From Basketball to Art: The Story Behind CityEvoke

Memories from the past....

For 22 years, basketball was my entire life. Born in Sydney, Australia in 2003, I was hooping since I was 6 months old. From starting at Hills Hornets as a double bottom-age player in U12’s to earning MVPs, championships, and even training at the Michael Jordan Flight School camp in 2012 and 2013. I lived and breathed the game. I played for Sydney Comets for the majority of reps and then Blacktown Storm later, and represented NSW in state competitions. I attended Westfields Sports High School until halfway through Year 10, then took my dream even further, living in a dorm in the U.S. to attend high school at Montverde Academy and play there in Florida, aiming to play professionally and maybe even in the NBA one day.

Winning five awards at the 2012 Michael Jordan Flight School basketball camp.Celebrating our victory at the 2016 Helloworld U14 Club Basketball Championship.With my Montverde Academy post-graduate basketball team after winning a tournament in the U.S.

By then, I had already built a presence online through my first YouTube channel, JordanMilesBballStar, which gained traction after attending the Michael Jordan Flight School. That channel grew to 3.3K subscribers, with my videos steadily racking up views over the years. My broader popularity, though, came after U14 nationals with Sydney Comets. I was gaining recognition not just on the court, but also online.

My JordanMilesBballStar YouTube channel, where I posted basketball content during my playing days.

The journey was going smoothly—until it wasn’t.

When COVID hit, borders closed. My family struggled financially, and my dream paused. I couldn’t return to Montverde to finish my senior year. 

In early 2024, I entered what I called my “training arc.” I worked hard to get back in shape after waiting for 3 years to go back to America. I aimed to return to form and prove myself again. By December 2024, I made the Blacktown Storm Youth League Division 1 team. I thought this would be my comeback.

I told myself it was just a phase—that if I pushed harder, the spark would return. But deep down, I knew things were different. The game I loved had become tied to fear: fear of falling behind, fear of disappointing my family, fear that my one shot had come and gone. I kept training, kept showing up, but the joy was fading. It was the first time I questioned if the dream I had chased for so long was still truly mine.

During the pandemic, with basketball off the table and no tournaments to play in, I found myself with time I never had before—time I had once devoted to drills and conditioning. That time opened a door I’d long ignored: art. Drawing, a talent I hadn’t nurtured since childhood, started to feel like an old friend coming back into my life. Without the pressure of the game, I rediscovered my passion for sketching, for creating, and for expressing myself in ways I hadn’t allowed myself in years.

But 2025 was the breaking point.

I made the hardest decision of my life. After two decades, I told my coach I was done. I quit basketball to pursue the arts.

And for the first time in years… I felt free.

What kept me going through everything was something I’d forgotten: art.

And during this creative rebirth, I found a new source of inspiration: designing my own streetwear. Combining anime art with urban style, I began sketching ideas for a brand that captured my love for both culture and design. And that’s how CityEvoke (City Evoke) was born. It was a leap—one that meant stepping away from basketball for good—but in that moment, I realized that pursuing this dream felt more authentic, more true to who I had become. It was time to build something of my own, something I could pour my heart into, and finally, push CityEvoke (City Evoke) into the world.

Drawing had always been my constant. From sketching Sonic, Great White Sharks (because of JAWS) and Spiders (because of Spider-Man) as a kid to drawing Dragon Ball characters during holidays, to building my YouTube channel DrawIsMyMiddleName. Which now has 3.35K subscribers and is growing in views. Art had always been there, quietly waiting for me to come back.

A collection of my childhood self-portrait, shark and Sonic drawings, with me holding two of my shark sketches in the centre.

My DrawIsMyMiddleName YouTube channel, where I share my art and drawing videos.

CityEvoke (City Evoke) isn’t just clothing, it’s art turned into movement. A way to put emotions onto fabric, my canvas. Every design reflects something personal. From neon-lit cityscapes to anime inspirations to cyberpunk streets, my designs are meant to feel like stepping out of reality and into my creative world. I want people not just to wear my art but to feel it. To relate to it. To express themselves through it.

The name itself means everything to me. The city, the skyscrapers, the trams, the late-night food, the fashion stores has always been where I felt inspired. “Evoke” is what the city does to me: it wakes up my senses, my creativity, my soul.

Now, I’m building CityEvoke (City Evoke) to be both a clothing brand and a creative movement. A space for anyone who, like me, finds freedom in expressing who they are. For those who feel like their passions were lost, but art gave them back their voice.

My current workspace where I create CityEvoke (City Evoke) designs and art pieces.

 

This is just the start.

 

Welcome to CityEvoke (City Evoke).