This writer was walking in a tightly packed, tucked away Atlanta venue when I spotted Amani Starks. The young creative, who is not related to former New York Knicks star guard John Starks, is difficult to miss. She’s sporting a bow around her neck with pearls resting on her clavicle, a pink outfit that blurs the lines of a suit and a dress, in addition to multiple bows in her hair. She also has multiple piercings including a nose ring that dangles from her right nostril.
She is free.
Free to be herself, free from society’s expectations or standards, and on May 25, she spoke to rolling out about her the creative free range she has in creating her merchandise.
What do you do exactly?
I do a lot of different stuff. This right here is my comic book. It’s about my main character, her name is Pluto. It follows her journey of being the crazy and chaotic character she is.
I also do stuff like design clothes. So this is one of my shirts. It says, “God is in everything. Do you know who you are?” I just really like the message of this shirt.
I also have this tote bag. I handprinted this bag. It’s called black printed. I designed it myself; all off this is handprinted.
When did you first get interested in art?
When I was a kid and watched cartoons on TV.
What is it like coming into spaces like this where niche groups for Black people are welcomed?
Growing up, I definitely was different. I knew what it was like to be different just because I was always drawn to different types. I also grew up Muslim and I grew up as a minority. I was a Black Muslim woman, so that was a lot. I was always looked at [as] different and weird. I took that and ran with it. At first, it felt weird and it felt insane. But as I grew older, I accepted it and I turned it into power. When I come into these spaces, and I see other people like myself, I see it as a powerful thing because we are all taking a part of ourselves that might look insane or might look different, and we’re becoming something else. We’re becoming something more.
Who are some of your inspirations artistically?
In terms of art, Basquiat is a big one. Like I said, I used to watch cartoons. For oil paintings, Vittore Carpaccio.
Who are you listening to right now?
Tierra Whack.
Do you think she has the album of the year so far?
It literally has been. “Imaginary Friends” is my s—. It has been on repeat. I’ve been through some s— this year when it comes to friends and stuff like that. It just really hits close to home because she just talks that real s—.
Also, I’m from Philly, so I’ve got to love Tierra Whack.
A lot of people have shirts and clothing lines, but not many have comic books. Where did the inspiration come to make a comic book?
For my adult life, I will say it’s a comic book artist from Philadelphia. He’s pretty well known in the comic book world. His name is Nate Garcia. His work is f—— crazy. When I saw him do it, I was like, “There are no Black women I’ve seen in comics.”
Before I met him, I read all the Scott Pilgrim books, so I knew about comics because of that, and also Marvel growing up, but I never really thought about it until I saw his work and saw he was making real money.
