Agni Zotis: The Art of the Silver Lining

Talking to Strangers (About Music)

When I first met NYC artist Agni Zotis at a cafe near her apartment/studio in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, I knew she was a force to be reckoned with. In her iconic gravelly voice, inflected with a little Greek, by way of Queens, she offered up tales of the nonprofit she created to bring kids much-needed meditation and art, May Kids Transform. And she spoke of the inspiration she'd found for her latest series at the time -- amazing fluorescent depictions of the cosmos, backlit. When I brought my own InspireCorps interns to her place to get inspired last summer, it felt like Agni gave them nothing short of a true understanding of...well, the universe, and humans' small place in it. We sat down and chatted recently about Agni's new pandemic-inspired series, aptly named Silver Lining. She is working fast and furiously during this crazy time. After all, this is the woman whose t-shirts proclaim, BE NICE. She gets it.