Today we’d like to introduce you to Gibron Shepperd.
Gibron, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born in Southern California into a multiethnic/ multicultural home. I am the oldest of four kids, very tight knit, almost tribal in a sense. Growing up we would spend hours creating all sorts of things and documenting ourselves along the way. Our parents really fostered and encouraged our creative expressions. My parents are pretty creative themselves: my dad is a musical engineer/producer and studied photography in college and my mom is this genius that can do anything she set her mind to.
Around the 6th grade I decided that I wanted to become a fashion designer. One of my earliest memories of actually making a “garment” was around 4th or 5th grade; I basically stitched one of my sisters into a flannel tube, there are Polaroids that exist somewhere and it’s hilarious! I couldn’t shake this need to work and create in multiple disciplines. So, from the time I was in 6th grade to graduating high school I studied Musical Theatre, Ballet, Modern and Tap Dance, I attempted to start an apothecary line, and sold pies and slices of cakes a campus to students and facility members.
After high school, at the time, I knew that I didn’t want to go to a university to study. I ended up finding a REALLY, REALLY, great fashion design program at a community college in Northern California. I moved and studied and worked there for two years until I woke up one morning and knew I wasn’t supposed to be there anymore. I had every intention of completing the program when I started. I remember calling my dad crying saying I needed to leave. It’s amazing, sometimes you don’t know what is next but you know when something needs to end.
I moved back home to Los Angeles, created my first full collection. A year later I moved to New York with some childhood friends who were graduating from NYU. While I was there I worked a full-time job and did little pop-up events on the side. I learned and loved so much while I was living in New York, but again, after two years I had this feeling that it was time to go. As much as I wanted to stay I knew I had to leave.
So, I moved back to Los Angeles, I was there for a year before I got a call from my friend Daryl, basically getting me together, and telling me to come to SCAD in Atlanta. I fought him about it at first, because that’s kind of always my first reaction to things, resistance and skepticism. I applied, got in, and now two years later I am preparing for my senior year collection.
I had to go through all those past ten years to arrive and be great in this moment.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’m a firm believer that art is what you practice, we all have the potential to be artists. The artistry I’m most committed to is fashion design (cooking is a very close second). I love how style or fashion can explain and describe a person without words. It dictates gestures and how you navigate through your day and through your world. I’m really intrigued by people’s daily life in the city and melding their needs with their desires, design wise that is.
I feel like, I was really raised by women and have a deep respect for them. The women who surrounded me in my youth really instilled in me the idea of empathy, which I always take forward into my design work. In my work I’m always looking at the women as a subject which is not common for most male designers working in womenswear. During fittings, which are usually held with my friend Nicole, there are a lot of questions being asked; Can you sit? Can you hug someone? How do you feel? Does the garment need more support?
In Some of my more recent work I am exploring the idea of folk. Who is that? where do they reside? Really trying combat the preconceived notions of folk. I’m going to be doing a lot of this work in my senior collection, which is inspired by my ethnic heritage.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Don’t ask for permission or look for acceptance to do your own work. That is something I have to constantly remind myself.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus because of school but I will be updating my website GIBRON.com very soon! Hopefully it will be posted by the time this article is out. However, in the meantime people can follow my work on Instagram under @GIBRONDOTCOM. A like and a comment go a long away.
Contact Info:
- Website: Gibron.com
- Email: Gibronthekhan@gmail.com
- Instagram: gibrondotcom
Image Credit:
Sami Drasin, Gibron Shepperd
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
