Authentic: a Conversation with Damola Akintunde - Art, the Lens, and Claiming an Authentic Self
authentic
a conversation with damola akintunde
In our latest episode of the healing.words podcast, I had an opportunity to chat with Damola Akintunde, someone passionate about the arts, everything from photography to dance to documentary work - and much beyond! As a Black + femme creator, I was deeply excited by the chance to learn more personally about Damola's work, to know how it came to be and where it might still be going. This one-hour chat touched not only on design and ethics in the creative process, but how we navigate creating at the intersections of (our own) Black and femme experience, the challenges of accessing narrative resources, and witnessing ourselves in the midst of a continual assault on Black life and thriving. Damola's photo work is an oasis, a place to breathe and be replenished among an otherwise harsh terrain, and I am deeply thankful you are able to experience it with me; this work holds space for us to continue to dream and name our own way of existing in the world, in all our shades.
Join me in witnessing the myriad truths and beauty that Damola had to share during this conversation.
damola
akintunde
art, the lens, + claiming an authentic self
(2:53)
A: I guess the first question is "really, where did your journey begin - how did you get started with photography?"
D: year-wise, it was 2016, which was my junior year of college -- well, I guess it actually starts a little earlier: my first time doing any sort of photography was actually when I was in middle school and I was on my school's yearbook committee and I decided to be the photographer--
A: oh, okay, you started early.
D: yeah, it was in the 7th grade, I believe, and I had no idea what I was doing. I don't think they really taught us anything, they just kind of pushed us out and said "take pictures of the school" and I really enjoyed it! At the time, I wasn't really thinking about what it meant as an art form, I really was just enjoying the idea of taking pictures of people in my life and capturing them in - I guess what we would consider - "mundane" moments.
So, I just really enjoyed that, and then I didn't really think much of it for a couple years until my junior year of college, which was when- I had a friend that was a blogger and she needed some photos. It was just like friendly, it wasn't serious, and I was just like "yeah, I mean, of course!" And I didn't have a camera, at the time. But after doing that and seeing how fun that was, to interact with her, and bring her ideas to life when it came to certain concepts that she wanted for her blog, I was like "okay, maybe I can do this for myself - maybe I can invest in a camera". And from there, I just started for free, taking pictures of other people and a lot of people were giving me that kind of encouragement and push to take it further and explore it as much as possible.
For the next two years, I've been on this journey mainly working with self-portraiture, but also taking pictures of other people, as well. I think, for me, the one thing that solidified my "claim", claiming the idea of being a photographer, was my self-portraiture, not even because I was taking pictures of other people, which I thought was really interesting.
A: mmm, I was wondering about that because it seems like you've worked with a lot of other people and included a lot of others in your process, but you feel like for you, it's the self-portrait work that's been the deepest reclaiming for you?
D: yeah, exactly - for the first couple years of college, I kind of was going through the motions because - for another background tidbit: I actually planned on being a doctor, for most of my life. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was 12, I probably would have said either an inventor or a doctor, but I actually pursued being a doctor, for the most part, up until college, until I had this really intense epiphany where I was like "this is not what I'm meant to do", mainly because I realised the passion wasn't there, I wasn't doing it for the right reasons. And once that happened, I kind of was like "who am I? what is my purpose?" I went into this downhill spiral, because for the longest time, I thought I was going to be a doctor because I wanted to heal people.
And it's kind of funny that we're talking about this now because I think the reason why I was so attached to that was because of the healing aspect. But once I found photography, I was like "wait, this is a form of healing, in itself" because it was a form of healing for myself when it came to seeing myself and reclaiming my body, reclaiming my identity. It helped me see my purpose, if that makes sense. It was very personal before it became a tool for other people.
A: that's so interesting because the way I've perceived it has been the other way, but I mean -- that's so fascinating to hear.
D: yeah, it's been interesting that in order for me to have the opportunity to work with other people, I first had to feel comfortable with myself and feel comfortable with the work I was creating for myself.
left: gabrielle, @gabgotti ; right: psalms, @psalmsolivia_
art
(14:33)
A: are you trying to now move into capturing people in like-- I don't even like the word 'capturing', that's such a problem--
D: yeah..
A: but just witnessing others in their own spaces without setting up like .. cause there's kind of the quality of being a lens, it automatically changes some things..
D: I guess, for me, I want to maintain the qualities that I've worked with right now in terms of - I like to think of my work as very .. I don't know if 'ethereal' is the right word but..
A: mmm..
D: there's a slightly dreamy quality of the work..
A: yes, there is!
D: that's what my intention is, at least, to kind of capture it in a more dreamy way. My intention is to use that quality, the things that I would pay attention to, but I would go out and do it in a way that's still taking pictures of very everyday-life situations, but still maintain the dreaminess of it. So, I bring my aesthetic to that work, when it comes to documentary work. Because I feel like with a lot of documentary work now, it's very like - even in situations where it's about people feeling happy, it still feels very inauthentic, or very forced, and I want to break that, just going in and showing people as they are but making sure that they're still seen as people, still seen as ..
A: having dreams?
D: beings.. yeah, having dreams! Because it's very easy to go to another country- I have a huge issue with this idea of a lot of Western photographers going to places that easily could tell their own stories but maybe have not as many resources to do so, and a lot of Western photographers take on this complex, feeling like they need to bring back their stories, but the way they're bringing it back, it still is portraying people as helpless and unable to share their own lives. That's always something I'm trying to think about and get into.
(19:47)
D: [my time in South Africa] was a good experience and I feel like it helped me - as a photographer - understand how to interact with people a lot better.
A: Like, in what ways?
D: It helped me understand how to learn about people's story, in terms of who they are, what they like, what their life journeys are, and - instead of me trying so hard to capture people and then leave, and not have any relationship with them, I was more intentional about creating relationships with people rather than taking that 30 minute conversation and just forgetting about who they are- stuff like that. It was good for me to learn how to build relationships with people beyond a photo. And that way when I did have photos that I could share with people, I had a decent understanding of who they were, like "hey, this is someone I met in XY place, this is who they are- this picture only captures one second of a moment in their life, but here is who they are beyond that".
the lens
(8:28)
A: so, what kinds of things are you doing right now as far as the works that you're creating- are you working on any projects?
D: yeah, I want to- basically the premise of most of my work is women of color, but more specifically, Black women, or non-binary/gender non-conforming individuals--
A: Thank you!
D: Trying to be inclusive! Basically highlighting people that identify most with similar situations that I've been in, in terms of just not feeling represented. Especially in art spaces, I think, a lot of the stories that are told about people that don't identify as cishet men, the stories are not being told by the people that are experiencing these things. It's very much the lens is in the eyes of white cishet men and I was really frustrated with that when I was growing up. Especially for me being a dark-skinned Black woman, I definitely did not see as much as I would like to. And that really hindered a lot of me growing up, in terms of self-esteem and in terms of having a really major identity crisis. Also having African parents was a big part of it because -- when I was younger at least, a lot of people would say "you're not Black, you're African" and that was also really hard to deal with--
A: People would say that to you?
D: Yeah, or they would call me an oreo because I didn't necessarily talk -- it was just like parts of my identity were being told by other people rather than me telling other people who I am. So, it was very important for me to be -- if I were to be in these art spaces, I wanted to make sure I was being a tool rather than formulating other people's experiences for them.
(44:30)
A: I want to know also, how - sometimes in my own photo work, I love the dreamy, ghost effect. I vibe with that. I love things looking faded, but also you talked about skin color and darkness and approaching that- has that come up as a major question of like.. are you editing these photos in any way, retouching anything?
D: For the most part, the way that I edit it is that it's very earth-toned. I try to bring out more of the earthiness of the photo, and also browns, I try to accentuate just a little bit, as well, just to reiterate how brownness is not-- it's seen as beautiful. I think there's always this-- we want to lighten people or make them seem closer to the Western, European ideal. So, if anything, I like to use greens and browns and muted colors, as well, to highlight darkness and brownness and these shades that are often seen as "not attractive" - I try to complement the colors in a way that brings that out.
psalms, @psalmsolivia_
authentic self
(46:14)
A: I'm seeing all the things you're talking about, with the earth tones and- somehow, it feels like you are approaching things so differently from how I would approach them, but achieving so many of the same sentiments.
D: I think that's what's really amazing about being an artist in general .. the idea that all of us will always have a different perspective when looking at the same thing, when trying to approach the same thing. And that creates an infinite amount of art, of content, that will never look the same - if it's intentional - because your experience is different than my experience and therefore whatever we create will always highlight those experiences, but simultaneously, still talking about the same concepts: in this case, healing. I find that really amazing and I think that's why I'm drawn to it so much. Because I know that my eye is my own and that no one can take that away from me, and no one can duplicate that. As much as they'd like to, they can try..
A: right, they can try..
D: but it's impossible: it would never be the same. And I cherish that a lot because that's something that I struggled with, the idea of who am I and what is my purpose and "what's special about me?" And it took a while to get to that point.
(39:57)
D: the idea of authenticity, I purposefully think about that in my work, in the way that- I make sure that my work is my work alone. I make sure that I'm not trying to be someone I'm not when it comes to who I am, creatively. And that's something I've had to think about throughout the journey because very early on, I was like "oh, this is the type of photographer I need to be to be well-known and to be noticed and"-- it didn't work. Because I could tell that this was not something I could put my name on: it wasn't me.
Once I stopped comparing myself to other people, in all avenues of my life, I felt like finally the authenticity was there. And it was an authentic energy that was my own, that wasn't curated by other people or formulated by other people.
You can find the full audio version of this chat on our podcast, healing.words - join the conversation!
Amani Michael
intuit.hue founder + guide
damola akintunde
photographer + visual creative
www.damolaakintunde.com/
insta - @damolaakintunde
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