Story & Lesson Highlights with Emiland Kray of Tucson, AZ

Emiland Kray shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Emiland, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I make my living as a bookbinder, but my truest love is drawing. Drawing requires such intense focus that the world melts away as my attention is devoted to each mark that I add to my page. My drawings are strange, but unlike my books, I am not worried about whether or not they sell or if they’re marketable at all. The pen and ink flows from my mind through the nibs of my pens and each mark is inevitably perfection.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a visual artist working primarily with book arts and game design to investigate the complexities of memories, dreams, and nightmares by manipulating our attachment to nostalgic and familiar forms. I began my artistic career by living and working in Las Vegas, Nevada and received my BFA (‘20) from the University of Nevada, Reno and my MFA (‘23) from the University of Arizona. I have exhibited in solo shows across the American Southwest and have worked as a curator to foster relationships between museums as cultural sites and artists in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Additionally, I continue to make art with a focus on community involvement and volunteer work and am the sole operator of Troctopus Press: a collaborative community bindery specializing in artist books, zines, and games. Troctopus Press functions with the mission to support collaborative and community building endeavors in the book-making field and provides professional opportunities to artists, poets, creative writers, and art historians. With the creation of artist books it reflects a communal and mutual desire for creative connection and understanding.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I have experienced chronic nightmares since the Great Recession in 2007 beginning when I was only twelve years old, which has forged an intrinsic connection between economics and my mental health. The sanctity of my sleep had been stolen by the same billionaires who forced my family into near poverty and have forever marked my life by that of the Sisyphean struggle to maintain a healthy standard of living in the 21st century United States. Through my collaborative artistic practice, I do my best to embody a business model of collective equity and profit transparency. Most profits for collaborative books are split 50/50 between all collaborators, and each unique project has profit transparencies for our consumers as well. Additionally, Troctopus Press engages in funding mutual aid and charities during the month of September every year, with 50% of the sales from selected items supporting the World Central Kitchen, and 10% of all regular sales supporting Community on Wheels ( a local mutual aid food resource truck). Success is best shared, when I succeed I make sure that I take others up with me.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
To little Em: “It’s because of your specific brand of psychotic that you will succeed.”

My to-do list is overflowing, but each project is so unique and challenging in such intriguing ways. I put passion and gumption into everything I throw myself at, and it’s because of that energy that I continue to grow as a person and to grow as a community member. Most days are devoted to several different projects from commissions, to restocking inventory, to developing new proposals, to writing grants, and more! I can’t seem to help myself and I certainly cannot function without 5 simultaneous passion projects. I only have one life, and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The Art world has bought and sold the myth that making art is not labor.

Expanding from the statement that ‘people love doing art’, I find it absurd that the follow-up is oftentimes that artists are almost never adequately paid for their time, materials, and expertise. If we as a collective society want a robust artisan class, then we have to begin viewing art-making as labor and to really start paying creative people fairly. In my ideal world, Troctopus Press would be supporting the growth of emerging artists across the United States with at least $4,000 in their bank accounts annually. Paying out artist royalties is the spice of life and I want to put money in their pockets. This year alone, we have raised over $2,000 for our collaborators and we are only growing from here. The price transparency on our website helps to demystify how artists, writers, and craftspeople value their labor and what expectations we have of our consumers. Artists, like all people, deserve economic stability and the dignity to live off of their craft.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
My skills would remain.

I am a craftsperson at my core and there are few pieces of equipment and skills that are foreign to me. Whether it be woodworking, sewing, bookbinding, or welding. These skills and experiences don’t ever leave you. These skills are always useful whether you’re rich or when you’re poor and they enable you not only to help yourself, but also to help others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.troctopuspress.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/troctopus/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiland-kray-378461338/
• Other: https://troctopus.itch.io/