By: Justin Williams: Owner of Taino Studios There is something powerful about drawing the human figure in a dimly lit room. Not a classroom. Not a pristine white gallery. But a space tucked away—quiet, intentional, a little hidden. A Speakeasy. H istorically, speakeasies were born out of restriction. During Prohibition, they became spaces where people gathered outside of institutional control; where music, conversation, and expression could exist freely. Jazz filled those rooms. Bodies moved...

By: Justin Williams- Owner of Taino Studios I used to believe that success meant staying close to home and building something meaningful where you started. Now I’m not so sure. Pursuing two master’s degrees at the same time has been one of the most rewarding and exhausting experiences of my life. On paper it sounds impressive. In reality, it has been a daily negotiation between curiosity, pressure, responsibility, and the quiet voice inside that asks a simple question: Is this the life I...

By: Justin Williams-Owner of Taino Studios My work investigates how the body remembers what history fragments. Through drawing, repetition, and layered mark making, I treat the body not as a static subject but as a living archive that carries traces of movement, ritual, and ancestral memory. Figures in my work often appear in states of motion, strain, or transformation, suggesting that memory is not stored as narrative but enacted through gesture and rhythm. I am particularly interested in...