Art & Life with Yawkow Banks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yawkow Banks.

Yawkow, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
What makes me unique is the same formula that makes everybody unique, all I did was take the environments that I’ve lived in, soaked in the culture, and expressed it in my own form. Being born in London, England, raised in Atlanta, GA and having parents from Ghana, West Africa helped broaden my view of the world. Involving myself in so many different cultures lets me create from a plethora of viewpoints. Growing up my parents always told me that I would be an artist in a field, as they saw the natural creative in me, but I would have never thought it would be fashion. In my youth I didn’t like to talk much, I was a natural introvert and had trouble expressing myself. Clothing became a way to express my thoughts, mood, the perception of myself and of the world.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I am the founder and Artistic Director of Before Common Era. BCE is a high-quality clothing company which main message is promoting present moment awareness. As a human, it is our natural nature to be either focused on the future or to be stuck in the past, but what about the “now”? Yesterday is gone and tomorrow can never actually be reached, this leaves us with only the ‘now’ of today, to live in. We at BCE agree that the only true moment in life we ever have is the present moment. Once we begin to bring our mental state to the present moment, we can have total control of our destiny. The past is extinct, the future is vague, but the present is current.

In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
I believe the biggest challenge artists face is the lack of continuous focus. We in society have so many distractions that prevent people from achieving the flow state. The flow state can be defined as an optimal state of consciousness where we feel and perform our best. Three main steps to achieving the flow state are 1) Having clear goals about what you want to achieve 2) Complete focus on the activity itself and 3) Knowing that your skills align with the goals of the task. Unforantly for many people they are not able to reach the flow state due to so many distractions. As a human everything is fighting for our attention, whether it be the notifications on our smartphones or a new binge-worthy show on Netflix. This is why present moment awareness is pivotal for today’s creatives. Once we are able to bring our focus on the ‘now’ we can achieve and arrive at the flow state.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
People can visit our main webpage at bceofficial.com and sign up to be a part of our newsletter to stay informed and be notified on everything involving Before Common Era, such as release dates, exclusive sales and many more. We can also be followed on Instagram @bce.official and Facebook at Before Common Era – BCE for all upcoming content releases.

Contact Info:

• Website: bceofficial.com
• Email: [email protected] & [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yawkowbanks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beforecommonerabce/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/bce.official/

Image Credit:
@avantogarde

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