The Making of Free People (Part 2)
- Naima Cooper
- Jun 6
- 9 min read
Introduction
It’s been almost three years since I made the decision to invest more time and energy into my creativity, and I want to reflect a little on how this homecoming has been, what I’ve learned, how I’m feeling, and what’s to come.
Making New Connections
I experienced immense shifts within myself my senior year of college. This included physically and emotionally distancing myself from high school and college friendships that I thought would last a lifetime, but were unfortunately not in alignment with the person I was becoming. As a result, it felt like I was attempting to build a community from scratch, an extremely difficult, uncomfortable, and borderline terrifying task for someone as introverted as myself.
I moved back home to Atlanta after graduating. Even though I was from here, I hadn’t explored Atlanta with this new perspective. I had inklings of topics and activities I might be interested in that I became attuned to during college, but I hadn’t yet found communities in these areas to engage with. For instance, my interest in social justice developed in college after reading Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown for the training of a club I was in. After graduating, I joined the Atlanta Noname Book Club meetings, which focused on radical books by black authors. I even got to facilitate one of the discussions on Carefree Black Girls by Zeba Blay when the original facilitator couldn't make it. At these meetings, I also learned about the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) chapter in Atlanta and went to a few of their events.
Towards the end of college, I got more involved with UNC’s film club and was a production assistant on a few student short films. When I moved back to Atlanta, I assisted and learned from an event videographer about cameras and editing. I was also going to lots of local film screenings and film networking events and looking for opportunities to work as a production assistant on other film sets. The WGA film strike in 2023 set these aspirations back a bit, but I did get the chance to be a production assistant on a Tyler Perry movie for a few days.
I had been exploring my spirituality in college as well. The pandemic amplified feelings of depression I was already dealing with and prompted me to seek out avenues to discovering the root of my mental health challenges. I didn't grow up Christian and was never drawn to those messages. I felt more drawn to things like meditation, yoga, and shadow work, communities and youtube pages like etherealtrinity, hitomi mochizuki, and lynette atkins. In a world where a majority of people’s purpose seemed to center on making money at whatever cost to the health of yourself, the land, and others, these creators pushed anticapitalist messages and values such as:
creativity
intentionality
introspection
integrity
compassion
critical thinking
authenticity
spiritual freedom
Trinity was hosting meetups in Atlanta, and I went to some where I was able to meet like minds.
Getting Unstuck
During this time, I was making connections, but I was still struggling to unblock my creativity. I was meeting and learning from people that were taking their creativity seriously. They were doing what I wanted to do and were so much farther ahead of me. Part of me was inspired knowing that if they were doing it and were in such close proximity to me, then it was truly possible. Other parts of me were envious. I was frustrated with myself because I still couldn't figure out how to get unstuck.
I thought that my creativity would welcome me back with open arms after being separated for so long, but she was cold. I would really have to work at this relationship if I wanted it to work. I didn’t know that I had not only technical skills and a voice to develop, but I also had to reflect on and address multiple other internal blocks I was wrestling with such as:
self confidence issues and insecurities around being seen
self sabotaging tendencies, procrastination, and lack of discipline
fear of challenge/failure and perfectionism
anxiety around money and scarcity mindset
I had to develop a creative practice, put myself out there, take action, and get out of my head. I couldn’t let the fear of discomfort hold me back. If I was going to take myself and my creativity seriously, if I wanted to reach my creative potential, there needed to be consistent action, perseverance, and eventually clarity. And in order to do these things and achieve this clarity, I had a lot of questions I needed to answer for myself like:
What role do I want my creativity to play in my life and what is my plan to make that happen?
Do I eventually want to rely on my creativity for all of my income, just one income stream of many, or none at all? If so, what kind of projects/clients would I take on and why?
How much time, energy, and money am I willing to invest in myself?
How will I react to rejection, obstacles, setbacks, failures, and mistakes?
I didn't know the answer to these questions, and the only way I would find out would be experimenting, trying things, and then reflecting on how I felt afterwards.
Just Do It/ Making Free People
About a year after graduating college, spring 2023, I had worked on a few film sets, but the work wasn't consistent at all. The film industry is a lot about who you know, and I still knew next to no one despite my networking attempts. However, advice that I got from a lot of people was to not wait for someone to give you a shot. Make your own stuff and create your own opportunities. Work with what you have and the people that you know and network horizontally like Issa Rae famously said.
I bought a camera with my graduation money, and I had been doing short interviews with people I thought were interesting to get some practice making things. At an art market I went to, I met a vendor who told me about this film organization called ATL Film Party. I saw that they were having a short documentary competition. I had never really made a documentary before that I was proud enough of to submit to a competition, but I thought this would be a good challenge for me, and I had a deadline to hold me accountable.
I wanted to make my documentary about creativity because this topic was having such a big effect on my life at the time, but I still felt like I had so many creative blocks and questions and barely any experience actually creating. There was no way I could make a whole project about creativity and pose as an authority figure. At the same time, I was reading, “The Artist's Way” by Julia Cameron. It taught me a lot about the connection between creativity and spirituality that I think I always felt, but couldn't put into words. The book affirmed to me the importance of investing in this part of myself. I had to stop making excuses and getting in my own way.
I was scared to make something so bad that it was insulting. I didn't want to waste anyone else's time who I was asking to be apart. I didn’t want to embarrass myself or anyone else. Sure, I respected art and I thought I had taste. I didn’t have professional training or much experience at all, but it was still worth trying. Everyone starts from somewhere. Perhaps the most insulting thing to do would be to ignore the inklings I had to create out of fear and never try at all.
I put out an open call on my Instagram for creatives interested in being interviewed. Two people from the Noname book club were apart, two people I met working on film sets, and two people I met at Trinity's events. I decided I would call this documentary, “Free People”. To me, living a creative or non-traditional life is a path to achieve real freedom. That was something I was after, but was really struggling to make a reality. So, showcasing people who were on this path, people who were being persistent about designing a life in alignment with their deepest desires, was to me an extremely admirable pursuit that needed to be platformed. But I also wanted to learn and be realistic about the challenges that come with it as well as ways to get through for others dealing with these same things and for myself.
Challenges
I encountered many challenges while making “Free People”. I was working full time, so I could only really record on the weekends and my deadline was fast approaching. I wasn't being paid much at all at this job, so I had very little resources to work with. Three people I wanted to be apart of the project either didn't respond, had scheduling conflicts, or ghosted me. However, I stuck with it because I felt in my heart that it needed to exist. This subject, creativity, is very close to my heart. I've spoken before about the depression that manifested in my life, I believe, as a result of me suppressing my creativity from a young age. In college, when I gave myself permission to express myself like I had never done before, a different version of me was born. New timelines were created. Life became more vivid, and I was seeing colors I never knew existed.
I made no money from this project, and it wasn't selected to be a part of the film competition I originally made it for, but I’m still proud of myself for submitting it, putting myself out there, and taking the leap. I learned that money and external validation isn’t everything. The return on investment I’d experience in my soul was exponential. My evolution as a person, as an artist, my relationships, and my community would all benefit spiritually from this endeavor.
Conclusion
I made Free People for me. I made it because I’ve really been struggling to be the person I need to be to bring my creative ideas to life like I’ve been called to. I originally thought it was impossible to commit to a creative life and also not go crazy and/or be homeless. I desperately needed to meet and talk to people that had been doing this. I needed aligned community. I needed answers, inspiration, frameworks, support, mentorship, guidance, and examples, and that’s what I got. I am so grateful. I made this for my inner child.
My motivations behind completing this project were perhaps selfish, but I felt I wasn’t the only blocked creative in existence. So therefore I’d be helping both myself and others simultaneously and that felt right to me. Many people told me that Free People inspired them and thanked me for making it. I was able to portray the messages I intended to share when I first thought about the project. In addition, perspectives were brought to life that I’d never considered, but felt so necessary at the same time. I want to thank everyone who participated. They were all artists further along on their journey, kind enough to share their wisdom with me. A few things I learned:
ThisMyJam: Life serves as inspiration if you pay attention. Trust in your creator ability because we all have it. You are a vessel for messages the Creator wants to share. You will have to make sacrifices to achieve peace of mind.
J.SYA: Love and accept yourself fully so that you listen to your intuition and follow it. You're not limited to what you're seeing.
Ebony: Freedom is wellness. Marginalized communities must prioritize healing and releasing the weight of traumatic experiences. Be intentional about creating containers to practice your craft. Humans should be able to thrive and not just survive.
Kai: Focus on the creation process, and try to find multiple avenues/mediums to express yourself. You are enough just being you. Create to alchemize difficult emotions into something healthy.
Chi: Make a way even if there isn’t a way. Don't stop! If you don't have resources, make a plan, and the Universe will hear you. Be optimistic so you can manifest that reality. Be brave enough to cheat the matrix.
Kaliena: Create for yourself and be delusional. Art is a way to communicate when you don't feel heard.
And much more! I love learning more about creativity. I initially didn't think it was something you could learn about. I thought you were either born with it or you weren’t. But now, I’m learning that creativity is a way of life that everyone has access to in their own unique way. It just takes courage, curiosity, attention, reflection, and practice to tap into. I’m learning that it’s worth it. It consistently grounds me and reminds me why I'm here when I put my energy towards it. I still have many unanswered questions, but I'm looking forward to a lifetime of using creativity as a vessel to connect more deeply with myself and the world than I ever thought possible.
“Unused creativity is not benign–it metastasizes. It turns into grief, rage, judgment, sorrow, shame. We are creative beings. We are by nature creative.” - Brene Brown
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