Who’s Living Unsettled This Week?

Reggie Black. A mixed media artist. A traveler. A creator of the We Belong Everywhere podcast.  TED Talk Resident. A traveler. A family man. A friend. An Unsettled human being.

Reggie wears many hats (mostly a red one with his own artwork printed on), but one that’s close to our heart is the ‘Embrace The Unknown’ and ‘#BeUnsettled’ script he created during Unsettled’s early days in late 2016.

Without having been on an Unsettled retreat, Reggie still lives by the brand’s philosophy wherever he goes and finds inspiration during his travels in the most unassuming corners of the world.

Meet Reggie Black.

Homebase?

I don’t think I have one actually. I believe I belong to the world. I prefer to consider my homebase anywhere that has an intellectually stimulating community of progressive minds that I can exchange thought-provoking ideas and perspectives with…Earth is my office.

What do you do for work?

I’m a multimedia artist exploring the world of creativity through abstract typography, art, culture, travel, and curiosity. I extract cultural juxtapositions from my travels around the world to create commercial artworks, commissions, exhibitions, collaborative projects, experiences and retail products that spark conversations about the human condition.

Your one superpower?

Being a vulnerable human being.

When do you feel most inspired?

My daily routine inspires me. It’s pretty much the same everyday. I wear a uniform. I work from a rotation of a very few creative spaces and coffee shops. I eat very similar foods everyday. I go to bed around the same time every night. A few years ago, I learned to accept the power of being inspired by the process, the simplicity of life and to just put my head down to do my work everyday.

Exploring a new city for the first time is a very inspiring time for me as well, but I still find myself instantly embracing a routine wherever I travel.

Samples of Reggie’s work

Define your art aesthetic in a sentence?

Everyday, I’m constantly experimenting to find my artistic aesthetic. It’s an evolving process. However, I do feel that the underlining design languages of my work are bold, flawed, fast, experimental, raw, honest and human made.

Your most memorable trip ever? And what made it so?

In high school in USA, I was a part of a student exchange program, and had the opportunity to travel to Alabama from Washington, DC on historic trip organized by Congressman John Lewis. It was probably my first time leaving DC, and to experience such a socially stimulating trip like that really blew my mind. We visited the 16th Street Baptist Church, and walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge. During that time, I really didn’t understand the magnitude and significance of those events. I wholeheartedly understand now.

Samples of Reggie’s work

What do you look for when you travel?

Coffee shops. Art galleries. Stationary shops. Riding the public transportation. Boutique retail spaces.

Who’s your favourite artist/creator right now?

I prefer to recognize the people I know in real life opposed to celebrities. So here it goes.

There’s a guy I know that doesn’t allow me to use his name in public. He’s a very close friend of mine. I call him “Sensi”. He’s just an all-round designer. His work covers a range from architectural design, brand identity, signage, to interior design, graphic design, you name it and he does it. He’s my favorite right now because he understands himself first, and from there he’s built a globally successful business and prefers to just works in the shadows. He curates his life to keep him productive without the distractions of the outside world. I respect how he operates.

What does being ‘Unsettled’ mean to you?

Trusting and believing that you are exactly where are you supposed to be at this very moment, even when things don’t look or feel like it sums of the definition of being “Unsettled” to me.

“Unsettled” also means taking and trusting your leap of faith. Social media has amplified the idea of what a leap should look like, but I believe leaps can be just as powerful when they are small incremental changes in your life. You don’t have to chase Instagram posts to leap. You can explore a new neighborhood in your city and feel just as “Unsettled” as someone who’s traveling from Brooklyn to Bhutan.

Check out Reggie’s visual work here.