Kutmah... Two Soups... A Honeybun.

Photo By Theo Jemison

Since Cinco de Mayo 2010, my good mate Kutmah had his life turned upside down, deported from the States and sent back to his born country, Britain. Between the transition of being forced out of his life in LA and set free in the UK, he’d been stuck in a New Mexico prison for almost two months. Within these two months, we could only imagine who and what he had to deal with behind bars.

I had a chance to catch up with him in Manchester, a few weeks after he was released in July 2010. The stories he had were classic, he was so upbeat about everything and his presence definitely took me back to the good old days. One thing he showed me, which I was even more thrown back were these intricate drawings he had made with copy paper, his prison I.D., and a pencil which he had to sharpen with a razor blade. He ended up doing 36 total pieces, all detailed in their own style and different from the Kutmah-esque art he’s released in the past.

I was lucky to be able to see these, fresh from the deportation envelope… and January 20th, the UK will get a little taste of LA brought to you by Kootie J. Instead of me yapping (because I could go on for about another 30 seconds), there’s a great interview on the Earnest Endeavor site as well as the Exhibit and Afterparty information. Go have a look-see and if you’re in the area, please support! For those of you that can’t make it, dates for Los Angeles and Tokyo will be announced soon.

– ROAM