“People tell me all the time ‘Terrell, you should go to New York,’ but I know in my heart of hearts when I go out there it's gonna be nothin’ but tacos, cheesesteaks, and camera time,” says Terrell.
Part of what keeps Terrell in Richmond is also the love he has found in his community of artists who are based there too. “I'm lucky in this city in that everybody kind of shows me love,” says Terrell. “I’ve maybe had two or three bad experiences here.”
Terrell still has his occasional doubts of course, whether they be of himself or the scene around him. As with all art scenes, Richmond has its problems too. Namely, there isn’t always a ton of stuff happening at once. So if you miss an interesting show or event, there can be an intense fear of missing out that consumes a great number of Richmond artists. So, Terrell is trying to “spread [his] wings a little bit,” by breaking away from the magnets that draw crowds and create his own FOMO-free art.
“For a while, I think I was in a circle of people that was doing stuff that seemed interesting. So I would just go to where people were going,” says Terrell. “Different DJs have different effects on places. A crowd may be swayed a certain way because of the DJ that’s gonna be there. If you know somebody is in a certain place, that's going to trigger you to go. So you kind of just follow people.”