Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony PRONZY Perez.
Tony, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Being Puerto Rican, you are Afro-Latino, which means you descend from three different diasporas, African(West Coast), Indigenous(Taino), and European(Spain). When you grow up you’re taught about your “Tiano culture” and Spain’s history; how you should be proud to be Boriqua. Yet, rarely there was any mention of your African roots.
When you are of darker skin complexion and have textured hair, predecessors never fail to remind you of the fairness you lack. I internalized this, just as we all did. It created an internally racist complex within myself and fractured my identity. As I grew, I actively tried to learn about myself, ancestors and culture. I met Stephen Hamilton at about 16. He taught me so much about my African roots and how Yoruba culture influenced so much of what my parents taught us to celebrate.
A few years ago I struggled coming up with what to do with my next body of work. A couple of weeks before solidifying that, I was playing basketball at the courts in the Fens. Things got heated with a couple players and one ended up pulling out a gun. After the incident, we all just stared at each other in shock. The only thing I could think of was how, if the police were called anyone who matched the description, Short, black and playing ball, which I was, could lose their life.
I decided then to focus on the complexities of the relationships between African, Indigenous and European diasporas for my work; touching on topics such as police brutality, rape culture, victimization and internal racism.
Currently, I am working on a project that focuses on the identity of African-American and Afro-Latino individuals and the process of resolving them, spiritually, socially, religiously and culturally. I find it ironic that people from the African diaspora spend their whole life trying to complete phase one, finding themselves and resolving who they are, and rarely get the chance to even question, what do we do after.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
When you grow up the oldest of fourteen siblings, there are inherently financial difficulties growing up. However, I think the hardest things to deal with were probability a lot of the negative cultures that were cemented into my family.
There were a lot of internally racist events that would happen that kind of just grab hold of you. One that resonates with me a lot, is when my mom told me about when she was little. Her mother and uncles would say she was found in the trash which is why she was so dark. She covered herself in baby powder to make herself lighter so that they loved her more. They just laughed.
Toxic masculinity made it extremely difficult to cope with the fact that I was raped when I was twelve because it felt like you didn’t have a right to complain if you’re having sex at that age.
Homophobia is a real thing too. Whether you are or not, if you rocked certain colors that were deemed feminine, wore fitted clothes, or expressed emotion, you were constantly referred to as a “Fag”. To be clear, being a part of the LGBTQ+ community is a beautiful thing. People who make you feel like being part of it, is a bad thing, suck.
The most challenging thing though is reflecting on these cultures and events that scarred me and using them to make work that helps youth dismantle these toxic cultures that plague their identities.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As an artist, I strive to provide authentic work, that not only shows the beauty in people from the African diaspora but offers a reflection of difficult topics as it pertains to their daily struggle. Successfully using imagery, sound, poetry and engineering seamlessly, helps me builds bridges between sympathy and empathy, helping establish deeper more meaningful ties to the subject matter.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was fully engulfed in adolescence. I was entirely far too obnoxious, loud, and funny. I never went through that classic emo phase but I definitely danced a lot, loved anime, Dubset and Hip-Hop was life. I ain’t gonna lie though, I loved my childhood, as trying as it was. I met lifelong friends who influence me immensely, even now like Joshua Jackson and Sam Kim.
To the contrary of most artists, I rocked with highschool heavy. It was fun and the clique that we ran with, kicked it with literally everyone. We spread the love and just hoped that everyone else would spread it further.
Contact Info:
- Address: 135 Manners Ave.
Brockton, MA 02301 - Website: Pronzyart.com
- Phone: 6173046596
- Email: pronzyart@gmail.com
- Instagram: Pronzy_perez
Image Credit:
Lily Rose Garceau
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