On the South Side of Chicago in the Bronzeville neighborhood is where you’ll find Eddie “EDO” White’s custom apparel printing shop, The Work Spot. It’s located in an historic part of the city with a booming history, which includes once being home to more than 200,000 Black people—many of whom migrated from the South in the early 1900s.
Nicknamed the “Black Metropolis,” Black culture and history is embedded throughout the neighborhood where legendary names, such as Louis Armstrong and Gwedleyn Brooks once called home.
In many ways, it’s a time capsule of our culture’s history. This is where visual artist and entrepreneur EDO chose to house the shop. To Eddie and his partners, location and proximity matters.
“We wanted to be in the inner city,” EDO told THE BLOCK. “We wanted to be able to reach out and touch our people. We wanted to make sure people saw us, young African American businessmen and businesswomen, showing you that you can do it, too. We felt it was important to do that as far as our first location.”
The custom apparel shop—which prints hoodies, graphic tees and hats—collaborates with Chicago Public Schools, Fortune 500 companies, other small businesses and everyday people.
The mere presence of The Work Spot and other Black-owned businesses in the inner city has the potential to not only immediately meet the needs of residents but also serve as an inspiration. This is especially true for neighborhood youth, who EDO hires in hopes of exposing them to alternative avenues they could pursue.
I think [youth] need to see things that they would think weren’t obtainable. They need to see it, to be able to reach out and touch it. … the youth are the future. I think because of the situations that a lot of them are in, they just don’t really see certain things, they don’t believe that they can do certain things.
edo
“I think it’s extremely important,” he added. “You can’t catch them all but the ones we do, it’s especially beneficial for them and to them. So, until the day I transition, one of my main missions is to show them and to help them in any type of way that I can.”
Beyond The Work Spot, EDO’s efforts to positively impact the culture can be best seen through a brand he started almost five years ago, Infinite Inception. His work as a visual artist is best described as an eclectic collage of words, phrases, colors and objects that, at first glance, appear to be digitally illustrated but are carefully painted by hand.
Take the Everything Is Everything piece, for example. It’s bright with every color of the rainbow—and beyond—represented. You can see song titles, such as “Nothing Even Matters” and “That Thing,” a brown guitar, an image of a star and 122 other words, phrases and objects. A reference list is included with all of the paintings.
EDO’s goal with the piece is the same as any—to heal, inspire and bring joy to people. The creative process is typically done alone. There’s a vulnerability about his process where he balances tapping into the spiritual realm while remaining present in the physical.
The idea for Everything is Everything was sparked while listening to “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” Using the album cover for further inspiration, he added his signature style and created a list of words and phrases that struck him as he continued to listen to songs.
“That album, I saw both my oldest sisters and how it impacted them,” he explained. “I know how much [Lauryn Hill] impacted my sisters, so I can only imagine how much she’s impacted women across the world with this album. Not just the album but just her being here, and I feel like this will do something for women across the world.”
That piece was a three-week process. EDO carries the same energy into every project with the understanding that his pieces meet the viewer where they are in a particular season of life.
My art does this thing where it constantly refreshes itself and the viewer that gets to take it in has to sit with it for a minute because it is a lot, my art has a lot in it. I have real things that I’m saying.
edo
“I have a lot of subliminal messages. I’ve always said that the kids of the future, the future artists, when they are researching me or I’m in the books, they’re going to be able to decipher a lot of the code that I put in my work. Right now, I think it’s good that it brings joy to people and inspires people in some sort of way.”
Freedom. It’s one of EDO’s reasons for creating each day. It’s not lost on him that his life could have gone a totally different way. Instead, he followed the energy that pulled him away from just existing in a world where he was meant to leave a mark, he noted. He’s always wanted to “shock and awe” in a positive way.
I’m just here occupying a space. I’m a messenger. I’m a vessel. That’s pretty much the only reason I’m here is to get these ideas out and to make sure I am of service and share it.
edo
To connect with EDO, follow him on Instagram and visit his website.
