Debbie Yati Garrett is a mother, artist, entrepreneur, art instructor, filmmaker, director, writer, actress, and designer. Originally from New York City, she attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida. As a mixed medium artist, she works and teaches in a variety of mediums including fiber, ceramics, quilting sewing, crafting, painting, and drawing.
Debbie is the founder and the creator of Art FROM THE SOUL D.Y.G. She specializes in creating jewelry, garments, and home decor with Adinkra SYMBOLS as the core of the works. ART FROM THE SOUL D.Y.G is a joint business with her daughter Joy Garrett.
Past credits include creating a DIY craft show for 10 at 10 Tampa Bay, and appeared with CYC Productions TV program in NYC, where she partnered to produce motivational speaker Les Brown and Jawanza Kunjufa Events. She also worked with NYC’s National Black Theater (NBT).
Garrett has worked as an art teacher in the St. Petersburg community for over 15 years, at Family Resources Youth Art Corp, Wildwood Recreation Center, and Pinellas Park Recreation Center.
Her work in film includes as a location manager, director, producer, assistant camera person, art director, special effects/makeup person, costume designer, and most recently writer, and filmmaker. Her current project, SIMI,
Of her current SIMI film project she shares, “As a filmmaker and artist it has always been my dream to craft a project that could infuse both the colors and hues of life’s surroundings, canvassed by a powerful message. “Simi” in Yoruba means to breathe. And though this is a natural function of existence, still many of us live life minus the knowledge of knowing its true power and ways it can heal us.
Through the eyes of Simi, in this series my mission is to take you on a journey of mental health perspective through the supernatural and touch healing and show how often we take energy from each other (even unknowingly with greatest intentions) and the damage that’s caused when we don’t know how to give it back; having the desire to fix the relationships we break, but not always having the opportunity to do so; and the redemptive regeneration of learning to love yourself and Simi (breathe) in the beauty of life.”
Simi.the.series has been accepted and appeared at 15 film festivals across America and Canada and won five awards.
