Shabazz Larkin is a figurative artist, poet, sculptor, book-maker and an ambassador for mindfulness meditation.

Larkin, from Norfolk Virginia, works from his studio in Nashville, TN, creating figures, portraits, and monuments that celebrate Black culture. His overwhelming use of color and bold typography thinly veils his true intention to explore issues of justice, history, spirituality, and the power of Black joy.

Larkin is the founder of The Museum of Presence, an institution without walls, taking the form of a newspaper and podcast led by a cohort of BIPoC artists, curators, and mindfulness professionals, working to spotlight the creative community of Nashville and the greater American South, with mindfulness and creativity at the heart.

Shabazz has a long list of private collaborators, from his former 20-year career in the commercial creative industry from organizations like the Obama Foundation, Google, and Sony to moguls like Bill Gates, Maya Angelou, and a long list of other kings, presidents, and global brands. Shabazz has won every award in the business from the One Show Pencil to the Cannes Lion.

In 2020 however, Shabazz left the commercial ad industry to follow a passion to make meditation and mindfulness teachings accessible to BIPoC communities. Shabazz now serves as the head of content for a Mindfulness app, called True Voice, designed from the ground up with Black and brown people in mind. (truevoiceapp.com)

He is also the author of several books that grapple with food or mindfulness, his latest is “The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter to My Sons” a book about fear, love, and the fragility of our food system. He is the founder of Larkin Art & Company, an art gallery, and proprietor of artifacts, experiences, and books rooted in African American culture and identity. (www.larkinart.co)