Untitled

Avi

Interview by L. Valena

First, please just describe what you responded to.

The piece that I got was a drawing. It was a picture of a person, possibly woman-identified, standing in the foreground holding some sort of sword. There was what appeared to be a spaceship in the background.

What was your first reaction?

Later on I realized that the image was maybe a reference to Kill Bill, although I never saw that movie, so it's kind of cool that I didn't get that allusion right at the front. The thing that stood out to me about it is here's this person who is femme, and possibly woman-identified, who seems to be harnessing their own power. Their own power within this weird kind of world. There's a spaceship in the background- there's something different about this. But I think what really stood out to me was the power it evoked. That's something I've been thinking about a lot as I've been doing photo shoots and portraits of folks, so it's definitely something that really resonated with me.

What happened next?

That's what I started thinking about. Here's this drawing that evokes this power. And like I said, it's something I had been thinking about lately. While I have had a history of doing lots of different types of art, what I focus on these days is photography- I do film and analog photography. I new I wanted to set up some sort of shoot with someone. For me a lot of times, while I do have some sort of symbolism within my photography, I also have kind of a literal interpretation, so I knew that for me, I didn't want to completely reenact the drawing, but I wanted something with a person that evokes the same sort of energy. Being in some sort of different world or landscape. And the other thing that's been important to me in shoots I've done this past fall, it's tended to be folks with marginalized identities. Mostly queer folks, QPOC folks, femme-identified folks, and giving space for folks to find that power within themselves. That felt important to me in doing this project.

So I reached out to a friend I had been wanting to do a shoot with anyway, and basically said that I was a part of this project, and I told her “I don't want to show you what I'm working with, because I don't want your mind to be skewed, but I want you to feel powerful and that you're in some kind of other world.” Then it became a collaborative piece with my friend. I didn't say, “I want you to wear this.” It was more like "What will make you feel more powerful as a person? Do you have an object that brings you that?" And she said she had an axe, which was perfect. Because as I said, I wasn't trying to reenact the piece, but finding these commonalities from the drawing, and it's important to me for folks to feel comfortable within themselves. That way they evoke their own power, and I'm not completely pushing something on them.

Her makeup choices, her outfit- she checked in with me about it, and I just said wow that's awesome. And then in terms of location, I can't say exactly where it is. I'm the third person she's ever taken to this spot, but she had the perfect location. This abandoned warehouse-type building. It was incredible. There was outdoor space with all this graffiti, and it was weird mix of urban and nature- this decrepit, decayed space. We did this whole shoot, I shot 800 speed film, and it was my first time using that film. But I thought it would work- inside it was a little darker, but there were a lot of windows. And we just basically played around during the shoot. There was a whole narrative to it. When I submitted the photo, I really wanted to edit it down to one image that spoke to the whole thing. But there was a whole backstory to it. She was exploring this weird world, similar to the feeling that I got from the drawing, which I showed her later on after the shoot. At different points she's searching, feeling kind of weird, but also a lot of images of her being really powerful as she's exploring this world. I mostly shot film- I shot outside in 400 speed. We did some backup shots and some videos of her just tromping around. There were two different outfits we were working with. A lot of amazing photos came out of the whole shoot, which I would also like to share with the project.

Something funny that happened- my friend showed the image to someone she doesn't really know very well, and they said that it was appropriative. Someone else asked what they meant, and they said it was appropriative of queer culture. And it was explained that the model was queer, the photographer was queer, so I don't know... And they were like "Oh well, if they weren't, then it would have been."

What advice do you have for someone else who's going to do this?

One thing is just do it. I remember when I first got the email, and it was so official. You have one day to respond- are you ready for something? And I said yes. And then the prompt came, and it said "You have two weeks to do this." And it was scary, but also so cool. It held me accountable. And also it got me doing something different. Yes, I've been doing shoots with people, but I like that there was a prompt. Take inspiration from that prompt, it will get you doing something different than you would have. The fact that me and my friend ended up doing this badass shoot at an undisclosed location- you know what I mean? But also, it doesn't have to be that far off from what you already do? How can you relate the prompt to what you already what you want to be exploring? That feels really cool too.

Yeah- I think it's cool to have an excuse to take adventures in the name of art. Is there anything else you want to talk about?

I really liked the prompt aspect, the accountability, but also that it then became this collaboration between me and a close friend. It meant so much to me, and it meant so much to her. She sent me this text a few days after. I shoot film, so there's some lag time there. It's really exciting to get the film back. Having to wait, but then getting the film back, especially when doing a cool project like this. A few days after I got the film back and showed her the photos she sent me this text: "I keep looking at these photos you took- they make me feel so real." And that was so powerful to me. Yes, we were doing this exploration, and doing this fun shoot, but also there was this sort of genuineness for her, and that collaboration was there.

Call Number: C21VA | C27VA.haUnti

Avi is a Boston based teacher and film photographer who has been shooting for 11 years mostly with her/their Canon AE1.  Avi loves documenting every day life experiences, both with portraits and urban and rural landscapes.  They also shoot collaborative portraits that are meant to empower and embolden her subjects especially for other queer folks or folks with other marginalized identities.  As described in a website review: “Each photograph is a vibrant, unfiltered keepsake of an ephemeral moment given over to memory."