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ARTS
THE LIMITLESS WORLD
OF HOPE CHIANN
Interview by
Kennedi LéShea Photos by Anitah Imani Styling by Kyndahl Williams
Hair by Hope Chiann
Flowers by Babygirl Flowers/Keyara Bloom
Writer Kennedi LéShea sits down to talk all the things with the multihyphenate artist. From her start with hair artistry to her deepest battles in her mind, Hope opens up like never before in this Envy Magazine exclusive.
Kennedi LéShea: Well, first things first, how are you doing, girl?
Hope Chiann: You know, I've been doing really good, actually. I've been going really fast and haven’t had a lot of breaks, but today I had a day off and I went to church and I went with my friends. So I'm doing good.
KL: Nice. Glad to hear that. I am so excited to talk to you, Hope.
HC: No, same, for real. When they told me that you were going to be doing the interview, I was like, “Oh, yeah, it's up!”
KL: *laughs* It feels like I’ve known you my whole life. I mean, we really have known each other kind of forever. So, I'm so honored. You've had an amazing year and I'm just so proud of you. You’re one of the best, coolest creatives out here and I really mean that. You actually are doing stuff that makes us feel something. I feel like everything that you put your hands on, it resonates. And I think that unfortunately at times, us being artists and being creatives in community, we can get immune to each other and not recognize each other's greatness. And I just feel like no one has gotten to that point with you because we all can see just how great you are. And I pray that you always feel that because you are so important as an artist.
HC: Wow, thank you so much, Kennedi. I think when we're moving so much and doing so much, we don’t really take the time to really pause and reflect on the impact we may be having in our community and just on other people and stuff. So, thank you so much for real. I'm about to get emotional. Dang.
KL: One thing I learned in the past few years was about the honor system, spiritually speaking and how it affects us naturally. When you don't honor the greatness around you, you can't really honor yourself. Now that I'm older and I see that people don't honor other people, either out of competition or jealousy or whatever, I'm just like—that's a dangerous spot to be in because eventually, you're not going to recognize it in yourself. And then you're going to tax yourself lower than you need to. You're going to do so much that you don't even realize is a detriment.
HC: That’s so good. I’m taking that with me for the rest of my life.
KL: So I had to start this off by giving you your flowers. But I feel like ever since I've known you, I feel like you've always been creative and very different and set apart. So where do you think that came from? And do you think that was a natural thing within you? Or do you think you were different, to rebel against something?
HC: You know, it's funny because I was thinking about that the other day because I feel like I get that a lot. Like, just having like a light or like a certain energy or way about you. I think, because I'm not able to come outside of myself and perceive myself, it's hard to really know.
My mom, I know a lot of people, the things that people will say about me a lot of time they say about her as well. So I was just trying to come outside of a daughter's perspective and just kind of look at her as a person and like a human. My mom, she really is a light. She just has something about her that it just protrudes off. And I'm like, ‘I wonder if this is what people are saying or talking about when they're perceiving me?’ Maybe that's where it comes from.
I'm also a middle child. And I don't think that everything that people say about middle children are true, but I feel like there's certain things you do kind of pick up. And that is really just me. I was always the one getting in trouble. I was always the one doing something. I was walking to the beat of my own drum. And I'm happy that I’ve chosen to do that.
KL: I love that. So what attracted you growing up? What were things that spoke to you? Was it people who were outspoken? What attracted you growing up, creativity wise?
HC: It's so funny. I was just talking to my homegirl about this too. She asked me about another one of my childhood memories and what's something that really impacted me. As a kid, I used to go back and forth to Ohio because that's where my dad and his side of the family are from. For one year, when I was in third grade, I lived there the entire year and I went to school there. And after school, I had this babysitter. She was my grandma's caregiver. And so she would pick me up from school and she would take me to this hiking trail in Akron, Ohio. After the trail, there's this really huge man-made waterfall. But it's really beautiful because there's greenery all around. She said, I would come from school and I wouldn't talk that much, but I would watch the waterfall and just stand there and listen to it for hours and not say anything.
I think I've always been attracted to nature. I don't even just mean outdoors and greenery but just the nature of how things are supposed to be. And I think one thing that's really reflected in my art is authenticity and what's real for me and who I am, where I am, things I may experience and freedom. I really believe that we're meant to be free people. You know, it's just all these things that come in and, you know, stifle all that freedom down over time. And so I think, through my art, I just try to get back to that as much as possible.
KL: I love that. And I love that you said your work is a reflection of the authenticity of yourself. What was your first memory of being your 1000% authentic self?
HC: I feel like that's like getting in a flow state. That's what it feels like to me. Whenever I'm dancing or being goofy, I always feel like I'm like that because that's just me being myself.
KL: Hope, you do a lot. You do hair, you creative direct, you design, you make art, you probably freaking sing like Beyonce or something on the low too. In your work this year, you seemed to speak a lot to the idea of being limitless through your art. And I feel like for the human species, that's a hard concept to understand, to grasp onto. Especially for creatives, it's hard for us to understand being multi-hyphenate. Everybody says they are but they don't know how to really accept it. Like even me, I struggle to accept it. Or I feel like I have to choose one thing, but you literally have done everything this year. So, how did you first come to accept your limitlessness?
HC: I feel like most artists can do anything. But... I feel like... the real question we have is, ‘Are we allowed to be good at all these things?’ For me, hair is what I'm really good at. This is what drives the show. And I really felt like if I don't include hair in a project, then it's just not as good. Or it's not enough or people won't like it as much.
I had done this piece called ‘Face-to-Face’ and it was a collage of these different like Black Women that I was really inspired by and I put braids over it. And it looks really cool, but I did that because I really felt like I had to. So I had to learn about knowing my 'why' and what my intention was with anything that I do. Whether it's my art, how I show up in people's lives, whatever. I think it was important for me to know what my 'why' was, which I know now is being all that I can be and seeing myself the way that God sees me and in turn, inspiring other people to see themselves the way that God sees them as well.
We can do anything through Christ, like, for real, you know? And I think when we actually understand that, grasp that, and take these blinders off to all the stuff that tries to tell us what we can't do, the overthinking and all that stuff. There's no boundaries. That is the epitome of being limitless.
KL: Who are some of your inspirations for creating art?
HC: I think the visuals that I come up with, they always kind of come to me in my mind first. And I don't know why they're coming. They're, like, downloads that God gives me, and then it's my job to develop the idea. Just from that pure place.
KL: I love that you said the ‘pure place’. I hope that we're about to go to a new renaissance in terms of art becoming pure again. You know what I mean? Because I think that will annihilate a lot of the imitation that we are seeing right now in the world.
HC: I agree. I respect original ideas so much. I can't stand when people do the copy and paste thing and recreate stuff. Inspiration over imitation is always going to be the motto. I also have too much pride as an artist to try to do somebody else's thing, like I can't.
I want to establish myself as someone that’s authentic and creates original ideas.
KL: Well, you absolutely have and already are doing that. Your work has really spoken for you this year. You've done so much— exhibitions, hairstyling, editorial work. So what was your goal in going through so many mediums this year to execute your art?
HC: I think it definitely just happened naturally, which I'm very grateful for. I had a lot of high’s this year but I also had a lot of lows as well. And they all just kind of... snowballed and rolled like seeds that I had planted over the past three years. I think this year, a lot of them just started sprouting and it was time for me to harvest them.
KL: I would actually love for you to speak on that more because I feel sometimes artists don't even realize when their stuff doesn't hit or it feels like they're having an off year, that oftentimes it's not because the art itself is wrong, but rather we're out of alignment. How do you tap into being aligned with God and with yourself in making your art? When do you know it's time to go, and when do you know it's time to be still?
HC: I think it’s about knowing my intentions and my motives and thought processes that are going on before I choose to start working on or choose to release a project. Is it: ‘I gotta get something out!’ Or is it, ‘Man, I really need this for myself.I need to release this.’ What is... the posture that’s coming with it? Sometimes we release things in a space of that frantic eagerness and that scarcity mindset and sometimes you release things from that pure heart space and that's when you know it's really time
“If God gave you the vision, it can be done. If it was planted in you, do it. I don't care if it sounds so outlandish or you don't know how it would come together. I promise you, if God gave it to you, once you get in it and you start doing it, it will unfold and it will come together, you know, and like you'll figure out a way and there may be some pivots and stuff, but you'll do it.”
KL: Your work with your project ‘Hattie’ was… *loss for words*. When I saw it on my timeline, I just about gagged. It was everything. And I think it was not just because it was so dope creatively, but I think it went back to this point of authenticity and depth. So walk me through the process of kind of the inspiration behind that, the creation, the execution, and the overall release of Hattie and what that meant to you this year.
HC: I'm so blessed I got to get that out this year because it has been something I've been sitting on for a minute. And not even just Hattie in general, but that was the introduction to Hope Chiann. It was about establishing myself as an artist. Not just a hair artist but that I am an all around creative artist. I am the brand, whatever flows out of me, whatever comes, whatever I choose to give, you know, at this season of my life, that is me. And that is the brand.
My goal was not to know everything or know how it all was supposed to look. I just had to do it. I didn't want to overthink it. I wanted it to be fun. I wanted it to be freeing. I came up with the idea of having multiple hats on, because since it was the introduction to me, I wanted people to know that there's more to me than just hair. It was going off the saying, ‘she wears many different hats’, and so I just wanted to expand off of that. Did I answer it all the way?
KL: Yup, you answered it. And that brings me to, unfortunately, the last question, but you kind of answered it previously. How you said your purpose with your art is to make people see God and see themselves how God sees them. One of the most powerful things I feel like I've ever heard was when Kanye West once said, ‘Anybody who's a fan of me is a fan of themselves.’ What do you want fans of your work to feel when they experience not just your art, but you as well?
The reason why we find inspiration in other people and other things is because we see something that is in ourselves. And we may not be able to tap into it that much or whatever, but it's possible for you too. We all have a light. I just think of space and two stars or something standing next to each other, and then it just becomes brighter and brighter. And I think that, you know, sometimes light can intimidate, but I hope that all people, even myself, that we all just choose to light other people’s light.
KL: I have this saying that says: 'Your character precedes you' and your character really does precede you, Hope. So I hope that you always carry that. Because you’re so right and you’re just the absolute coolest.
HC: Thank you, friend. And right back at you. Like, don't you just love a good woman duo?
KL: Real bad