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CREDITS: CO-DIRECTION, PHOTOGRAPHY,
LIGHTING
styling: Gregory Miller
hair: Performance
wardrobe: HoodByAir
LIGHTING
styling: Gregory Miller
hair: Performance
wardrobe: HoodByAir
2021
This project is a collaboration with director and stylist Gregory Miller. It’s also an extension of my series sometimes (i wish i could fly) [2020-]. A quotidian dream, the outset of the series is set against the stage of a global pandemic. I began the to forget the World. Being a non-binary, Black, neurodivergent artist from the South, I struggled making sense of my reality during this time so I often dreamt, played video games, and reflected on childhood. This series is a reflection of that: stages of my Escapism.
My favorite stage, ironically, has been Collaboration; I collaborate with other stylists, directors, producers and creatives in the series for extended Play. It reminds me of the stream of creativity that transpired at sleepovers with cousins. And our families struggled a lot, which often made the creativity more dynamic. Comforters and tall tees as gowns, gold foil as fronts, flashlights as spotlights. The stylistic choices speak to the chic mundane. Velvet capes remembering the couch, mysterious silhouettes remembering days’ shadows, or plaid hoodies remembering table cloths.
Furthermore, this is the first body of photographic work I’ve decided to not focus solely on Black subjectivity, in comparison to my oeuvre. As important changes within the industry transpire, it’s important to not limit myself to certain thematics for the sake of tokenism or diversity.
My favorite stage, ironically, has been Collaboration; I collaborate with other stylists, directors, producers and creatives in the series for extended Play. It reminds me of the stream of creativity that transpired at sleepovers with cousins. And our families struggled a lot, which often made the creativity more dynamic. Comforters and tall tees as gowns, gold foil as fronts, flashlights as spotlights. The stylistic choices speak to the chic mundane. Velvet capes remembering the couch, mysterious silhouettes remembering days’ shadows, or plaid hoodies remembering table cloths.
Furthermore, this is the first body of photographic work I’ve decided to not focus solely on Black subjectivity, in comparison to my oeuvre. As important changes within the industry transpire, it’s important to not limit myself to certain thematics for the sake of tokenism or diversity.
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CREDITS: PHOTOGRAPHY, CO-DIRECTION
styling: Gilcozart
makeup: Zay Ali
hair: LaTisha Simone Chong
wardrobe: HoodByAir
styling: Gilcozart
makeup: Zay Ali
hair: LaTisha Simone Chong
wardrobe: HoodByAir
2020
Even in quarantine, Black people are still on the outside. COVID-19 has created yet another view into the often broken lives of black Americans. Black Americans are dying at much higher rates than white Americans from the virus that has a worldwide death total of 282K. They are being sent home from hospitals and left to die. Their communities are being hardest hit not only economically but by the ways in which they are being policed.While white people in America are protesting their right to get a haircut, flaunting their hostility and immense privilege, young Black boys are still being murdered in the street by police with their deaths streamed for the world to see. In the midst of a global pandemic, Black folks are still fighting for their humanity. A fight they’ve been fighting for generations. A fight that has not ceased because the world is on lockdown. In a post-COVID-19 world, Black people should not have to explain their humanity. Black people should be able to exist in their own images and do so unapologetically. In America, we cling to the notion that we have choice, and if so what would it look like if Black people actually did? Shayne Olivers’ HoodByAir represents the “others”, the phantom images of an opposite society, the kids casted out into the world because they were unapologetically themselves. They are the glimmers of light on the way down to the pavement. The true champions of change. – Antoine Ivory
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CREDITS: PHOTOGRAPHY, CO-DIRECTION
styling: Ashlee Valle
makeup: Zay Ali
wardrobe: Kenco Korp
styling: Ashlee Valle
makeup: Zay Ali
wardrobe: Kenco Korp
2018