The History of Nemo's Utopia

by Nemo

I am originally from Miami, Florida - a mixing of languages, cultures and expression always seemed very natural to me. In high school, my family took on a Japanese exchange student which led to several of my trips abroad and becoming student president of my school’s Center for International Studies. Determined to begin a life of public service devoted to peace and diplomacy after college - I tripled majored in Politics, Religion and East Asian Studies. Afterwards, I worked for close to two years in DC at a variety of non-profits - becoming deeply jaded and realizing that peace was simply not a priority in DC - I moved to Boulder, Colorado where friends were engaged in an experimental hip hop project.

For the first time, I started to relax my mind and learned to quiet its constant chatter. Through an epiphany in "no-mind mediation" I began to create art - symbols and figures from my religious studies began to appear in my work and take on new meaning. Strangely, at the same time everywhere I went, people mistook me for someone else they already knew, leading me to believe I must look like anyone or no one. Those combined to make the name Nemo, or Latin for "No One", appropriate. ( I studied Latin for about 7 years and "Nemo" was the name Odysseus used when the giant Cyclops Polyphemus asked him "What is your name little man?" - a favorite story from my time studying Latin) To come up with a name for the projects of No One was a challenge - but then it just struck me to use "Utopia" - Greek for "No Where" as an appropriate addition to the name. Thus, Nemo's Utopia - or "No one's Nowhere" - became the protean impetus behind a constantly evolving sales paradigm.

After finding frustration at selling art locally in the wonderfully conscious but economically depressed region of Eugene, Oregon, I began to focus entirely on the internet. At first, I only focused on my own art. Then I noticed some local friends that didn't have the time or energy to devote to selling their own works so I thought I might help out mainly to just get them exposure. As time went on, sales became more frequent and I began to include friends in the store as well. After spending time going to various music festivals I met many fantastically talented and inspiring artists. So many of these artists had unique and amazing images to share, but unless you met them personally at a festival there would be no way to ever purchase their works. Many of them also had inconsistent income generated by sales at festivals and personal commissions.

So - that was the turning point. I decided to make a stable store that would allow people from around the world to purchase these amazing, inspiring and empowering arts at any time of day while also doing my best to help the artists to have another source of income. We always strive to do our best to show respect to both customers and artists, giving everyone a fair deal and treating them as we would like to be treated.

In 2006 the mission changed slightly to include a variety of media from DVD's to books to further expand upon our mission of spreading inspiring and empowering ideas and arts world wide. With each order, we always include free promotional materials from artists, institutions and charities to help spread positive evolutionary energy wherever we can.

Thank you for your support of independently minded artists and creative souls world wide - together we can propose a new paradigm based upon mutual benefit, individual empowerment and the manifestation of inspiration! Look for us in multiple incarnations around the world wide web!

Blessings!

Nemo's Utopia

Our Mission Statement -

Nemo's Utopia seeks to become a global bridge for art, media and cultural artifacts that promote inspiration, creativity, enlightenment and empowerment in an affordable fashion.