Carlos Andrés Gómez | Carlos Andrés Gómez

Rooted.

Purpose is the driving force of my life: I have always moved with intention, intensity, even a voracious deliberateness. Like others, these tendencies are perhaps now supercharged by the confluence of griefs, losses, and existential crises of the past few years.

Which is all to say, I’ll be catching up to the experiences of this past month for the rest of my life: celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary with my love in La Ciudad de Panamá (& 16 years together this Aug.), finally bringing my kids to Colombia to spend time with family, celebrating my father’s 75th with a mariachi band, my sister’s birthday, seeing where my grandparents were born and grew up outside of Medellín, the school where my tías went, the square where my papi played marbles, taking in the breathtaking food, the mountains, the old city in Cartagena, the laughter, charisma, and joy of a home I’ve spent far too long away from.

I feel more rooted than I have in a long time. My kids finally feel connected to one of the sources of who they are.

I can’t wait to get back.

#Colombia

#76

Award for our short film, “Beating Traffic”!

When my primary craft was basketball (before my career peaked in 8th grade), I made sure to play with folks who were unquestionably better, stronger, more skilled than I was. As an artist now, I make it a point to collaborate with people who stretch and challenge me, have skill and capacities I don’t.

That’s the real joy of my ongoing collaboration with Joe West and Brent Shuttleworth. I marvel and learn from both of them. I feel like the creative possibilities are boundless. I know for a fact that both Joe and Brent are geniuses at what they do: making music, producing, filmmaking.

Which is all to say, we’ve got a lot cooking (but I’m holding off on sharing until later next year when I can). For now, this is a little peek through the window of what we’ve been working on, pushing our multidisciplinary project into film and beyond.

So special to share this accolade with my brothers.

More to come.

#OpusAlbum

#TheArtistsForum

#ArtistsAcrossBorders goes to Dublin, Ireland!

Since founding it in 2003, Brent Shuttleworth and I have done #ArtistsAcrossBorders, which seeks to bring together artists from different linguistic, cultural, and creative backgrounds to come together and create an original piece to be showcased live at a festival or other performance venue. Equal parts cultural exchange, artistic collaboration, and community- and peace-building initiative, Artists Across Borders aims to counteract the division and conflict that, increasingly, seem to define our fraught world.

Listen, we’ve done collaborations like this in South Africa, Canada, the Cayman Islands, UK, the United Arab Emirates (this past February), and many more places across the globe, and this latest collaboration in Ireland was one of the most powerful and distinct ones we’ve ever done.

So much of that has to do with the place and organization we collaborated with—Axis Ballymun—which is one of the most unparalleled arts & community centers I’ve ever encountered. Without Niamh Ní Chonchubhair & the Axis team’s vision, attention, & care, this collaboration could never have happened. So many invisible and thankless hours behind the scenes that will never be fully recognized in the way they should.

Also, of course, the artists. My goodness, what a spectacular group of human beings and staggering talents: Sharyn Ward, Adam Mohamed, GI, & Zeinab.

I feel such a connection with this group. Lifelong friends, for sure.

I’ll always remember the group of girls crowded around Zeinab and Sharyn in awe after our show for the students, the boys high up in the back of the theatre, dead-centre, holding up hearts as I delivered the last lines of “Magic,” the extended standing ovation last Friday night that seemed to whisper “more to come,” and, lastly, the majestic thrum in Axis as we dedicated the show to MC Lunitic (Danny McDonnell) with his little brother, Bob, looking on.

I know it took months, particularly from Niamh & everyone at Axis, to make this happen, but this feels like a tour. This feels like a concept that a producer sees at the Fringe in Edinburgh and funds for a three-week run.

More to come…

Onward, onward

Poets in museums, poets in airports, on billboards, buses. Poets everywhere.

It’s been wild to watch this small seed of an idea grow into what it’s become: seeing myself and my fellow artists on billboards in Centennial Olympic Park downtown and all across Atlanta, on buses across the city, and in the International Terminal of the busiest airport in the world (shoutout to the legend, Steve West, for taking these iconic shots!), and, finally, of course, our sold out show for hundreds at the High Museum of Art on Nov. 17th that marked the culmination of this project and artistic collaboration more than two years in the making.

Since arriving in Atlanta in 2019, I’ve been intentional about putting down roots and nurturing connections that I want to be lifelong ones, whether it’s with friendships or organizations. I have no plans of leaving this place. The ATL is home (even if my New Yorker heart remains).

Faith Carmichael and the entire Next Atlanta squad welcomed me like family shortly after I first arrived here and did an event for them in the late summer of 2019. To be a part of this collaboration with MARTA Atlanta Transit System has been one of the most meaningful and rewarding collaborations of my life.

I cannot thank Faith, NEXT Atlanta, and MARTA enough.

I believe strongly that art and artists should be on the biggest stage, the largest platforms and with the biggest reach.

I can’t wait to see what we do next…

#NEXTAtlanta

“Fractures” just won its 5th book award!!

I am humbled beyond words to find out that my début full-length poetry collection, Fractures, has been named the winner of the 2022 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Award for Poetry!!

After nearly three years of submitting my manuscript and 33 rejections, I never could have imagined that it would be celebrated in this way after finally getting published: winner of 5 book awards, a finalist for 5 others, and nearly finished with our third print run.

I cannot thank each and every reader, librarian, high school teacher, professor, critic, and blogger enough who has lifted up my book and continues to champion what I do.