|
|
About the PhotographerQuil Lemons is a New York-based photographer, born in Philadelphia, with a distinct visual language that interrogates ideas around masculinity, family queerness, race, and beauty. He has photographed for numerous publications, including Vanity Fair, Variety, Teen Vogue, The New York Times, and Out Magazine. Lemons is part of the exhibition INWARD: Reflections on Interiority at the International Center of Photography (ICP), on view September 24, 2021–January 10, 2022. |
|
Truth in Photography: What's your process when you are making photographs?
Quil Lemons: The process with the ICP was a little bit different because it was shooting on the iPhone. I don't really shoot with digital cameras at all. The making of this was like completely unplugging from using my Mamiya, and film, and this very tactile sense of photography, and then really stepping into something that is of this moment and is the now. This newer guard.
Surprisingly, I think a lot of people think that my generation would be interacting with digital cameras, but we're actually doing the opposite. So it was basically like picking up a digital camera for the first time, really figuring out how to master it and maneuver in that world. But then at the same time, the iPhone is such a tool that I use daily that it just comes intuitively. There's no delay in me looking at this as another device to just shoot on. It's interesting to see how we can use these tools.
Quil Lemons: The process with the ICP was a little bit different because it was shooting on the iPhone. I don't really shoot with digital cameras at all. The making of this was like completely unplugging from using my Mamiya, and film, and this very tactile sense of photography, and then really stepping into something that is of this moment and is the now. This newer guard.
Surprisingly, I think a lot of people think that my generation would be interacting with digital cameras, but we're actually doing the opposite. So it was basically like picking up a digital camera for the first time, really figuring out how to master it and maneuver in that world. But then at the same time, the iPhone is such a tool that I use daily that it just comes intuitively. There's no delay in me looking at this as another device to just shoot on. It's interesting to see how we can use these tools.
|
The accessibility of the phone is what makes it kind of this pariah when it comes to making an image. I think it's kind of interesting to be challenged to work with something that most photographers look down upon or scoff at when it's something that we use on a day-to-day basis, that we wouldn't be able to get around or even navigate the earth in the way that we do if we didn't have our phones. I liked taking the challenge of using an iPhone to make valid works in the photo space, and really making something that was interesting and engaging. On a technical level as a photographer, I had to make sure that the lighting and everything was on. Working with the phone or working with newer age technology as a medium to make art presents this different challenge because you have to be valid in everything that you do. I felt like there couldn't be room for technical error when it came to making these images. And then it also gave me so much freedom because there's not many images that have been made, especially ones that have been respected, from this new set of technology.
I also like to push and expand the idea of a selfie and the idea of self-portraiture. A self-portrait is the first way we as people came to understand our bodies and how we even understand what beauty was. So then to take that and bring it into the age of the selfie and really merge the two worlds, dancing this line of what has now become mundane and everyday and ordinary. You have the idea of a selfie and then the hoity-toity regal approach of the self-portrait. My process was making a world that merges the two with my own world. In the process of doing this, I kind of stepped back from thinking about the titles and things that we name ourselves, because for so long I wanted to just be respected as a photographer. |
Quil Lemons, Melanin Monroe, 2021. © Quil Lemons
|
This project allowed me to step back into being something I feel like I always was, which was just being an artist and not being like, “Oh, my God, they want to understand this because I'm a photographer's photographer and they are only respected if I'm shooting on film,” and then stepping back and really just having fun with the idea of photography itself. It's about making images. It's image making. It's not just, “Oh, it has to be done in this routine way to be respected.” I feel like I allow myself to be more free with the terminology that I name myself.
TiP: So what is your background as a photographer?
Lemons: I did not enter this or any photo space with technical training or school. I went to The New School for Journalism and Design.
So my degree is in journalism. Photography comes from just my exploration of it as a hobby. Now it's become something that's not a hobby anymore. But I feel like what always has informed it is the journalistic practice of telling a story and making sure that comes through. And then when it's entering more of an art space, it's making sure that you feel what I'm talking about and what's going on here and there’s no disconnect. I was going to make sure I'd give the full story with the photo.
With photos, it seems that there's an immediacy. It's a response that we have with the iPhone. That response time is quicker, but at the same time I think storytelling becomes a different kind of challenge because of that immediacy.
TiP: The portraits and covers that you've done are very well thought out. They're very intentional. Tell me about how you tell stories with with an iPhone with it. Is it through the process of framing? Is it lighting? What's primary for you with the images?
Lemons: With the images that we made for this show, it was more so about taking the viewer along the journey of self-discovery and everything that went with understanding my blackness and my queerness and how that all comes to a head on an everyday basis.
The images are four different fragmentations of myself and relaying that in me splitting myself apart in four images. I think it kind of tells you and takes you along a journey, but similar to my journey of self-discovery, as I step into owning queerness, owning blackness, owning the intersections of it all, and then never allowing myself to fully be that. But then at the same time, being it all at once. I love the way that it's such a tight edit, because they're all in conversation with each other, but they all can stand alone. Basically, you walk along the journey, and you can walk forward or backward. I like that it tells the story in itself because it's soloed in four images, but at the same time, they work together. You can go in one way or, you can go in any order that you want to, but the message will still be the same. And it's that, I am all of these things all at once.
TiP: How do you pick your subject matter?
Lemons: My subject matter picks me. I'm never in search of a story. I just live my life and the things come to me. But I think my natural process and journey as a human allows me to run into the stories. I don't think that I could avoid them in any way. Some of them have required therapy, and this is also just my therapeutic process of dealing with the shit that the world throws at me. Even with the images that are going to be on display that is an actual response to me just breathing.
There’s been times where I don't have shit to say because there's not enough life that has happened in between projects. I need to experience and then relay. I think that's the call and response to all of this.
TiP: What about the framing process? What do you want the viewer to see?
Lemons: With anything that I'm doing, the most important part to me when it comes to framing or what I want you guys to see is the truth. That also comes back to the background in journalism. I'm not really interested in things that aren't real. And I think that's all relative to each person. But this is my perspective, and I use imagery to relay the truth.
TiP: What is truth in photography to you?
Lemons: I think that there's this disconnect between all of the spaces of art photography, fashion photography, journalistic photography, documentary. I think that all of them are relaying truths globally.
And I think that the most important part of it is just making sure that we get it right and we're not ignoring things. Everything needs to be shot in a way. When I was in J-School, they would say, “Fashion is not a real place to tell a story.” Or “Fashion journalism isn't real journalism.” And I was always like, “That's such a pretentious and exclusionary way of thinking about this when this is all important.”
They all inform each other no matter what. Everything in the world is always in conversation. To think of something as a lower form is very disrespectful. You're saying that this form of journalism is more important, and this truth is more important than that. They all have to exist, and they all will exist. I think the job, and as a human with a platform that people listen to, is making sure that nothing gets untold, because I think that's been the issue with cultures globally. I think that's how racism and evil things happen, if we don't properly share information from one part of the earth to the other. I think that like it all has to flow. But that's all on a deeper level. I don't think that's just about photography.
TiP: It's a question when we look at images, we question what's there. What’s the feeling when you look at an image and it's wrong?
Lemons: When it just doesn't feel authentic, I think that's like the most important part. I hate when images are too reference heavy or when they are just a fabrication of the same thing over and over again. But I think that also needs to exist. I get the most excited when things are authentic and true. It's just like, “Wow, that's so amazing,” because that person could have been the only person to take that picture.
TiP: Authentic is another one of these interesting intangible words. What is authentic?
Lemons: Yeah, how do you even quantify that? I think about also love in the same way. How do you put that into words or describe what that actually feels like? And I think that we as humans just know when something is authentic, and we know when something feels new, feels raw, and straight to the source. I think you can get that also in photography. When something feels electric, when a photographer is in their moment and documenting something so new. You also know when a photographer has just gotten good at telling you the same thing. And I think that also is important. But it's really nice to feel the electricity of authenticity.
TiP: In terms of your queer identity, that's a complicated area to visualize, to say something that's true, that's meaningful, and at the same time does not feel like you're doing something that someone else has already done. How does that work for you? How do you feel your work pushes that further?
Lemons: I think the work just naturally got better because I've gotten more comfortable with myself. When talking and addressing queer topics, it's something that I have to do a lot more delicately than any of my other editorial work, because it is so close to me. And it is not just about me. It's about so many people that live the same experience that I do. And so it's about getting it right, but also just being myself and knowing that that is just a valid thing. I could also get it wrong and that’s fine, too. But it’s also just not being afraid. I think that's the key to doing anything that's that personal, is just really keep pushing myself to go further and explore further.
TiP: So what is your background as a photographer?
Lemons: I did not enter this or any photo space with technical training or school. I went to The New School for Journalism and Design.
So my degree is in journalism. Photography comes from just my exploration of it as a hobby. Now it's become something that's not a hobby anymore. But I feel like what always has informed it is the journalistic practice of telling a story and making sure that comes through. And then when it's entering more of an art space, it's making sure that you feel what I'm talking about and what's going on here and there’s no disconnect. I was going to make sure I'd give the full story with the photo.
With photos, it seems that there's an immediacy. It's a response that we have with the iPhone. That response time is quicker, but at the same time I think storytelling becomes a different kind of challenge because of that immediacy.
TiP: The portraits and covers that you've done are very well thought out. They're very intentional. Tell me about how you tell stories with with an iPhone with it. Is it through the process of framing? Is it lighting? What's primary for you with the images?
Lemons: With the images that we made for this show, it was more so about taking the viewer along the journey of self-discovery and everything that went with understanding my blackness and my queerness and how that all comes to a head on an everyday basis.
The images are four different fragmentations of myself and relaying that in me splitting myself apart in four images. I think it kind of tells you and takes you along a journey, but similar to my journey of self-discovery, as I step into owning queerness, owning blackness, owning the intersections of it all, and then never allowing myself to fully be that. But then at the same time, being it all at once. I love the way that it's such a tight edit, because they're all in conversation with each other, but they all can stand alone. Basically, you walk along the journey, and you can walk forward or backward. I like that it tells the story in itself because it's soloed in four images, but at the same time, they work together. You can go in one way or, you can go in any order that you want to, but the message will still be the same. And it's that, I am all of these things all at once.
TiP: How do you pick your subject matter?
Lemons: My subject matter picks me. I'm never in search of a story. I just live my life and the things come to me. But I think my natural process and journey as a human allows me to run into the stories. I don't think that I could avoid them in any way. Some of them have required therapy, and this is also just my therapeutic process of dealing with the shit that the world throws at me. Even with the images that are going to be on display that is an actual response to me just breathing.
There’s been times where I don't have shit to say because there's not enough life that has happened in between projects. I need to experience and then relay. I think that's the call and response to all of this.
TiP: What about the framing process? What do you want the viewer to see?
Lemons: With anything that I'm doing, the most important part to me when it comes to framing or what I want you guys to see is the truth. That also comes back to the background in journalism. I'm not really interested in things that aren't real. And I think that's all relative to each person. But this is my perspective, and I use imagery to relay the truth.
TiP: What is truth in photography to you?
Lemons: I think that there's this disconnect between all of the spaces of art photography, fashion photography, journalistic photography, documentary. I think that all of them are relaying truths globally.
And I think that the most important part of it is just making sure that we get it right and we're not ignoring things. Everything needs to be shot in a way. When I was in J-School, they would say, “Fashion is not a real place to tell a story.” Or “Fashion journalism isn't real journalism.” And I was always like, “That's such a pretentious and exclusionary way of thinking about this when this is all important.”
They all inform each other no matter what. Everything in the world is always in conversation. To think of something as a lower form is very disrespectful. You're saying that this form of journalism is more important, and this truth is more important than that. They all have to exist, and they all will exist. I think the job, and as a human with a platform that people listen to, is making sure that nothing gets untold, because I think that's been the issue with cultures globally. I think that's how racism and evil things happen, if we don't properly share information from one part of the earth to the other. I think that like it all has to flow. But that's all on a deeper level. I don't think that's just about photography.
TiP: It's a question when we look at images, we question what's there. What’s the feeling when you look at an image and it's wrong?
Lemons: When it just doesn't feel authentic, I think that's like the most important part. I hate when images are too reference heavy or when they are just a fabrication of the same thing over and over again. But I think that also needs to exist. I get the most excited when things are authentic and true. It's just like, “Wow, that's so amazing,” because that person could have been the only person to take that picture.
TiP: Authentic is another one of these interesting intangible words. What is authentic?
Lemons: Yeah, how do you even quantify that? I think about also love in the same way. How do you put that into words or describe what that actually feels like? And I think that we as humans just know when something is authentic, and we know when something feels new, feels raw, and straight to the source. I think you can get that also in photography. When something feels electric, when a photographer is in their moment and documenting something so new. You also know when a photographer has just gotten good at telling you the same thing. And I think that also is important. But it's really nice to feel the electricity of authenticity.
TiP: In terms of your queer identity, that's a complicated area to visualize, to say something that's true, that's meaningful, and at the same time does not feel like you're doing something that someone else has already done. How does that work for you? How do you feel your work pushes that further?
Lemons: I think the work just naturally got better because I've gotten more comfortable with myself. When talking and addressing queer topics, it's something that I have to do a lot more delicately than any of my other editorial work, because it is so close to me. And it is not just about me. It's about so many people that live the same experience that I do. And so it's about getting it right, but also just being myself and knowing that that is just a valid thing. I could also get it wrong and that’s fine, too. But it’s also just not being afraid. I think that's the key to doing anything that's that personal, is just really keep pushing myself to go further and explore further.
|
This is the first time I've actually shot and used my body as the vessel to relay art to other people. That was a very cathartic experience because I normally create these worlds with other people in them as the sitters, and to be the sitter, but also have the world created, felt like it was an invitation into a larger world. This is opening a door into a different space to play as an artist. Extending it into becoming a lot of characters and morphing and turning into different things allowed me to understand and know where to push, especially the queer black male form in the image, and really knowing how to utilize my blackness, but also my queerness. Having those worlds combined in some of the images and having one be more present and one being less present, it was such a give and take. But it was expansive in the same way. It felt like I was opening this door for others to be as bold as I am, even though it's such a warm or womb-like space where it was just me shooting me. But then placing it in the context of the ICP or placing it in the context of my Instagram, or these platforms that are so large, that are just extensions of myself in a way, is extending it into cyberspace, extending it into physical space.
Making the image itself was all different acts of revolution because to be a queer black man utilizing an iPhone, utilizing the space of the ICP, utilizing my body is something that not many people get the chance or feel the safety in doing. Knowing that that all happened to get to this point to us having this conversation is therapeutic on a whole other level. But I also can't wait to put that out into the world because I know some people are going to relate to it. I'm hoping. I think that this exhibition will show that this is not just an image, it extends past the image, because I live the life. TiP: There’s something about using your own body as an object that connects to the world of fantasy as much as reality. |
Quil Lemons, Genesis, 2021. © Quil Lemons
|
Lemons: When other people view my work, when it's not myself, they project on to it in a way where it's like, “Oh my God, this is so beautiful. This is so nice.” And then when you see me, it's like this you're projecting, but then at the same time, it's like you're being interrupted with the fact that this is an actual person, this is the actual person that made this. And I think that that tension creates a very different thing, if it's done well.
TiP: You’re describing this in terms of the reality and fantasy emerging at the same time. In what ways does this convey perhaps a deeper truth?
Lemons: Because I shot myself in drag, it felt so different, but it felt like me. It felt like I was meeting a different version of myself at each iteration of these images. When I showed people the image before, like my curators, some people don't even recognize that that's me. And I think that that's the really fun part of it all, is that I could be all of these things at the same time. And then I feel like we all are multiple versions of ourselves and we flip and choose as to which one we will be in every current moment. And I think that that duality is what the goal is.
I'm really searching for the language, but I don't think there is much language. Being able to really see yourself as multiple beings is a very different experience. I am a huge Marvel fan, and when they were like, “Okay, this is a different variant of Loki,” in the Loki series, I was like, “This is exactly what I was talking about.” It was like the larger human experience that we all
have multiple sides to ourselves and this idea of ego and id is so fractured. We never really get to talk about the fragmentation. But for me, as a queer black person, I feel like you have to pick and choose what parts of yourself you have to be. It was finally nice to have that all coexist, because it can never.
TiP: Do you think using the iPhone as your tool made it easier or harder?
Lemons: Hmm. I don't know, I think that we are still figuring that out. I think that that's the fun of it, is that it's such a new tool and the internet is also such a new space. Is it good or bad? I think that's still the question we're having on an existential level. I don't know. But I know that this is the only way to advance and keep going forward with the idea of image making and the immediacy of the image, being able to share it so quickly. That in itself is pushing photography to a new space. The idea that everyone has access to a camera that you could do whatever on, and it's technically strong, I think that opens up the world to photography itself. I still think I don't know the answer to that question. I think we're too early on in this era of technology to know if it's good or bad.
TiP: It's difficult to know because we don't know how it affects people. We don't know if Instagram is making us more literate or is making us more ignorant visually.
Lemons: Are we supposed to even see this many images? I think about how media was shared in the past, the circulation of images was not this high. I think that it's trained us to know when something is really bad. But then I still question, do we know when things are really good? But I also think that's why it's fun to have these tensions where it's the iPhone in a museum, and I think that is such a "Wait, can this be real? Can this be happening?” As an artist I always want to be curious. That's the fun of it all for me. I would rather just be pushing myself to see “Was this bad? Was it good?” It happens. And I think I'd rather have it happen than not at all.
TiP: Where do you see your work going next?
Lemons: I try to just stay present in whatever moment, whatever feels good to me. That’s the real teller of where my work will go. I'm really enjoying the museum space just for the conversation of it and just the staying power. I'm really interested in making images that have a really long life span. Working in fashion has been really fun, but the flip side has been, it's so quick. it's nice to just do images that are for me, that was also the really fun part of this.
This is me finding me, and no matter what, if people move on from the images, I will have them of myself. And I think that's really nice. And I think that's also why I shoot my family so much. It's like “These are for you guys to enjoy, but they're mostly for me.”
TiP: You’re describing this in terms of the reality and fantasy emerging at the same time. In what ways does this convey perhaps a deeper truth?
Lemons: Because I shot myself in drag, it felt so different, but it felt like me. It felt like I was meeting a different version of myself at each iteration of these images. When I showed people the image before, like my curators, some people don't even recognize that that's me. And I think that that's the really fun part of it all, is that I could be all of these things at the same time. And then I feel like we all are multiple versions of ourselves and we flip and choose as to which one we will be in every current moment. And I think that that duality is what the goal is.
I'm really searching for the language, but I don't think there is much language. Being able to really see yourself as multiple beings is a very different experience. I am a huge Marvel fan, and when they were like, “Okay, this is a different variant of Loki,” in the Loki series, I was like, “This is exactly what I was talking about.” It was like the larger human experience that we all
have multiple sides to ourselves and this idea of ego and id is so fractured. We never really get to talk about the fragmentation. But for me, as a queer black person, I feel like you have to pick and choose what parts of yourself you have to be. It was finally nice to have that all coexist, because it can never.
TiP: Do you think using the iPhone as your tool made it easier or harder?
Lemons: Hmm. I don't know, I think that we are still figuring that out. I think that that's the fun of it, is that it's such a new tool and the internet is also such a new space. Is it good or bad? I think that's still the question we're having on an existential level. I don't know. But I know that this is the only way to advance and keep going forward with the idea of image making and the immediacy of the image, being able to share it so quickly. That in itself is pushing photography to a new space. The idea that everyone has access to a camera that you could do whatever on, and it's technically strong, I think that opens up the world to photography itself. I still think I don't know the answer to that question. I think we're too early on in this era of technology to know if it's good or bad.
TiP: It's difficult to know because we don't know how it affects people. We don't know if Instagram is making us more literate or is making us more ignorant visually.
Lemons: Are we supposed to even see this many images? I think about how media was shared in the past, the circulation of images was not this high. I think that it's trained us to know when something is really bad. But then I still question, do we know when things are really good? But I also think that's why it's fun to have these tensions where it's the iPhone in a museum, and I think that is such a "Wait, can this be real? Can this be happening?” As an artist I always want to be curious. That's the fun of it all for me. I would rather just be pushing myself to see “Was this bad? Was it good?” It happens. And I think I'd rather have it happen than not at all.
TiP: Where do you see your work going next?
Lemons: I try to just stay present in whatever moment, whatever feels good to me. That’s the real teller of where my work will go. I'm really enjoying the museum space just for the conversation of it and just the staying power. I'm really interested in making images that have a really long life span. Working in fashion has been really fun, but the flip side has been, it's so quick. it's nice to just do images that are for me, that was also the really fun part of this.
This is me finding me, and no matter what, if people move on from the images, I will have them of myself. And I think that's really nice. And I think that's also why I shoot my family so much. It's like “These are for you guys to enjoy, but they're mostly for me.”
