Do you feel like creating art is what you were born to do? Are you from a creative family?

Honestly, I’m not sure I come from a super creative family—at least not in the traditional sense. My brother Aaron and I drew a lot as kids, but it kind of felt like it was just the two of us doing our own thing. But creating art? Yeah, that feels like something I was born to do. It’s become the clearest pursuit of my life so far. There’s something powerful about guiding material across canvas, paper, or panel—like I’m translating something from inside me into the world. I really hope my art ends up meaning something to people—whether it’s offering clarity in an experience, creating a shared understanding, or just being a source of entertainment. Whatever impact it has, I feel like it’ll be a relationship that gives more support than I could ever give myself.

How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?

Honestly–I’d ask them to watch any episode of The Boondocks haha!

Anime and manga are big sources of inspiration for your work. What specific characters have had the biggest impact on your life?

If I had to pick one character who’s impacted me the most, it’d be Luffy from One Piece. There’s just something about how his character stays so true to himself—this unchanging force that ends up changing everyone around him. Plus, he’s such a goofball! But underneath all that, he’s got this liberating presence that just pulls people in and lifts them up. I’m definitely not some unshakable pillar of character like he is, but I do aspire to be someone who’s important to others and can support them, even in small ways. The way Luffy shows up for his crew—just being that steady, unwavering support—has always been a big inspiration to me.

Your anime top 10 (at this moment):

1. Hunter x Hunter
2. Jujutsu Kaisen
3. One Piece
4. Death Note
5. Dragon Ball Z
6. Naruto Shippuden
7. Attack on Titan
8. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
9. Soul Eater
10. Demon Slayer

Who are some other creative people that are making work you like?

Ooooo, I love this. They are mostly peers: John Wright, Martin Mbuguah (Toskago), Cyle Warner, Austin Gutierrez, and Tori Mitchell.

Can you talk a bit about developing the idea of “body pillow paintings”?

For the longest time, I wanted my work to move into a three-dimensional space, even though painting was my main medium. I tried adding Velcro and making parts interchangeable, but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Everything changed when I attended the Yale Norfolk Summer Residency in 2022. I met the artist Jada Hairston there, and she was creating these stunning dolls using fiber, clay, and image transfer techniques. Her approach blew me away. That experience pushed me to start experimenting with polyfill in my paintings, giving them volume and making them feel almost alive. The result was these sculptural pieces that looked like they could breathe—figures that tricked the eye into seeing something more than just a painting. It felt like my work shifted from being a conceptual “dreaming” exercise to something tangible and real.

Where do you see your work going next? What are you excited to explore?

I want to dive deeper into how anime can serve as a way to explore identity for Black Southern youth. There’s this commercialized version of Hip Hop culture that shapes a lot of expressions of masculinity, and while I’m not here to judge it as good or bad, I do think it’s important to reflect on how it works as a survival strategy. It often excludes cross-cultural dialogues, like how anime could serve as another way of shaping identity.

I’m thinking about how anime characters—especially from Shonen series—have this inherent potential to inspire confidence and self-expression. Growing up, stuff like play-fighting as your favorite character or wearing merch to channel their vibe was a way of connecting to something bigger. I want to layer that feeling with real-life experiences from Black neighborhoods and see how these stories can coexist and challenge what we assume about Black masculinity.

How does it feel to see your work in book form?

It feels amazing! There’s something surreal about holding a physical book that captures the thoughts and ideas I’ve been pouring into my work. It’s this tangible piece of everything I’ve been thinking about, and seeing people engage with it that way is so satisfying.

What’s one thing you’d like to accomplish this next year?

By next year, I’m hoping to have finished my MFA and submitted a thesis that really represents the visual language and motifs I want to keep exploring. I want it to be a strong foundation for the way I think about masculinity and identity in relation to representations of the Black experience.

What about in your lifetime?

In my lifetime, I want my work to challenge the limitations that get placed on Black expression and make room for its full range and complexity. Right now, anime and manga are my main references, but they’re just one example of how cross-cultural influences are embedded in the Black experience. I hope to contribute to a bigger conversation about letting go of those rigid ideas and encouraging people to explore new ways of expressing themselves—even if it’s through media they might not expect.

Kevin Hopkins on Instagram