I had the pleasure to connect with the multi-hyphenate artist, Josh Buron. He originates from Miami, Florida but his heritage resides in Haiti. Aside from the multimedia works of art, we discuss the inspiration behind his movement, realizing social injustice later in life, and overcoming fear as a creative to be everything but perfect.
Bianca: So, Josh, you are a photographer, painter, cartoonist, and cultural event curator. Did I miss something?
Josh: Awe, damn. I’m also a poet.
Bianca: Oh, yeah. So I did miss something. Ok, how are you successfully wearing all of these hats?
Josh: I’m still trying to figure it out to be honest with you. I don’t know if “successfully” is the right term I would use. I’ll say this, on the outside looking in, I feel like they can say “oh, he doing this, that, and the third.” But in reality – nah bro. Cause it’s a lot. I was just having a conversation earlier today about having to find the balance in all of those things.
I have a couple of projects that have been dropped this year and I had to take a step back from the view and tackle the other ones.
Just finding that balance. It’s not always there, but yeah.
Bianca: Your Cricket is breaking up. Can you connect to Wi-Fi somewhere?
Josh: Oh, there we go. Hello, better?
Bianca: Hope so.
Josh: (laughs)
Bianca: So how would you rate your hats by those you consistently tackle most?
Josh: 1.) Photography, 2.) Event Curator, 3.) Poetry, 4.) Cartoonist, 5.) Painter.
Bianca: And you have an Instagram for each of these hats. Each of these things you have an Instagram for
Josh: Basically.
Bianca: And all these Instagram accounts are specifically for each of those categories? @fotosofmolo, @moloverse, @everythingandmo.ws, @movelovemiami
Josh: (laughs) Yes, yes! Those are for those specific things. @movelovemiami is for the curated events and things of that nature. @everythingandmo.ws that’s for the comic, and that’s just also for general art. The paintings go on that page. @fotosofmolo is my primary page. I post a little bit of everything on there. I’ve just been posting to my primary one because it was already a lot going on.
Bianca: Why MOLO? What does MOLO stand for?
Josh: MOLO is short for “move love.” Kind of, like, put those two words together. The original idea was going to be mainly towards my art. So like my paintings and stuff like that. It was going to be “move love art.” The two words is derived from…the definition of move. To physically move, or mentally move itself. To inspire somebody, or try to inspire you. Physically, mentally, and emotionally – when I say “move”, I want to inspire people.
I think one of my purposes in life is to inspire other people to be great. Know what I’m saying? So whatever it is I create, I want it to move people physically, mentally, or emotionally. And “love”, the same thing applies. When people see it, I want them to be like: “Wow, this person is really in love with themselves.” But not on some conceited shit, just on some…
Bianca: Passion?
Josh: Passion. And on some confidence…no, that’s not the word.
Bianca: Self-esteem?
Josh: That part. Yes. Like, being able to like yourself on the level where like, yeah, you have all these flaws and you’re not perfect. You’re going to fuck up, a lot. But being able to love yourself enough to know that’s going to happen. But also keep moving forward. Know what I’m saying?
Bianca: Mmm. Yeah.
Josh: And not only just love themselves but also loving people around you, unconditionally. Granted…the two words play on each other. Sometimes loving other people isn’t beneficial. So then you have to MOVE them out your life.
Bianca: That’s a word!
Josh: You can only move yourself if you love yourself. You can only love yourself if you make the necessary moves to love yourself, like practicing self-love and become aware of yourself.
Bianca: OK, so all of that creates harmony within yourself and the surrounding community.
Josh: Right.
Bianca: Currently, you have a campaign – SKIN. Why? Where did that come from? What is it about? Because I know it’s about flaunting your skin, the different shades, tones, but why now? Is it because summer is coming up?
Josh: (laughs) No, it’s actually not just solely my project . It’s also another creative director, Bree. Last year, I did the Good Jeans & Brown Sugar projects but I asked for her help on that. Then we meshed so well as far as creativity and decided to continue to work together. So on my archives section on Instagram, I had different categories and there was one aesthetic that just showed a lot of skin. A lot of women, some men, children, it was just showing different skin tones. Ultimately, we’re trying to promote body positivity.
Bianca: Is it only among women because I only seen a girl in the post. Or is it among everybody, men, women, non-binary, transgender?
Josh: Yeah, it’s definitely about everyone. We have a little bit of diversity in there. A couple guys and girls. We’re really trying to monetize this. I’m at a point in my career where-
Bianca: Hold up, you broke up. You’re at a point in your career where you what?
Josh: (disconnected)
Bianca: Goddamn.
Josh: (laughs) Yeah, sorry. I’m at a point where I don’t want to take photos for free anymore. That whole process is strenuous. Ultimately, we’re trying to reach out to brands and what we want from the brands is to pitch them. Basically, they get a lot for not that much. We’re offering shoots from three different people.
Bianca: Just so I’m clear the exchange is you pitch the brands, you bring the models, and you shoot the content for them and you promote it on all the art and directors social pages?
Josh: Basically, yeah. We actually did two brands as of right now.
Bianca: Yay! So before you go, what advice do you have for a creative that is scared to take a leap out on faith or bet on themselves completely?
Josh: Sheesh.
Bianca: Just do it.
Josh: Yo, I was thinking that but I didn’t want to give Nike no credit. But I will say this, set a goal. The goal could be to think about doing this thing for the next few weeks. Let’s say I want to think about drawing everyday at 9pm.
Bianca: Manifest it. Mentally.
Josh: Right. All that shit about manifesting and energy, I think all of that is real. You have to be able to trust you’re going to fuck up and that’s ok. I think the reason why people get so scared is because they’re going to fuck up. But if you already have it in your mind I’m going to fuck up, that’s ok. And it becomes less scary because it’s based on reality. Don’t try to be perfect, just try to be human.
Bianca: I like that.
We appreciate Josh taking the time to sit and share pieces of himself with us during this interview. For easy readability this excerpt was condensed.
You can check out the full conversation below and follow Josh on Instagram at @fotosofmolo.
Bianca Green 