Eklipse
Image: Hannah Faith Oni
Pictured: Music Artist, Producer and Writer; Eklipse
Creation served as my catharsis long before I never knew what therapy was. As a black boy, I was always in trouble in my youth. Coupled with my Strabismus, my voice booming, and being an only child to a single mother; I’d always felt quite alone. Finding ways to create, gave me a space to be absolutely myself, which was something I wasn’t given physically. It’s given me a home I can carry with me.
Writing, specifically, was the first thing to teach me to look at my emotions closely. It alllowed all of these feelings that live within me to hold their rightful place. It allowed me to have conversations I wasn’t brave enough to have in person. And allowed for privacy when I felt like things were too invasive. I have been given the tool to cut through all of the thoughts and noise in my mind, for moments of peace.
Having touched the stage from an early age, I found ways to then share those moments with others. The world stopped feeling so lonely when we can connect through the same emotion, and it transformed what creating did for me. Its no longer just about me. It taught me that we expand greatly through shared moments and art. I started my craft as a solace for myself alone, and it has continuously helped me find and connect with people.
“It’s funny how the things we use to escape allow us to find homes in our reality.”
Image: Hannah Faith Oni
(Eklipse pictured with White Mathiola; known also by Stocks. Native to the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia, Stock flowers represent lasting love, a happy life and contentment. In the Victorian language of flowers, Stock symbolises lasting beauty, bonds of affection, and the phrase, “You’ll always be beautiful to me.”)
I remember one of the earliest poems was about the passing of my Grandmother. I was 7 years old, confused and lost. Yet looking back on it and remembering the tears on my handwriting while reading that piece, the page allowed me to find a safe space unknowingly. I chose to continue with writing because it offered my mind solace. I have been lucky. I could face any emotion externally, even in private.
As I reached my adolescence those poems became songs. Grime and Rap found me and I fell in love with words all over again, but almost in the opposite way. Poetry had taken me to new spaces but music allowed me to connect with my kinfolk and skinfolk through emotions that I hadn’t felt able to express in my work before. With Grime I could be braggidocious, confident and even angry. I could spit a long with my peers without the critique of approval. It made writing fun again. And since then, I have been able to be all of myself on the page, in ways that life may not have allowed me to be.