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Dawn Okoro talks about the darkness within, resilience through core beliefs, and the journey of facing your fears – even if it means taking a fall.
(SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas. You can support this podcast at supportthispodcast.org.
Credits:
Host, Creator, Producer: Laurie Gallardo
Editing and Mixing: Jack Anderson
Original Music: Rene Chavez
Photo and Video: Michael Minasi
Art: Dave McClinton
The full transcript of this episode of (SPF 1000) Vampire Sunscreen is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Laurie Gallardo It’s incredible when your work involves the very thing you’re most passionate about. Though sometimes even that can become overwhelming. How do you alleviate the stress when this work is your life? Welcome to SPF 1000 Vampire Sunscreen. I’m Laurie Gallardo. Thank you so much for listening. I bring to you episode three one I’m very excited about because when I first drafted the idea for this podcast and independently recorded a few episodes on my own, this is the first person I interviewed we’d never met. She graciously invited me to her home and the conversation we had led me to discover one of my favorite visual artists.
Dawn Okoro I’m Dawn Okoro and I’m an artist. So I like to make things. I like to create things. People, I think, know me more for creating portraits of people. I think that’s one of my favorite things to make is portraits of people either with paint or a pencil or whatever I can use and putting those portraits on a surface.
Laurie Gallardo To me, Dawn Okoro does more than simply create portraits of people. These stunning visuals communicate a power and movement and captures certain nuances that make the subject matter unique, elevated, uplifted. Dawn is a big deal. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally, including galleries in London, Seattle, and at Christie’s in New York City. Dawn’s work has been featured on television and film, including an episode of Law and Order Organized Crime. She created an installation featured at Meow Wolf in Houston. And I do feel this is important. Dawn’s fashion sense is superb, complementary to her creativity. So great having the O.G. guest return to tell us a thing or two about a thing or two.
Dawn Okoro Glad to be here.
Laurie Gallardo And Dawn, I ask you, as always, what is the darkness to you? What is dark to you?
Dawn Okoro In the past, I would have said fear. But I think it’s for me, it’s broader than that. And for me, the darkest thing is it’s something internal and that is not having strong core beliefs and that’s something that fluctuates for me. But, you know, when I’m feeling at my lowest and the core beliefs are at their lowest, like where I can’t really envision myself really doing anything. And, you know, I let that get really bad for a long time, even though I was busy doing my art and stuff. But I still just didn’t feel quite right. And so for me, that means finding a good therapist to talk to, to kind of get me in check, like, look like, you know, this is what’s going on. And then that kind of helps me realize, okay, Like it’s I’m okay. It’s just this is just something that I’m going to have to work on because I thought, you know, maybe you see a therapist for a while and you feel better and life is going better, then you’re fine. You’re good now. But apparently that is something that you have to kind of check in on yourself every once in a while for. And so there are things that I need to do to make sure that my core beliefs are strong. And that’s just journaling helps and and really just having a good daily routine, which I hate doing, but it’s really, it’s just really, you know, the best thing for me, skateboarding has really helped me a lot in the sense of making me have to face a different kind of fear. But it’s still a fear. And when I learned to do like a trick with skateboarding, it’s like so exciting. And it’s like, I didn’t think I could do that. But me skateboarding, you really do have to believe that you can do the thing that you’re going to do or are you going to fall, You’re going to, you know, bust your ass. So there are just different things that I have to do to kind of, you know, keep myself in check and make sure that, you know, that I believe that I can do the things that I want to do.
Laurie Gallardo Those core beliefs like you’re going to do it, don’t worry about falling.
Dawn Okoro If you fall by falling, it’s okay. Part of it. Exactly. So, you know, like I say on the skateboarding thing, like falling is the thing that everyone hates. But really, it’s not so bad because I’m not doing anything crazy. It’s just, you know, sometimes I may fall on my butt and get a few scrapes. Right. But, you know, it’s something that’s fun. And so I just continue doing it and I feel like my day is better if I skateboarded a little bit and then get into the art studio and paint and I feel better and then my core beliefs are stronger.
Laurie Gallardo So I love the process. It is it is a process. It’s an ongoing process.
Dawn Okoro It is. It really is. It’s it’s actually a is actually work, you know, to keep yourself feeling good and, you know, and productive in life.
Laurie Gallardo So I keep forgetting the work and.
Dawn Okoro Yeah, yeah.
Laurie Gallardo It sounds cliche, but many artists I’ve had the opportunity to, to sit down and speak with this is, I guess, something that comes out of curiosity when people say, your work must be therapeutic for you. I’m sure it can be. I’m sure especially for someone who is not perhaps familiar with the avenue of turning to art, maybe that is the case. But I also see another side of that, which is this is you. This is in your blood, this is who you are. And people have heard me say this forever and ever, but I’m going to continue saying it. This is not a faucet. You can’t turn it off. So I was kind of wondering about your feelings on that. Is it therapeutic or can it be used to help you in dealing with stuff like this?
Dawn Okoro It can be therapeutic. And I’ve noticed, like with art being my full time job now, it’s become less and less therapeutic. I guess my eye turned to skateboarding because I need something else. Because when it comes, when it’s now, it’s my job. I’m not going to lie like there are a lot of times where it doesn’t feel as fun anymore, you know, because now I have more added pressure, you know, pressure to succeed. And, you know, as far as turning it off, I’ve tried turning it off like the art thing years back when I was just struggling with just I love making art. I hate the whole hustle of trying to have an art career. So there was a time a while back where I said, okay, I’m just not going to deal with this anymore. I’m not going to do. I quit. Like, I don’t even want to look at art more. But apparently you can’t avoid art in your life, you know? And so I just focus on my journalism career. I just work at my job. I’m not doing any art for many years. And after several years, it just, you know, go to work, come home, do the same thing again, not creating. There was actually something missing and I couldn’t push it down. It was just nagging and I couldn’t make it go away. And that’s when I started ramping up again. Like, I guess I’m just afflicted with being an artist. I am an artist, you know, the job thing that’s regardless, that’s I used to be so hung up on, I need to do art, you know, quote unquote, full time. Right? People always ask, Are you full time or this and that? But that doesn’t really matter. I mean, yeah, it matters in the sense of like, just how you spend your time. Like, of course, you know, if you like, I don’t want to spend my time like in a cubicle all day long. But artists do what they have to do to pay the bills. So that’s separate, you know, just a matter of like, I just want to have the free time to just focus on art. But there are times where it’s just not as fun. And so that’s also something that I’ve been working on in the past year is like, how can I bring that back to make it still fun for me, but also still continue to contribute something to society where I can reach people in some way as well, which is really just kind of continuing to do do what I’m doing, but maybe don’t put so much pressure on myself. Know that’s also another thing that, you know, I’m just always going to be working on. But is art therapeutic for me at the moment It is at times like I’m trying to be more purposeful, more intentional about that. And I’ve been trying to just have some pieces that I work on that aren’t for anything. They’re just experimental pieces that are just for me and setting aside time each week to work on that, that will always be super important so that I can feel like I’m growing and developing, but without having any pressure of showing it to someone or putting it out. So having those therapeutic moments just have to be intentional.
Laurie Gallardo Precious That’s the magic word. It needs to be intentional. Going back to something that you said, like working your journalism job. This was the thing that that we spoke about before. It was this journey and my mind kept exploding because of these different things that you were going for. You got this education. You’re like, Well, this is what I’m going to do and I’m not feeling this, I’m not feeling this, I’m not feeling this. And I think that brings up that whole fear thing. And when people are asking you, are you full time? I hate that. It’s these boxed definitions. They need categories in order to understand everything. No judgment is just very frustrating. And again, you know, when I first spoke to you, just hearing you talk about these different paths that you were on or where you were, what you studied, law, what what, because you did you studied law and then the journalism job. And those had to have also been several turning points as well. Like, again, when you’re trying so hard, you’re like, this is why I’m doing this, because I know my family is going to worry and they’re going to think this, that and the other. But the whole the whole thing about lying to yourself. That’s just what it reminded me of, you know?
Dawn Okoro Yeah. Throughout those times where I was trying to find my way towards pleasing my family and looking back and just like, what was I, you know, so worried about that? And was that when I was really worried about. I think part of it was I wanted to feel like I was successful in something and I didn’t know how to be successful as an artist or what that really meant. And everyone kind of not everyone, but a lot of people have a romanticized vision of what it means to be an artist. And and I did as well. And so I thought, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know how to be an artist. And I didn’t have that full belief either. So that’s why I pursued all these different things. You know, at a certain point I was like, Let me just go to law school. But even when I went to law school at Texas Southern in Houston, I the art still was very, very present in my life. And it seemed like, you know, being in Houston for law school was even good for me as an artist because I got to be a part of the Houston art scene at that time. And I got to meet other artists who are still mentors to me today. So that was a really good thing. And I found myself just painting a lot when I was in law school. If I wasn’t in the books I was painting. And when I did my law internship here in Austin, I the partners of the law firm were like hiring me to do commissions for their paintings of their kids inside of them. And so I guess that was the best thing about going to law school is it put me in Houston to meet the people that I met. And so it’s still been been a great blessing, you know, even even to this day.
Laurie Gallardo I love that, you know, you’re there for law and it’s I but, you know, and the art scene in Houston, period, that’s all I have to say. Exciting and incredible.
Dawn Okoro Yeah. Yeah. It’s a very rich art scene. So I always just try to keep in touch with those folks that I met down there.
Laurie Gallardo I could go on about that.
Dawn Okoro I’m actually. I’m working on a project now in Houston. I’m working with Mitchell Wolfe. Are you familiar?
Laurie Gallardo But that the overstimulation for my brain.
Dawn Okoro Yeah. No resuscitation. They’re building a new one in Houston. And so I’m going to be one of the artists. You know, basically they give you a room and tell you to, you know, just go at it, you know, do whatever you want within, you know, certain confines, you know, budget or whatever. So I’m going to be there a lot this summer working on that. So that’s going to be exciting because it’s going to be working in a way, a different way than I worked before. Like, it’ll be my work, but it’s so extremely collaborative just to have a whole room to work with, just to create an installation that’ll be fun. So I’m excited to be able to show people, but I’m working on eventually.
Laurie Gallardo That Meow Wolf is perfect for you. You can go crazy.
Dawn Okoro I remember hearing about it. I haven’t had a chance to go, but I’ve seen pictures, so I was really surprised when they had reached out to me about this, like, God, but what am I going to do? You see in the pictures? Like, like what? I guess I yeah, I don’t know. But but then they kind of narrowed it down for me, like what they were looking for. And so it will be something totally in my style. And there’s going to be a musical score to go with it. So that’s going to be exciting. And are you familiar with the band Blaxploitation?
Laurie Gallardo Yeah, like we kind of go way back and then the branching into all these different other bands that I’m so hooked on.
Dawn Okoro Absolutely, yeah. Like the lead singer Taz says he’s now enough money. So he did the score for my art piece, so I’m just really excited to be able to incorporate music. That way because I usually paint musicians. So it’s awesome to be able to collaborate with one in that way. So I think it’ll be pretty cool.
Laurie Gallardo I love this connection, first of all. Self money. Yes. And I followed Taz for this long. I’m excited for this venture. He and his drummer Alton and the drummer and I go way back. And then again, if we can bring this full circle. I know your connection with musicians, these wonderful musical artists that you’ve painted in portraiture. Quarter of Riders Against the Storm. My first guest of the podcast for this round.
Dawn Okoro Is.
Laurie Gallardo Also Audrey from Pleasure. Venom. Yes, Jackie Vance and Baby. Yeah, I could go on and on and on. And these connections, I’m just because we were trying to figure out. Okay, Laurie, how did you first hear about Don? And it was twofold. Not only was it the art itself, but I love to pick on my dear friend Dave McClinton.
Dawn Okoro And yeah, he’s he’s doing really well.
Laurie Gallardo Yes. It’s these connections here and there that’s exciting. And congratulations on the meow, Wolf. I think it’s a perfect match. Yes. And fun.
Dawn Okoro Yeah. It’ll be beyond.
Laurie Gallardo You’re going to you’re going to have a field day. Maybe it will be a little like, whoa, this is quite a bit. But I really just feel that I can see you expanding and evolving into other thing. Maybe you’ll discover something. You’re like, I had no idea that I was going to do this.
Dawn Okoro Yes, I definitely see that and I would love that.
Laurie Gallardo If you recall, I’ve told you this before, I love that you work on big scale. I look up and I’m like, This is incredible, but there’s movement. Do you have the models necessarily moving?
Dawn Okoro I do like capturing movement. And some of my and some of my work thinking back to capturing that sometimes, like I’ll have a model come and pose for me in the studio. So whenever I create a painting, I need to have something to look at. So rather than have the model pose while I paint, I’ll take several pictures of the model. So I have a model come to the studio and if I’m thinking, well, you know, maybe we can make this person look like they’re sort of floating in the air. So sometimes I’ll have the model jumping up and down or dancing, moving around. You know, if the person has long braids, let’s, you know, maybe shake the braids and just see what happens. And then there are other situations where the model might be still, but there still will be a sense of movement in the painting. So like going back to just floating and maybe I’ll have the model lay on something just to prop the person up and then when I go to make the piece, then I can still make the person look like they were floating around or something.
Laurie Gallardo I am obsessed with bigger scale portraits. You are also capturing different experiences. And I guess what I mean by that is your subject matter. Women, black women, brown women. This is exciting to me, not only speaking from the most basic level representation. It goes way beyond that. For me personally, if I can say as a brown woman. Tell me what it is that inspires you, that helps you connect others to this kind of work. I really feel it’s crucial. This is, I believe in my heart an introduction for not just a specific audience, but for many different viewers of your work.
Dawn Okoro I go back to thinking about my experiences growing up in Texas. I was born in Houston, but it wasn’t there for very long. And I was raised in Lubbock, Texas, with my mom and my stepdad and growing up in Lubbock. Well, Lubbock is a very flat city. Like, flat as in not many trees. And it’s very conservative. Sometimes you can feel like you’ve stepped back in time if you go to Lubbock right now. But growing up there always felt different in some way in the sense of not always being able to click with the people around me, like in school, like in the classroom and at church. There was always something peculiar about me, and I never could quite put my finger on it. You know, that was something that definitely caused me distress. You know, growing up, not not fitting in. So later when I started painting porches of people, I wanted to maybe explore that and also paint other people who who may not have fit in either. People who are also different and maybe the same way that I am or in or in other ways. But I always liked to paint people that I find interesting, people that I’m drawn to. And I like to tell somewhat of a story through that portrait. And for me, I’ve always been interested in fashion and how how fashion is displayed. And so I like to let the subjects wear whatever they want in the painting and express themselves through their fashion. And so that’s always been interesting to me. And when I create the piece, it’s always exciting when someone like a Stranger will see the painting and maybe reach out to me and let me know how that portrait of that person touched them in some way and they were able to connect. And so I like that Creating these portraits is a way for me to connect with other people when that’s something that I struggle with.
Laurie Gallardo The colors are brilliant. Not always, but sometimes I see you playing with the fashion. And illuminating it in some way. You just really have fun with it. So imagine me sitting in front of what? My laptop or my television. I went into the most pleasant shock seeing your work. I don’t. National television program. If you follow Don on social media, perhaps you know what I’m talking about. It has just been exciting to see you on your journey. Take these different courses to different cities, you know, having your work on display across the pond, if I may say. That has been electrifying. But for some reason, just seeing it on this visual medium that everyone’s kind of hooked on. Well, in terms of looking at series or things like that, maybe not traditional TV, it’s still exciting and mind blowing. How did this happen?
Dawn Okoro It’s interesting because the work this man seen on TV has connections to Austin and the connections to Texas. I think when I first spoke with you on the podcast a while back, I think it was maybe just after or was around the time that I was doing my podcast were a solo show at the Carver Museum.
Laurie Gallardo An excellent exhibit, by the way.
Dawn Okoro Thank you. Yeah, that was, you know, one of my favorites. I felt like the exhibit came alive. Really. And I felt that. I don’t know. These paintings need to have a longer life than just this one show and live beyond that. But I wasn’t sure exactly what that would look like. But then going back to like 2019, this is one of my first experiences. Having my work on TV was someone had reached out to me and they said, I work for a show that was going to be on Paramount Network and it was a reboot of the First Wives Club as a TV series.
Laurie Gallardo Yes.
Dawn Okoro And they said, we like your work. Can we, you know, use it for a scene? And I said, Sure. And of course, they send like the paperwork and you, you know, deal with like the contract stuff and all that. So then I, you know, said, yes, I’m basically, you know, send them the. JPEGs. And then I waited, like maybe like a year or so. And by then and I think then the show was moved to like a different network, like B T, and then time went by and then someone D a friend and me and they said, I thought I recognized your work like this. I saw your work on this show. And I was like, yeah. So then I went on streaming to see it. And sure enough, but then fast forward to maybe 2022, that’s when someone reached out to me from a company called Austin Art Lease, and they were just start starting up their company and they had a connection with the production designers at Law and Order, and they were interested in using my work. There was going to be a situation where there was a actress and Jennifer Beals is an art dealer and owns a gallery because this is a this is a dirty gallery because they also sell guns and drugs, guns and drugs in the back room. And but from the front, it’s a gallery, so we need some work. So then she connected me with NBC and then I talk with their production designers. And this is licensing. So there’s a contracts and then negotiating that pay for that. And same as before, you don’t send the actual paintings, you send them the high rez JPEGs, and then they print the work as as big as they need for TV. And of course, when they print it, you know, it’s just a it’s like a basically a poster. But but on TV it looks more, you know, like more like, wow, you know, And so, yeah, so, so my work was going to be on there. I knew that. But then I discovered it was going to be several episodes. And then for this one, I knew exactly what night my art was going to first appear there. So I was like, Let me watch Law and Order organized crime and set my DVR. And so I did. And I was like, you know, watching it with my partner. And then it comes in and it’s like, wait, there it is. And then Jennifer Beals said my name something like, and we should do this in front of Donald Caro’s own piece. And then I was like, my God, wait. And that’s the rewind. It was like, Was that right? And then it was like she said it, and then she pronounced my name right. My word, I forgot how to pronounce it correctly. From there then my art was on several episodes of that season, so that was really cool to tune in and see. Fast forward a little bit later. So that summer someone reached out to me that was working on it on a film and the time it was called The Bribe, I think they cheat, they change the name to the invitation. It was a horror movie, and around this time I connected with an actress named Nathalie Emmanuel on Instagram, and apparently she had recommended me as an artist to have my work featured in this gallery scene for the movie. And so same thing, you know. So then when I had available and yeah, and they picked out the work they wanted to use and then sure enough, and I go to the theater and see it on the big screen and so that was really cool. Wow. And then I also had my work on the Sex and the City reboot and just like that. Yeah, that was kind of a cool full circle moment because I remember years ago when I was living in Austin working on my art, you know, in this, you know, little apartment just sitting on the floor painting and with my cat nearby. And I was just watching like Sex and the City, like watching the DVDs and binge watching.
Laurie Gallardo An area.
Dawn Okoro Then come into now. It was cool to see, you know, one of the actresses in front of my art. So so that was kind of a surreal moment. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, So yeah, that’s that’s always fun just to be able to see your work, you know, on TV or the big screen.
Laurie Gallardo It was again, yet another level of excitement, at least for me personally and what had happened. I had heard about the first wives thing. That was when I first saw that and I was like, losing my mind, and then cut to law and order And I’m always making fun of myself going, Well, which one is this Law and order? And then I make up a name and attach it to the end of that. But that was like extra. And that was like me telling my parents, for crying out loud. By the way, by the way, if you see this, you know, and but the Sex and the City, I had people contact me.
Dawn Okoro Really?
Laurie Gallardo That was awesome.
Dawn Okoro Really? Like what they say or.
Laurie Gallardo They’re like, So let me. It was a lot of that. But the best thing is I’m glad that they remembered and they recognized and they were like, We do. We will. We will, We will. Laurie’s shared some stuff like that on Instagram or whatever, especially when there was stuff going on. When you had your exhibit at Carver, I would go, By the way, this is up and I would put it on my Instagram. And I really think that in that way people remembered and they they were able to go, Hang on a second. I’m not I’m not imagining that. So that was thrilling. That was I don’t know. Did did you find it kind of rewarding? In a way, it’s it’s so odd, though.
Dawn Okoro It was a school to see it. And I feel like growing up, one of the reasons that I was slow to fully embrace being an artist and doing that as a career is partly because of family pressure and, you know, wanting to, you know, represent and also do something good, you know, do something that’s, I know gainful, just, you know, being gainfully employed. But I guess having my work on TV then my family and stuff can understand like, look, see, I am doing something like people do like the work and you know, it’s okay, I don’t have to be a doctor or lawyer, you know. So, yeah, I think with that, you know, my family, like kind of understood better, like what I was doing, maybe just a fun thing and.
Laurie Gallardo All right. So now as we wrap up, the tables have turned on. I always end it now by saying you can ask me a question, but make it count whatever you want.
Dawn Okoro So what is your philosophy when it comes to fashion? I love your your looks and style and accessories. Like it just seemed like it just kind of just falls together naturally for you. So how do you put together your outfits?
Laurie Gallardo I love that question. First of all, thank you so much. I hear from my mother saying, well, can’t you just wear a little bit of color in there? And I and I get that and I really appreciate it. I think I really came into my own as I got much older in terms of it coming together naturally. I wish I could brag and say yes, I.
Dawn Okoro Rolled out of bed effortless.
Laurie Gallardo I am. Really. Wow. Thank you. So I guess I identify as goth. I love the music. And again, going back and rediscovering a lot of things, I’ve learned that I’ve had these feelings and these inclinations since I was very young, since I was a kid. A lot of it’s tied into scary movies, believe it or not. And that just kind of grew. But as I was getting older, I didn’t really know how to express that. And so I am drawn to black and gray, and some people think that’s miserable, but I beg to differ. I just think it kind of defines the style that I love. Yes. You know, you you see Goths and they’re very dramatic. And I don’t have the makeup skills for that. But again, that does not matter. I think what pulls it together for me is everything that’s inspired me over the years. Now we have a lot of people, especially independent designers, if I am able to support them or at least independent businesses, I am thrilled to do that. And there are pieces now that I can use forever and ever and ever. And being in my 50s at the time of this recording, that’s kind of another thing that’s very important to me. I really, really, really do my my best to avoid fast fashion. And that’s just exploded into something obnoxious. I’m like, you know, there’s this great company called Thredup. I’m not going to give them any. But, but, but, but thrifting or supporting an independent business that may be a little bit expensive. But again, I’m drawn to things that I could use for a long, long time. But all the black, the jewelry, that was a progression. People tend to see you in terms of, you got all of this right away. Whereas there is someone I follow on YouTube. She goes by a Black Friday and she’s often said, This is a collection that I have amassed over the years. So I love that. It feels like it’s a so it’s so natural look as Lori pulling this fabulous. No, I really do appreciate it. But this is, again, something that I feel I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I love expressing myself this way. I am drawn to the color black or deeper, darker, richer colors. But I don’t hate bright ones. That’s not true in terms of my home or even the people I love, my friends. You know, sometimes we look like such a big contrast when we’re standing next to one another. But I am drawn to so many different things in art. So many different things in music. If it was just goth, if I just put myself in a single box, I wouldn’t be able to do the job that I do for Kotex. That would be very narrow and awful. And yeah. So I really think for me it’s been an exploration. And again, I didn’t see myself really being able to do this until I got older. I just didn’t know how to express. And I don’t want that to get anyone down. I mean, you’re always learning. That’s always a continuous thing. So for me, this was a lovely path to, I really like wearing stuff like this. I love boots. I wear boots all year. In the summertime, people think I am in that.
Dawn Okoro This is a boot collection. It’s like, yeah, that is amazing.
Laurie Gallardo It’s so interesting. You know, I guess in terms of like some of the things that that I have again, so a little bit of an investment, but they’re very like, if I wear things here on campus, sometimes the students are like, boy. And there’s some of the employees. But you know what? People who know me, they’re like, Yeah, that’s Lori. Here she comes with these boots with skulls on them. Hurry. I don’t really understand why I’m drawn towards certain. Morbid themes, but it’s not so morbid to me. We’re all going in the same direction. I have a lot of skull designs, as she said, as she looked at her ring. I think that was part of facing my fears when I was a kid because I am the biggest chicken. You can’t take me to a, quote, haunted house because I’m like jump scares. And I really am. I’m really a scaredy cat, but I’m obsessed with behind the scenes. And again, I’m drawn to that. And that has also inspired a lot of the fashion that I like. So I think it comes from that.
Dawn Okoro Were you like an O.G. Goth, like back in the day? Like as a teenager? Like, did you do the whole Goth thing at that time?
Laurie Gallardo Interestingly, I think I was playing with some stuff here and I liked wearing my hair really short. Sometimes I would have like a traditional razor, like a lady’s razor, and I’d be like shaving the sides of my head. And my mom would be like, okay. But my dad and I would steal a lot of my dad’s clothes. And it was very punk. It wasn’t so much goth as it was like a punk thing that I was looking at. But again, growing up in a town which I consider to be conservative, I love El Paso. But yeah, I would be dressed a certain way and you’d show up somewhere. And it was not always easy and it hurt and it was scary. So I guess it was more punk but, but yeah, in high was a little bit. We were just finding a bunch of music from older siblings back in the day, past cassette tapes around in college. I don’t really know what happened to me in college. I tend to put that in the back of my mind. But around that time I was dating someone who introduced me to a lot of goth music. I was madly in love with the music and he was so ready to share that like, you know what? I think you should check this. Here, in case you’re interested. It was never forced on me. All this music. And he knew I was a musical.
Dawn Okoro Like. I like that.
Laurie Gallardo I think that’s. That’s how that came about. So, yeah, I.
Dawn Okoro Who I love to see what outfits you have. Usually I only see it on an Instagram. But it’s cool to see the full outfit.
Laurie Gallardo I appreciate it. Thank you. The feeling is mutual because earlier our producer Elizabeth McQueen and I were going jumpsuit.
Dawn Okoro Yeah, I think I have a new era loading. I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to look like, but I feel like I was doing all this stuff with punk Mama and, you know, in the past few years and but now is time, you know, it’s kind of a clean slate. You’re working on completely new work and new projects that people will see. But I just also like to, you know, just express myself through my fashion. And I feel like it’s just it’s time for a new era for me. And I think that’s just fun. Like a like you mentioned, black. I wouldn’t normally wear like lots of pops of colors. And sure, I may sometimes, but I feel like I’m kind of going towards more black myself. So maybe it’ll be here. Maybe lots of black white with maybe pops of color with like the accessories, like bracelets or necklaces or head pieces, earrings or something. But that’s also kind of happening alongside of me creating the new work.
Laurie Gallardo To receive a compliment from Donna Caro is wonderful indeed. And let’s hear it for the all black ensembles. Many thanks to Donna Caro for being my guest a second time on this intriguing podcast journey. Your vampire sunscreen host and creator is me, Laurie Galan. Editing and Mixing by Jack Anderson Original Music composed by Rene Chavez. Graphic Design by Dave McClinton. And many thanks to our fearless podcast leader Elizabeth McQueen for all her help. I’m creating a new personal website where I’ll share this podcast. So many thank you’s and other projects I’m working on. Coming soon. SPF 1000 Vampire Sunscreen is a listener supported production of cute and chaotic studios in Austin, Texas. And if you like what you’re hearing, you can support our work by becoming a sustaining member at Support this podcast, Dawg. Thanks again for listening and thanks for your support. And something I always keep in mind. We search for the light, but behold the darkness. Until next time.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
