STAFF PROFILE: Kendrik James (Paper Machine Print Coordinator)

FreeQuency: Tell us a little bit about yourself, your name, your pronouns, how you came to Antenna, and then we’ll get into the details of what you do now that you’re here. 

Ken: I go by Ken, but my full name is Kendrik James. My pronouns are he and they. I’m currently enrolled at the University of New Orleans majoring in Studio Arts, and I should be graduating soon in May of 2026. 

I work at Antenna as a Print Production Specialist. I joined Antenna in 2020 during the pandemic – the same year I enrolled at UNO – because Amelia (a former Antenna Collective and Team member), taught me during high school and knew I was interested in art. She reached out and said, “hey, we have a position open, and I thought of you” and now we’re here. 

Now, I’m the person that you talk to when you want to make your book. I take you through how to make it and the different options are, what the timeline is, and all other specifics about how a book is made. I then use the machinery in the space to make the book and also handle other parts of the process such as caring for the space in terms of cleaning and making sure the machinery is okay. I’ve been in this position about a year and a half. 

FreeQuency: What’s your favorite part of your job? 

Ken: My favorite part is actually making the books because I get to use my hands and also get to feel creative. Another exciting part of this job is seeing someone be excited that the project they put energy and time into creating is actually real and in its physical form now. Being the person who is helping bring that to life feeds the creative passion in me.

FreeQuency: how do you see the work that you do through Paper Machine and Antenna:6330 as having an impact on a larger arts ecosystem in New Orleans? What do you think that impact is and why do you think it’s important?

Ken: My job is helpful to the arts ecosystem in New Orleans because storytelling is important. I have a poster that’s a reminder from a previous print production specialist that says something like “freedom is to those who have press”...meaning…you can only be free once you can share your ideas and you have the space to share and be heard in that information. The cool thing about Antenna:6330 and Paper Machine is that they’re in the Lower Ninth Ward. Half the time the community doesn’t know this space exists, but when they find out, they’re like, “wow! I can get this printed or I can do this”. Community printing ranges from books to business cards to making posters for community events and funeral programs – which is a huge one. I love being able to do funeral programs especially because usually people are doing it last minute and really need the support and it’s super important to them.

FreeQuency: What do you think Antenna and our Paper Machine book arts facility at Antenna:6330 offers to the local community, especially as somebody who is from here? What would you like the community to know about the place that you work and the work that you do? 

Ken: I would love for New Orleans and the community of New Orleans to know that Antenna:6330 and Paper Machine are a space about learning. It’s not just about “we’re going to print your thing and then bye!”, it’s about teaching as much as it is doing the job. 

For example, when we have clients that don’t understand how to add bleed to their documents – we will help you learn how to add that bleed or work with you to help you understand not just what needs to happen, but why. Outside of teaching about book production, we also share events around the community. Since we print flyers for events, we get to know what’s going on. At the end of the day, it’s a space about learning and connection too, not just “doing the job”.

FreeQuency: how does the work you do through Antenna connect with your larger goals and ideals in life and the work you’re trying to do in the world as a storyteller, as a creative, as an artist, as a New Orleanian, as a Black person and all those other intersections of your being? 

Ken: (laughter) Oh, man. 

FreeQuency: Just keeping it light, you know? (laughter) 

Ken: This is not light (laughter). This is everything I work for… 

There’s a few different ways my job and time at Antenna have informed what I do in my practice. Mainly it’s the reminder I mentioned that freedom is also about press, but its also the realization that I’m in a position where I have a set of skills that helps people share their story. Not only do I have the skills as an artist to share my perspective, but I also have the skills as a print production specialist to help someone else tell their story. 

Outside of that, it’s helped me get better at organizing as an artist. It’s helped with my discipline and ability to put a plan into action. Book production has also taught me about process, it’s a reminder as an emerging artist and also just as a Black person from New Orleans that not everything has to be perfect, that first tries have worth and that its important to just get the work out. 

FreeQuency: What you were saying earlier reminds me a bit about that quote/philosophy of “each one, teach one” as well as this Toni Morrison quote from when she was a professor. She goes, “I tell my students, when you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab bag candy game”. The quote came to mind when you were speaking and I’m wondering – do you have any folks that you look up to creatives, whether they’re local, people who are personal in your life or giants like Tony Morrison that help ground and guide the work that you do, both as a creative and as a professional? 

Ken: The first person that comes to mind is Aaron Douglas who was a large name in the Harlem Renaissance painting era, and really huge in Art Deco. Obviously the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s helped redefine Black identity. That has influenced the way I look at my artwork and it being about reinvention and my own personal view about healing as a Black person, healing as a Black masculine person and healing as an individual…that healing means, at the end of it, you also need to practice redefinition and have a new way of looking at yourself and your experiences. His influence has definitely allowed me to realize I can talk about bigger things in my artwork especially given the political era we’re now in and knowing that it doesn’t go against my original view of redefining what Black identity and Black experience is in a modern way. That’s also something that I’m taking into account – how do I express a modern feeling of being Black and not just reiterating what past professors and artists have done? This comes from a lot of studying and being in community with other people so you can build those experiences and understand, and that’s the part I’m working on. 

There’s a few big names like James Baldwin, for example, who create with a rawness in his words about what it’s like to be Black. That’s what I want my poetry to feel like and what I want the words I write to feel like. 

The biggest thing I [currently] want to work on/through in my artwork is understanding gender a little bit more with a focus on understanding and deconstructing masculinity. My more feminist view of masculinity is definitely informed by Audre Lorde, – that’s like my three “big” people. 

FreeQuency: Are there any local creatives that you would like to highlight or spotlight?

Ken: Well, of course you.

FreeQuency: OK Ken, stop it (laughter)

Ken: No seriously…I was thinking the other day about how I want to take myself more seriously and the community aspects of being in the arts like how to communicate with people and build community…and you’re one of the first people to come to mind.

I see it, I feel it and I just be like, this is.. this is amazing. 

FreeQuency: awww … but really Ken…stop… 

Ken: Obviously you also follow that “sharing of knowledge” way of engaging with art and that resonates with me because every time I get helped by someone, I’m like, I can’t wait until I can help someone else. 

Another one would be Teneille Prosper. I love her paintings! The paintings are so raw in the way they tell their story and are so beautiful with the labor and history of collage combined into them. That sharing of history, combining of material, and raw approach is something that I appreciate. Especially since it comes from a Black woman’s perspective. She both teaches me and feeds my creative thinking on how I want to do similar things around Black masculinity.

The last artist I would love to highlight is Benry Fauna. I love photography and the way Benry captures vulnerability, the body, and the exploration of identity.