Meet Mel Depaz, a 21-year old Latina who is inspiring others to create change in her Compton community through art.
Meet Mel,
A 21 year-old from Compton, California who inspired me and her 2,000+ followers on Instagram with her clothing. Mel sells shirts, tees, crews, and pullovers that showcase her sketches of monumental places around Compton. I had the privilege of interviewing Mel for my “Con Corazon” blog series and I’m excited to share her story with you.
Everyone, meet Mel Depaz.
Mel behind the arches of the Compton Courthouse.
Photo: Celeste Scott, @celestuhl
Who or what inspired you to create your impactful clothing line?
The idea for the shirts sparked because of my love for sketching and the need to beautify the environment around me. I’ve always loved sketching especially going to different locations to sketch what’s in front of me. I post my location sketches on Instagram. My middle school teacher (Mr.C) direct messaged me and suggested I’d put some of my drawings on shirts because he knew a place with good rates. Having his suggestion in mind I was driving home one day and I saw a barber shop named “Compton Cuts” in Old English Font. I wondered how I could get rid of the negative stigma with that font and turn it positive. I made the connection that no one ever wore a shirt that said Compton unless they were gang affiliated. I began to sketch landmarks in Compton and decided to add the Old English Font to all of them. I wanted people to feel comfortable wearing a shirt with a sketch of one of the cities landmarks and right beside it “Compton” how it’s notoriously spelled.
Do you believe anyone has the power to speak up for for change within their communities?
Yes! I believe anyone has the power to speak up for change in their community especially now with the help of social media. Not many have the willingness to want to change their environment because it seems set in its way. When information and entertainment come together you reach a bigger audience. That’s when social media is a great tool.
You can speak up of what you want to fight to change by posting pictures, videos and facts behind policies or an issue that you want to speak up about.
Mel pictured sketching inside of Patria Coffee, a local Compton coffee shop featured on her shirts.
Photo: Celeste Scott, @celestuhl
How has art impacted your life?
Art has impacted my life because it’s allowed me to visually understand how to interpret an emotion or a collection of ideas in my head. Its especially allowed me to make connections in my head of the world around me and my spirituality.
My intention is to make work to beautify the world and not for the sake of making work. I enjoy art that is raw in its form the most.
I love simple pen and paper drawings and a painting without blending so the paint never really mixes. T-Shirt design usually starts off as a sketch and becomes digital. I kept my shirt designs as sketches to keep the raw hand drawn aesthetic.
What can the government do to support minority artists?
What the government can do to support more minority artist is to not cut the art classes in public schools. Art classes are seen as a luxury.
Public schools in low income neighborhoods funding is low so when they get cut back, the creative students get hit.
There’s not enough classes for a creative outlet even when funding gets better. I took my first art class in high school my junior year. My high school art class made me realize teaching could be one of my options to make money to support my art. This can also be the first realization of a possible career path for a creative student. A working artist is a business owner of their craft.
What do you wish more people our age (Generation Z/Millennials) would do for their community?
I wish more people our age would embrace that “making it” doesn’t necessarily mean moving out the hood. I hear so many people say “I’m going to make it out the hood, but the hood will never leave me”. I know most people say this because they want to live somewhere safe and modern and that’s totally fine. Plus, we’ve been told the hood is never going to change so we should leave when we can. I want more people my age to realize we can change the hood. We should invest in making the hood a better place for the next generation who has no other choice but to call Compton home like we did. We need to give back definitely. It can be small like volunteering or hosting a small community event or simply showing love to the city for being home. I’d love for my generation to become teachers in Compton so students have teachers that look like them they can look up to.
