn’t identify with any of the stories about women I was being asked to tell. Where was my mother with eyes that betrayed her soul of fire, or my grandmother with her rod of steel that got her through a world war when many were dying around her? It wasn’t in the pages of being asked to wear denim mini-skirts and stand on the sidelines. So I had to create my own.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the BAG O’ BONE Collective story. Tell us more about your work.
BAG O’BONE Collective are award-winning socially conscious, multimedia visual and performance art storytellers who generate and produce original content and artists, based in Los Angeles, California.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Its definitely changing a lot but I still see some alarming situations, using human rights, specifically women and people of colour as a marketing tool is pretty gross and that’s happening a lot. I hear people say “Women’s rights are really popular right now so let’s tell that story.” Nope, its not ‘popular’, its not a ‘story’ to be bought and sold, its the future and the truth.
Also, I look up agencies all the time and the amount of male directors or writers they have out there is unreal, can you tell me why a Tampax campaign is being directed by a man? Does he know the first thing about Tampax? Where are the equal seats in the room? They still aren’t there. Ten male directors and one female on your roster, not good enough. Shame on you. We aren’t a fucking token. If we only allow one type of storyteller to dominate, in this case: men, particularly alpha white men, then they are in charge of creating the intention of masculinity and femininity for everyone, so we are only seeing masculinity and femininity through one solo lens. It’s toxic. I experience masculinity and femininity in such contrast to what the popular content of this day and time suggests I should.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bag.o.bone/
- Other: www.bagobone.com
Image Credit:
BAG O’ BONE Collective
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