Kennedi Carter
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Meech, 2020
Kennedi Carter
“I think, at times, when you don’t have power, the next best thing is to look as though you have it.”
- Kennedi Carter
Exhibition:
Flexing/New Realm
Museum:
CAM Raleigh
On Display:
March, 6th - May 10th, 2020
Hours:
Temporarily Closed
On March 6th, 2020, Kennedi Carter’s Flexing/New Realm opened at CAM Raleigh. Over a year in the making, the exhibition is rich with symbolism, talent and a commitment to “capture different stories.” Last week, I had the honor to sit down with Kennedi, over the phone, and to hear more about what inspired her show and what motivates her as an artist.
Enjoy her thoughtful words and her breathtaking photographs.
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Gemini, 2020
Kennedi Carter
Elizabeth Mathis Cheatham: Kennedi, I am thrilled to be talking with you over the phone. I was only recently introduced to your work—and am so glad I was! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your story?
Kennedi Carter: I’m Kennedi Carter, and I’m a photographer based in Durham. My family is from Texas and Philadelphia. I’ve been doing photography for 4-5 years. I started in high school, and I kind of just ended up sticking with it.
EMC: Do you come from a creative family, or was it something you stumbled on and found that you were really talented with and loved?
KC: I took a photo class in high school, and I ended up liking it a lot. My family isn’t really big into the arts. I mean, my dad, he writes on the arts, in particular an artist—her name is Wangechi Mutu… She’s a collage and multimedia artist. But he’s an academic and a scholar, and my mom is an occupational therapist.
EMC: I always love to learn about artists and will look forward to learning more about Wangechi Mutu’s work. As I was preparing for our conversation, I spent some time on your website. In your bio, you state that your work “aims to reinvent notions of creativity and confidence in the realm of blackness.” Will you speak more to this?
KC: With my images, I want people, especially black people, to recognize the fuller picture and feel as though they resonate with them, and, I think, reinvent the ways in which black people are represented in the media, whether it be in regards to wealth or self-expression. I think that what I aim to do with the work is just capture different stories.
EMC: Recently, on March 6, your solo exhibition, Flexing/ New Realm opened at CAM Raleigh. What inspired this show?
KC: In my art history classes, I wasn’t seeing a lot of works with people that looked like me. I thought it’d be interesting to reinvent or reimagine a particular form of art with a black face. I thought it’d be interesting mainly because the Elizabethan time period in particular—when you see those paintings, the people pictured are wealthy. I thought it’d be interesting to further correlate how socio-economic status and race work together—to showcase the way in which we want to be received by the world. I think, at times, when you don’t have power, the next best thing is to look as though you have it. I thought it’d be interesting, too, to pair this up with the term “flexing.” I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but it’s kind of a black term and it means to showcase what you have, whether it be money, or whether it be a new outfit that you have, or it’s a new house that you got. Where does this need for—not necessarily approval, but wanting to look as though you have power—how does that enter the picture?
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Stephanie, 2020
Kennedi Carter
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Charman, 2020
Kennedi Carter
“I wanted something that pulled from the Elizabethan period but didn’t feel stuck there and had contemporary elements as well”
- Kennedi Carter
EMC: When we were speaking the other day, you shared that there was another element of complexity…that during the Elizabethan times, Queen Elizabeth…
KC: Yeah. Queen Elizabeth I had signed a declaration to deport all of the black people in the kingdom, and I thought it was interesting because 1) You don’t see black people in that form of portraiture, but 2) if they were pictured, they were often in a position of subservience, pictured to further showcase the person depicted’s wealth. For example, they would often be a servant or a slave or just a maid. They would include them in the back of the photo, and oftentimes they’d be overlooked. I think it made it even more interesting to kind of erase that and to not necessarily rewrite history, but to look back on it and address it for what it is in order to move forward.
EMC: There are so many incredible photographs from this exhibition. My favorite shows a woman in a green dress with an elaborate feather necklace. I think it’s just breathtaking. Will you walk us through this piece? What inspired you with it, what were you thinking with the composition, and maybe even how did the day look when you photographed it?
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Cassandra, 2020
Kennedi Carter
KC: Okay. So the person pictured—her name is Cassandra, and she’s based out in Charlotte. I’ve been wanting to shoot with her for some time. She has these really interesting freckles that go across her nose and cheeks, and I had asked her, ‘Could I take a photo of her,’ and she’s like, ‘Yes.’ So she came down to Durham, and I shot this near Hayti. There’s this old mural that used to be up, that used to be there but it’s kind of fading away. It doesn’t look how it used to look. So I set up there, and then I shot, and people were staring. It was so funny because people would come by in their cars and take videos and pictures. It was just a pretty cool experience. We wanted, I think with the clothing here in particular t0—I wasn’t the person who styled it; Eric Gaard at CAM Raleigh was the one who styled it. But I wanted something that pulled from the Elizabethan period, but didn’t feel stuck there and had contemporary elements as well. So the girl has back braids and hoop earrings, and she has these elaborate feathers on her in this green, flow-y dress. I thought it was a nice element to make it more modern but still pull from that time period in the grand scheme of the show.
EMC: Well, it’s just exquisite. I love it. You spoke to this a bit with her, but as a whole, how do you find your models? Do you know a lot of them well, or do you find them throughout life…? How does that work?
KC: Usually how I go about it is I find people through Instagram, and I just DM them if I want to take their picture sometime. Or I’ll see people in public. In one image in particular—so Cassandra, I told you I met through Instagram. The guy that’s wearing the blue jeans and the fur vest around—I met him at a barber shop and asked if I could take his picture. And I met the woman with Vitiligo, Mariana— I met her at a beauty supply store. There’s one other woman that I met—she’s more androgynous-looking; I met her at a block party a few years ago. Another person was my pastor’s son. I just kind of ask around. It’s really a community thing. And if someone says, ‘No,’ then I’m like, ‘Okay,’ and just let it go.
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Shahqeel, 2020
Kennedi Carter
Photograph Courtesy of Kennedi Carter
Mariana, 2020
Kennedi Carter
EMC: You’ve found such wonderful models, for sure. I was wondering what you have learned this last year that has made you an even better artist and a human as a whole?
KC: I think that good work takes time. Last year, I was just trying to shell out work and do it and do it, trying to get new things. But planning helps an extensive amount, and I think that’s something I learned in this project too. We started it around this time last year and didn’t shoot it until this year and had everything printed and mounted for the show. So it was a yearlong process, and it gave me time to find models and find clothes and get everything in and fully plan out the whole project.
EMC: Well, it was certainly time well spent. I really look forward to sharing images of this, because people are just going to be blown away, as I was.