Growing up in care, and being an immigrant from Congo, Chris Especial never expected to one day run a business in the UK, selling his abstract art and clothing. He shares his story

By Marco Marcelline

‘Love Slumped’, Credit: Especial Gallery, Inset: Chris Especial

Growing up in care and bouncing from one home to another, Chris Especial began to draw as a way to cope with the instability of being a foster child.

But Especial, originally from Congo, never expected to one day run a business in the UK, selling his abstract art and clothing. “When I arrived in the UK, I didn’t know how to speak English. It was hard, but drawing and painting became a way for me to cope with the
changes. It was my therapy, my way of getting through everything,” he says, recalling his tumultuous upbringing.

Shunted from one home to the next, and as a black boywho struggled to be heard, he quickly fell into trouble. Speaking with candour, he says: “I was a broken child. I felt like I was so consumed by everything that was happening that I had no time for rationale. I felt like I could never, for once, let my guard down or be viewed as vulnerable.”

He started getting arrested for petty crime, and on paper, everything seemed stacked against him. The birth of his son in 2011 marked a turning point for him, however.

“I re-discovered I had a gift, a blessing that could change my life for the better or just a means to get by. I started to draw and expressed myself on blank papers, and the more I drew, the more I felt that this was right. It was my way to communicate but I felt like it
wasn’t enough; there was so much more I needed to learn.”

He scraped what he had to buy an iMac, and then, with the help of YouTube tutorials, taught himself how to paint and make animated art on Adobe.

Especial says: “It was a long road, but as I had a passion to make a difference in my life, I saw the light and managed to
navigate towards it.”

He soon developed a unique style classed as contemporary visual art inspired from manga animations he watched, and he now sells flavoured drinks from his business Especial Gallery, as well as key rings, stickers, and vinyl toys.

Meanwhile his unique artwork, starting at £10,000, has received numerous offers. The art itself is fantastical, and it has the effect of making one feel like they’re watching an unreleased cartoon show.

One series of paintings shows a group of colourful cartoon characters running through a forest, some sprinting ahead, while others stop in their tracks at the sight of snakes wrapped around tree trunks.

Especial is keen to stress that he wants to inspire others through his journey from being in foster care to running his own art business. He says: “I want young people to know that life doesn’t have to end on the streets, and that there are people out there with similar experiences who have turned their lives around.

“I want the youth to look at my life, and past experiences, and see that there is a better road; that there is that light at the end of the tunnel. I am willing to be that big brother, if it means I get to help another young person to find their passion.”

Check out Chris’ Instagram here

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