Today we’d like to introduce you to Nanu Berks.
Hi Nanu, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Argentina and I remember drawing all the time as a kid with my best friend. We would draw clothing, different styles, comics, and invented an “ink marker hospital clinic” where we would separate all the markers that no longer worked, would pour alcohol in their ink carts and would let rest for a few days” then the markers worked again and where healed haha i love our childhood gems and memories because they really tell us so much about ourselves if we listen. Its easier looking back to make sense of it. These silly games, translating english songs into spanish funny rediculous songs. Painting rainbows and aliens on the walls behind the closets and moving them back to cover them. All of this turned into what i do for a living today. I just never wanted to give up playing, life has no meaning to me without play.
I thought id go to art school but i went to umass amherst near boston and studied creative writing, film, and communication. Also part of my work today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Yes and no, you have to be a bit delusional to survive as a creative and to even preserve your inner child as you grow up.
I had some years where I mostly painted big murals and i loved it. I was great at closing deals and getting the owners of shops to give me their walls, finding money for the project from another brand and combining it all to get paid very well to paint murals. It was fun until it got into the politics and hyper competitive grafiti culture of some cities and once i was dealing with bigger projects i had a lot more paperwork and contracts to write and it was so hard to let go of that identity. I felt i was a muralist a graffiti artist first then a person. But the stress outweighed the joy and it killed my creative energy.
I went into comissioned fine art after and that was great, experimented with a ton of mixed media which felt like going back to my roots as a kid glueing things together
That was fun for a while, i travelled the world making art for brands and individuals and was mostly nomadic during that time lived in asia for a good portion of it
There were many ups and downs and like most artists we tend to be very self critical if we present ourselves as artist first and make that our entire identity. It can be clicky and mean like highschool, the further up the ladder i went into museums and installation arts, the more ego and immaturity i found, i got bored of the pretending factor and having to sell yourself constantly in the fine art world
I didnt care for the competition i wanted to play and make people happy
I published some poetry and short story books after that, some illustrated with watercolor, it was a great break from the fine arts scene. I held some small reading rooms in argentina it was fun!
I reconnected with music there and recorded songs under nanu nomadia they are in all streaming services that was purely play exploration and joy.
Ive done so many things, been part of some commercials and small movies, podcasting, photography, regardless of the medium the plan was to play and convey whatever i wanted to share or help people with at the time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am currently back in my writing roots, ive had the privilege of taking the time to study again for a bit, ive taken workshops and classes at some of the best comedies schools where my heroes went. Like SNL cast members and comedy directors.
This time off to reassess my work came via a not so fun avenue of health issues that kind of forced me to slow down. I am feeling better and grateful to get back to work now understanding we have so many creative threads in our lives, not artist but everyone as their own personalities.
I dont consider myself a writer i have dyslexia my spelling is horrible please check it. I dont feel i am an artist i dont take on these labels with these connotations. Im an adult im 36 just out here trying to keep my inner child alive.
I realize that all the things i did as a kid, fashion, drawing, music, writing, comedy, they all converge in movies because duh life is a movie and making another one inside this one is a nice 360 ways of expressing from every angle.
I searched through my folders in my drive and realized i had over 200 jokes written id never used or preformed. Some were saved in audio files some in writting, these were the essence of me, how i saw the world, how i talked to my friends, how i prepped public speaking gigs, how i performed in the fine art world acting as someone i wasnt as my own agent hating it but laughing about it, comedy is how i get through depression ive had since i was a kid, is how i deal with everything. I thought it was natural to me and therefore would be as easy as painting felt or anything else. Studying joke structures is the most complex thing ive ever studied in my career haha it seriously is so mathematical. Of course a lot of people can be funny being themselves, but writing a comedy scene or a tight 5 standup comedy show is so specific. It boils down all the poetry, freestyle rap, music, everything ive done to the most minimalist possible thing you can think of. Like a hiku but with set up context and punchline. Sometimes unique enough and personal but also kind of relevant for large groups of people. If you use one extra “and or if” you drop the speed of the joke and it bombs. Im obsessed with it all.
Im currently writing comedy scenes, jokes, and making music, getting back into movies from various angles, including style design lighting and character environments.
I am happily open to continue to see how fun and curiosity keep morphing into “jobs”
With all of lives things health issues and having had taken other remote jobs at times i wasnt super stoked about, all of it is so rich and useful for art and comedy
I have so much more respect and appreciation for writing now. And i am mind blown at how i once thought careers in writing were limited to selling books or lyrics for songs, or content for companies.
Life keeps surprising me with openings my eyes to more and more opportunities that are here for us to take if we are willing to let go of whatever identities we think we have or are.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Ive been willing to fail fast and often and get back up and im obsessive with whatever im studying or building at the time. Thats esencial, to even know what luck is versus the work you’ve put in. I was always over prepared with 3 presentations and 2 extra contracts and back up art installations and so on. And some things do just seem timo happen in flow, but then if you cant back it up with skills that fails fast. The luck I’ve had has come from having the opportunity to grow up with two cultures. The worst times made the best times. Having to leave my home country was very hard, im grateful to speak several languages today and have a global perspective. I am also a latina from european descent. I get a lot of the minority cultures because i am part of so many, i was also born with all of my limbs and white enough to pass when privilege would serve me. Nothing is as it seems. I still deal with some health issues that most people would never know and i dont care to focus on, but i know enough to apreciate that all of it is a gradient of colors and bad comes from good and the other way around. Ive made tons of mistakes and still work on forgiving myself or understanding some, ive also brought a lot of joy and play to people and thats what i am most proud of.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nanuberks.com
- Instagram: Creative power now
