Maya Penn: An Interdisciplinary Artist Prompting Conversations Around Sustainability and Environmental Justice
“I’ve been holding up in my own way. It’s really interesting that despite everything that’s going on, I feel like there’s so much for me to do as far as my work goes. A lot of my nonprofit and creative projects have been pulsing ahead but in a different way. I really pivoted to trying to help my community during this time,” Maya Penn, an environmental activist, eco-fashion designer, animator, filmmaker, and sustainability consultant tells Pulse Spikes from her bedroom.
“As an interdisciplinary artist, who is not only a sustainable fashion designer with her own company but is also a filmmaker and an animator and a writer and author, I think what keeps me motivated is knowing that people need stories that are empowering, that are educational, and that are inspiring, whether that is through sustainable fashion or through film or through a piece that I write."
Maya’s drive to do meaningful work is what has kept her going throughout quarantine. Using art as her vessel, she has continued to encourage important conversations around sustainability and environmental justice. In the middle of March she started making masks from recycled fabric and donating them to homeless shelters for women and children and to healthcare facilities in Senegal. To her, art is more important now than ever, “As an interdisciplinary artist, who is not only a sustainable fashion designer with her own company but is also a filmmaker and an animator and a writer and author, I think what keeps me motivated is knowing that people need stories that are empowering, that are educational, and that are inspiring, whether that is through sustainable fashion or through film or through a piece that I write."
Maya first got into sustainable fashion in 2008. From what she remembers, she has always had a passion for art and design in all of its forms, as well as for nature and the environment. As a little girl she spent a lot of her time going to thrift stores with her mom and, as a result, upcycling items became a common occurrence. Back in the early 2000s, the sustainable fashion movement was not as popular as it is now. Maya reflects, “When I started, I had to do so much education work that required speaking to a lot of people about the impact your wardrobe can have on the planet.” She quickly discovered that the fashion industry produces more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
Environmental equity, as well as the need for sustainability-centric movements led by Black, Brown and Indigenous people, are topics that lie at the core of Maya’s activism.
“I’m doing this so there can be a world in which Black, Brown and Indigenous people don’t have to fight for their voice to be heard in a space where we have historically been leaders, even when our voices weren’t represented in the mainstream environmental movement.”
Maya believes that sustainability allows marginalized communities to gain their power back in their fight against environmental racism and that is why she stressed the importance of representation. “You can’t have one person speak for an entire demographic of people, and I think when that starts to happen you fall into tokenism. It is important to empower communities of marginalised people to implement their solutions and speak to certain issues that may have been overlooked, especially because communities of color are the most affected by environmental issues.” Despite the fashion industry’s slow movement towards full sustainability and environmental justice, Maya believes brands are realizing that they cannot ignore environmental and socio-political issues any more, “There’s this thought that this whole eco people thing is a niche, that there’s not that many people that care about racism and the environment, but that has changed now that people can’t look away because it’s like a circle that is closing in on us.” As a sustainability consultant, Maya has seen firsthand how brands are beginning to understand that in order to survive they will need to appeal to Gen Z, the most racially and ethnically diverse generation that has ever existed and is growing in buying and consumer power.
When asked about the challenges, as well as the fun parts, of running an eco-friendly fashion company, Maya says, “There were definitely challenges starting at a time when sustainable fashion was barely spoken about to the same degree. Also, being a young, Black girl and the age factor made me an anomaly in every room that I stepped into for a number of different reasons. I didn’t have a lot of places to turn to find a community because it’s not like I could turn on the TV and see all of these students participating in the climate strike. It was just me, and if there were others out there, there was not enough representation of those people out there.” She believes that the reason she had to build her own rubric for how to go about starting her business is because Black, Brown, and Indigenous people have not been given the spaces to connect.
In addition to her environmental activism, Maya is passionate about art and animation. Maya started making animated flip books when she was three or four years old. Animation is her favorite medium of storytelling because of how it expands the imagination. “I started when my dad gave me his old MacBook and a little drawing tablet, and I started doing digital animation. I started going from a couple frames to a dozen frames to thousands of frames, and from there I’ve always been creating stories that speak to important issues.”
On top of creating pieces to raise awareness for social justice causes, such as the painting she created to celebrate Juneteenth and the graphics she makes and posts to encourage her followers to vote, she is also keeping herself busy with projects in the sustainable fashion and in the animation/filmmaking space. To be more specific, Maya is working on an animated short film which revolves around a lot of the environmental topics that are important to her.
As an entrepreneur with her own animation production company, Upenndo! Productions, Maya has ensured that her company hires people of color, especially women of color and femme identifying people. It is of paramount significance to her to give others opportunities while working on ventures that are environmentally and socially driven. For instance, she just finished up a project with Hulu for a series called “Your Attention Please” that celebrates Black excellence. The series features the story of her journey as a young, Black woman in the environmental movement.
Maya’s favorite parts of doing what she does is that there is so much innovation happening all around her. She feels lucky to be in the eco-friendly space because for her it is a space that allows for more fulfillment than the spaces in which fast fashion pieces are created. She also loves how much she has inspired people and the support from other young people continues to fuel her work. She details, “I’ve always gotten so many DMs and comments from a lot of other young people that have been moved by my work and have now been inspired to make a difference in their own way, so that’s definitely something that makes me very happy to continue my work.”
Maya is a firm believer in the idea that it takes both societal and systemic change to fix socio-political and socio-economic imbalances. “You can’t put all the responsibility on the individual because the average person exists in a system that has to be deconstructed, which is why a lot of people participate in habits that aren’t sustainable.” Beyond taking little steps to change how we approach our everyday, she thinks it is vital to support grassroots organizations, particularly those founded by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.
“You can’t put all the responsibility on the individual because the average person exists in a system that has to be deconstructed, which is why a lot of people participate in habits that aren’t sustainable.”
Aside from struggling with creative blocks throughout quarantine, Maya is also struggling with the bigger issues that 2020 has brought to the forefront of her mind, “It’s hard to not feel like we are under attack from so many different fronts, but it pushes me to make sure that my voice is heard and to make sure my work is seen more now than ever because of how much 2020 has re-exposed the public to a lot of the struggle and the oppression that still exists here in the US and around the world.”
As an undeniable leader and fearless advocate for the environment, creativity, and the communities she is a part of, Maya wishes that people would care more for their communities, “for people to tend to community gardens, for people to use their passions or skills to make a difference, and for everyone to be sustainable and respect the environment." Oh, and she added what we are all thinking, for voting days to be a holiday for everyone.
STORY SOPHIE MONTALBAN
PHOTOS MAYA PENN