BLACK women photographers

I’m in my advice-taking era.

For the moment, and perhaps for the foreseeable future, I’m going to lean into the suggestions of my community. Especially if the labor is generative and pushes me beyond my comfort zone. Recently, I I launched a Kickstarter Campaign, begrudgingly, based on my previous failures that happened over a decade ago. My ego was bruised by those early efforts and I was clearly relying on hurt feelings to make the decision. But I’ve taken to allowing other aspects of my personhood to weigh in as well. Yes, my feelings were hurt, BUT it’s been 10 years of experience, and I am ensconced in a community that nutures me, and that I also have a responsibility to support. Dinah, who is always right, was about to contribute her own money, for the initial printing costs of the GOOD|BAD|BLACK|MOVIE|BINGO deck, but she’s a Black woman, a mother, a visionary, and a leader — she’s got enough on her plate. In either case another member of my community (trying to remember who - but I’ll certainly tag them when get it together) shared another opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone: THE BLACK WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS GRANT

Here are my application responses below:

Tell us about yourself and your creative journey. (required)

      So, I have this idea.  These ideas.  About in/visibility.  About the universality of human experience, reflection, and relationships. About the stories we tell -- it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere.   And I started making these books. Well, not books exactly.  But book covers, in the style of the urban fiction you might find sold from a table, circa 125th Street or Fulton Mall.  I gathered them up like trinkets and arranged them as literate tchotchkes.  Candy paint novels. But mostly, I was drawn to the images.  The all-kinds-of-beauty glossed up and shining, back when Black folks were only occasionally on the cover of mainstream magazines.   

     My ideas for these “books” are a growing cadre of super-sleuthing cosmetologists, baby daddies on the road to redemption, zombie-slaying skrippers, and hackable white male cyborgs.  Crafting each of these hood tales has been a deep dive into stock image libraries. I often came up short.  According to most stock image sites, only white people kickbox; or get kidnapped; or use prosthetics, or operate computers past the age of 65, or stand in front of a ‘SOLD’ sign.  Etcetera.  So, to make this work, I am forced into the material of celebrity. Sometimes it is a perfect fit, a clever setup for a joke. But many times, I am simply looking for the elevation of the mundane. Proof that identified blackness doesn’t deny an American life. 

     Originally, I thought this was purely an Art project, a sanctioned exploration vetted by an institution. But I found myself invisible, replicating the deficiency that I  discovered in my stock image search. Poorly lit, bound by stereotype, and underfunded.  But with this disappointment, an opportunity was revealed. An idea that could thrive in the marketplace and the museum - a network of partnerships including individuals, organizations, and an array of locales. BLIXEL exists as a platform to expand stock image options and normalize inclusion. A space to see texture, hue, shape, volume, and the various actions of culture. 

     Every step of my creative journey has been marked by a significant challenge, a drawing back, to be released to the next level. In this case, it is the need for support. I am asking everyone in my orbit to share this idea. To spread it like a weed, to contribute to its growth, to inspire it beyond novelty into ubiquity.

If you're applying for a $10K or $5K project-based grant, tell us about the project that you'd like funded.

     Initiated in 2020, BLIXEL: The (Re)Stock Image Project is an effort to elevate the everyday in stock imagery that features people of African descent. The project includes a growing list of photo shoot scenarios, from senior citizens as podcasters to children using virtual reality goggles.  BLIXEL is a community-based performance that privileges collaboration and intergenerational relationships.

     For this next iteration, A BLACK AQUATIC, I would like to extend my partnership with the Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs - Aquatics Division, and the Alachua Conservation Trust to document a swim safety course as a stock image collection.  In light of Anthony Nesty’s history-making turn as the first Black head coach of the US Olympic Swim Team, the more than 12,000 miles of coastline and interior waterways in the state of Florida, along with the pools and beaches that served as pivotal protest spaces during the American Civil Rights Movement, I believe a visual record of Black folks inhabiting these spaces is a necessary component for inclusion.  In addition, this project seeks to expand access to natural spaces through skill-building and repeated exposure.

How would this funding help you continue or complete your project? Please include a detailed breakdown of how you'd use the funds.

Project Length (10 weeks total)

$1200.00 | Swim Instruction Fees (4-weeks)

$1000.00 | Administrative Materials + Labor 

$1500.00 | Transporation + Parking (3 site visits/photoshoots)

$1500.00 | Craft Services (3 site visits/photoshoots)

$1000.00 | Supplemental Materials (i.e. portable seating, equipment rentals, etc.)

$1000.00 | Private Lifeguard (For three 4-hour sessions / 1-15 swimmers)

$2400.00 | Annual Family Passes - Florida State Park System (20 count)

$  400.00 | 4% Contingency

If you're applying for a Nikon Z kit, tell us which kit you'd prefer and how it will take your creativity to the next level.

(1) Z 8 and 24-70mm f/2.8 and 85mm f/1.8

While the 24-70mm lens allows for versatility, I think an 85mm prime lens would create the distinction that will highlight my subjects very well.  The Stock Images that I am hoping to create, are in contexts outside of the studio, often in natural spaces, and I'd like to ensure that my subjects aren't competing with the background.  With that said, the Z8 body has been well-reviewed, especially by landscape photographers.  And, as part of my project, we'll be documenting visits to various conservation areas, so these capabilities will suit the project well.

Why should the committee select you for this grant? (required)

     The development of my creative practice has always been inspired by its function as communal expression.  As my grandmother would say, “you are unique, but you ain’t special.”  I’ve interpreted this statement as a loving caveat, reminding me that everything I’ve created or accomplished is connected to history; to community; to ancestry.  In this case, A BLACK AQUATIC will showcase a community’s reconnection to the water with striking images, but, in turn, the funded project will provide support to extend that relationship.  I think the committee should be motivated by the Art and the affect/effect.

Anything else you'd like this committee to know?

As inspired by Black hair(care) | https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2014.201

As inspired by Whitney Houston | https://www.privilegeasplastic.com/press-archive/2023/2/8/black-femme-in-the-new-yorker

As inspired by George Washington Carver | https://www.privilegeasplastic.com/press-archive/2022/10/20/monument-for-a-new-era-by-dread-scott-ekene-ijeoma-nicole-awai-ariel-rene-jackson-titus-kephar-kenya-robinson

As inspired by Urban Fiction | https://www.amazon.com/Books-Kenya-Robinson/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AKenya+%28Robinson%29 

As inspired by the every day | https://www.privilegeasplastic.com/press-archive/2021/4/15/blixel-in-the-new-york-times