Petey Franklin
DEC 21 2009 - Memphis, TN
Photography, Text : Intisar Abioto
My name is Shalishah Petey Franklin. Petey is my nickname. It's what the majority of the people in my life call me, so I adopted it as my middle name. For one, I'm more comfortable with it and I love it. It's really unscripted & unique to me, so that's why I go by Petey. I'm originally from LA, born and raised. I moved here in '96 with my family, when I had no choice. I've been here ever since. Now I have a choice, and I feel like I'm here for a reason.
IA: Can you give us a definition of your personal work and what you're really passionate about?
I wear a lot of hats. I'm passionate about marketing. I do that for a living during the day. I went to school for marketing and advertising. I think that everything I do, it's really about doing what I do well and then getting the word out about it, so I incorporate marketing into pretty much everything that I do.
I also own a company called Strange Fruit Productions, It's an event production company I started with one of my really good friends and fellow artist, Frank D. Robinson, Jr. He's been around the world. I've traveled a lot, been around the world and we saw a void in Memphis from an artistic creative event standpoint - not really a party or a club, but fusing music, fashion, art, people being comfortable in their skin in a safe fun environment with non-mainstream music.
In January 2009, we started some events at Precious Cargo, which used to be a really eclectic spot, hangout Then we branched off and started doing other events.. One was called Springboard, a skateboard design competition. We got 25 artists from the Memphis area to submit artwork and they painted on original skateboards that we provided and we did a show. Another event was called Wearhouse party, because I collaborated with two clothing stores so it was all about fashion and fusion and we had a huge skate ramp.
Strange Fruit is really about creating experiences that people know that they want, but don't get in Memphis, so they travel to other places for it. I'm also a painter. I don't paint that much anymore. I did have a design in the skatebooard competition, but I think my art is now creating events. I also am part owner of Sneak-Peek Memphis, an urban street-wear boutique that just moved to South Main in downtown Memphis. That's a lot of fun. So I just do a lot of things. They're all pretty creative. They're all pretty artistic. I create ideas and then I create the ideas.
IA: Sneak Peek recently hosted a series of talks with the Memphis Mayoral candidates? How did this get started as an idea?
Kevin Brumfield, the majority owner of Sneak Peek has a degree in political science and is really invested and involved in politics in general. I worked on two different campaigns in prior positions at an advertising agency, so I kind of have a background in politics.
We have a huge following at Sneak-Peek of about 3,000 18 to 30 year-olds who really need to be
invested in who will be the mayor of our city. We really wanted to give a forum for people our age to feel involved in deciding who's going to run our city next and to make sure that their answers, requests, and focuses are top priority for whoever is selected for mayor. It really got started as a brainstorming session, of having a way to engage. We really want Sneak Peek to be engaged in the city, not just be a clothing store in the city. That's just another way to do that.
IA: What do you enjoy about travel and how in any way has it expanded your personal perspectives & viewpoints?
I think it's necessary. I was born somewhere else. My mother used to work for an airline, so I've been flying since I was literally three months old. It expands your horizon. There are people in Memphis who have never been anywhere except for Tennessee and the southern region. They don't have a broad perspective for other things and other people. It increases your tolerance, ... And in some cases, if you're a dreamer or even if you're not a dreamer, when you travel you realize what you can do and can be. Travel is vital. I think exploring people, places, and things are vital.. (?) I went to Dubai recently with a friend from Miami and I didn't know much about it. I'd tell people from Memphis and they're like "Oh, my God. Be careful. You should watch out. You should be scared." My friend, tells people in Miami and they're like, "Oh, my God. I'm so jealous." It's a different perspective. Our experience was beyond belief. The people were beautiful. They were kind, trustworthy, some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. People need to get out more so they can be more fearless. I think people are fearful, because it's an unknown and people are always fearful of the unknown. I mean, I haven't been to Africa like you..
IA: No, that's wonderful.. I've just heard stories about the buildings..
SPF: They do everything bigger and better in Dubai. Everything. They just don't do things in moderation which is the scary part, because a lot of that stuff probably won't be complete - like the world's biggest amusement park, the world's tallest building, the world's only seven star hotel, the world's only man-made island. A lot of those construction projects are at a standstill, because of where the economy is in the whole world. So they won't be finished, but it's still beautiful to see that they tried and they spread their boundaries.. unlimited.
IA: With The People Could Fly we like to talk to people about what dreaming, imagination, what possibility is.. Being in a place where you can feel your dream and bridge the seeming divide..between. For me flight is a symbol of so many things. What is your definition of flight?
I think flight.. It's so funny because last year I probably would have said something completely different. I recently became really spiritual. I think I got back to God. Last fall I got back to God - not religion, but spirituality. So, I would say flight to me is letting go and letting God, because there's a lot of unknown. There's a lot of fear. There's a lot of different things, that if you let reality or people control it, you won't do it. You won't jump. You won't leap. You won't even go to the edge to look. So, I think it's . . Flight is letting go and letting God.
IA: So you thinking about your personal dreams.. if you could envision that in your head right now or even feel what that would be like.. Say that now.. if you think about the place you are now and the
place your dream is.. what would be a key thing to help you get to where you're going.. what would that thing be?
I'm going to say continued confidence. I feel like this world.. I feel like it's hard. Memphis is particularly a hard place to be successful, to be a young black woman, and still be true and moral and wholesome and spiritual. It's a hard place to do that, to be all those things and still be successful.
And so if I had the continued self confidence, just continued... Because you have to fight back. You have to bounce back. You have to persist. So that's really all need. I feel like each one of us is given one individual gift.. And it is our responsibility to whoever you believe in to fulfill that. I just have to maintain that reminder and that presence, that I'm here for a purpose and that the battles and the heals and the struggles and the resistance are necessary. So, that's it. It's not money. It's not people. It's not places. It is really just maintaining that belief, that I can be all things through christ who strengthens me...
So that's it. I'm just trying to get it right. And on the cusp of what Kanye just did on the VMAs which was totally inappropriate, him getting up there and taking someone else's moment ... He came back on Jay
Leno and was talking about how he just wants to do this life thing right. And he knew and he knows and we all know that the award system is biased - not necessarily racially biased, but it's people, it's labels who are paying to get their artists to win these awards for publicity, promotion, or sales. So he knows and we all know that there are some injustices in that whole entertainment industry. And it was the wrong time because Taylor didn't deserve that experience, but he was just trying to get it right. And so when he was on Jay Leno you could see the humility in him, you could see him broken down, and you could see that he was really trying to make people be more pure. And I felt like I was with him in that moment, because you just try really hard to get it right, to be the best you, to create the best experiences. It was a humbling moment for me because I knew where his heart was and I knew it wasn't in an ugly place, because he's an artist. Not that all artists are good, but I just know how the mind of an artist works. We're just very passionate people, almost to the point of like death. We're just passionate.
IA: With your passions and your pursuits what do you.. well i know that dreams have so many different components.. what is one snapshot of your dream even if it was just a couple of words?
Memphis would be.. forever changed. It doesn't have to be.. completely different, but I want to see some growth in Memphis and that's why I stay. I don't have to stay in Memphis. My mother has come and gone in Memphis. A lot of my family that has come and gone in Memphis. I stay here because I believe in the city. I believe in the city even bigger than I understand, you know? Everytime I try and leave, I don't. And I'm more fearful to leave, not because.. I can go a whole bunch of places where I know a whole bunch of people and have a whole bunch of family. I think I'm afraid to leave because I don't want to be one more person that gives up.. on this city.
So, my dream, part of my current dream is to be the change that I wish to see in Memphis. And I only want to do that from a small, very simple, artistic, creative standpoint. I'm not trying to do politics. I'm not trying to do economic development. There are a lot of different things that this city needs. I'm not trying to do all of those. I'm just trying to do my little creative..I want people to feel comfortable in their skin. I want the blue haired people, the dreadlocked people, the tall people, the short people that are just being them, to feel like it's OK to be you here. And in a lot of places in this city, we don't feel that way. So, that's it.
IA: Do you have any other questions about the interview?
I'm humbled. People always say I'm not a humble person, but I am. I'm just not modest. I know who I am and where I come from and who I owe it all to. So, I'm humbled that you even thought that what I'm doing is even worthy. I just want.. Like at the mayoral talks we had the other day, you were sitting with Jessica and I know Jessica. Jessica was in our Black arts group and it was beautiful to even see y'all know each other and together, because I could see the creativity that could just bounce off the walls. And then you all met Christine Zhu that night, totally different, but she's into the art world and it's like, that's another connection.
And I just love to see after our events, I go onto any of these social networking sites, and I see people who met at our events talking and then working together - photographers meeting artists and writers meeting singers. And that's what it is. It's a fusion, it's people. I think because I adore Zora Neale Hurston.. and that whole Harlem Renaissance.. and most people know that creativity gets the economy out of depressions and recessions. It happened with the WPA, Works Projects Administration, where they just started fusing money into creativity, creating posters and different things. And Frank Lloyd Wright.. and these different things came out of experiences like that. And the same thing with the Harlem Renaissance - all these artistic people got together and fused off of that, vibed off of that, and they brought themselves up out of the depression. And I just want that here.
This city is in a state of depression, whether the rest of the country is or not. This city is. And I feel like it's going to take true creative enery, true people who think outside the box and are fearless enough to do it with or without huge support, political support, or corporate support. And it's gonna happen and then these regular Joes are going to look around and realize, "Oh my god. They did it without me. They did it." And we will. And we are. And I'm excited.
Further / Sneak Peek - Memphis
515 S. Main #101 Memphis TN 38103
Tel: (901)605-8853
Sneakpeek-Memphis.com / @SneakPeek901
Reader Comments (4)
this is a great interview. i do not think much about memphis...unfortunately. i am glad you are putting them on the map, and mapping them. maps. i was in memphis once and now i want to journey back. i love this:
"This city is in a state of depression, whether the rest of the country is or not. This city is. And I feel like it's going to take true creative enery, true people who think outside the box and are fearless enough to do it with or without huge support, political support, or corporate support. And it's gonna happen and then these regular Joes are going to look around and realize, "Oh my god. They did it without me. They did it." And we will. And we are. And I'm excited."
flierarts.com...this is a beautiful mapping experiment..
thanks. yes, petey had some amazing things to share.
& that is a great summation really. mapping experiment. that is what it is. i love maps. i love movement and space and understanding. and the connections, the synergy that can be brought about between us, from those elements. yes.
thanks a lot dear, im very interesting for your article. im very impresing for this :)
forum
Thanks a lot friend for sharing nice information with us.....