Meet birdfoot brown | Writer, Photographer, Filmmaker & Spirit Expressionist

We had the good fortune of connecting with birdfoot brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi birdfoot, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is the act of taking a chance. Venturing into the unknown with hopes of something beneficial on the other side. To be an artist, and to make a living as an artist, is to live a life of constant risk. Risk lives in our bodies; our bodies push us toward it. We can’t hide from it. We have to follow it and learn what life has to offer along the way. Branching out in this way has become a new venture for me. Throughout most of my life, I have shrouded away from risk taking, opting in to the safety of not trying or being seen trying. Operating from a center of fear and the illusion of being protected by that fear. The first half of this year has shown me that living that way isn’t possible anymore. The safety of not trying is very tempting, addictive even, because you think you can’t get hurt. But life still hurts in that hidden place, even if you’re numb to it. Hiding pain only allows it to fester and infect you deeper, but stepping out allows it breathe and heal, so we have to try. Healing demands the risk of feeling. Being an artist and a growing person in general, for me, is to do or keep dying. Refusing risk means refusing growth and change, and what is not growing and changing is dead. Living necessitates risk. Branching out as a full time artist demands risk. The uneasiness of being out there, trying something new, “failing” — or learning lessons of what doesn’t work — publicly, and betting on yourself. I’ve chosen to bet on myself and embrace risk as a part of my path. I have muted the breadth of my existence and am shedding that layer of coping to step into the fullness of who I am and learn the beauties and mysteries carried by this river of life. Leaving the small, quiet cave of stagnancy I created/survived on and stepping out into the world where it is loud and colorful and scary yes, but also a place where I can grow and become giant.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a multi-disciplinary artist/spirit expressionist. I am a writer, a photographer, a filmmaker, an editor, a collage artist, and an archivist. My work is rooted in a spiritual understanding of myself, my lineage, and the world around me. My art is personal expression but also spiritual expression. My heritage as an African American with roots in Georgia and South Carolina grounds my position in a Southern cultural spiritual expression. As a connoisseur of mermaids, fairies, and a grand pantheon of fantastical creatures, I find the brush between physical human life, spiritual existence, and the vast array of mythical (or spiritual) beings that shape our world. I find worlds within me and collective memory and build them out through photos, stories, poems, videos, and collages.

As a photographer, I capture portraiture, events, interior design, high concept shoots, the abstract, and nature. In my high concept portraiture, I am exploring suppressed feelings, holistic healing, the development of spiritual understanding, celebration of queerness, and whatever feelings need to arise from the subject. I love to shoot in an improv style, capturing what happens in the moment in its most raw form, but also love the detailed planning of a shoot from lighting and the set to costuming and poses. I love the diversity of my work where I can situate in meditative work with an individual, be in a loud crowd capturing moments of ecstasy, or in a newly balanced place documenting interior design. I have a balance of polished and raw work that exemplifies who I am as a person and artist, and the array of people I am coming to work with. Photography feels similar to writing and editing and other art forms for me where I am truly finding the story in the process and creating medicine for myself and whomever I’m working with. Going into my fifth year as a photographer, I am developing more skills technically in my craft, spiritually as a vessel for expression, and socially as I am growing my network of local collaborators, building a clientele, and establishing my brand as a fantastical spirit expressionist. These same skills are mirrored in my film work, especially as film is a collaborative art form.

My film work is rooted in documentary and is expanding in narrative. The nature of the projects I work on are situated in dealing with the expansiveness of the human experience, breaking out of struggle, and sharing ways to grow. Taking on powerful documentary stories has helped to not only shape my “world sense” (Oyèrónké Oyewùmí, The Invention of Women, 1997), but has strengthened my storytelling skills and allowed me to connect with local filmmakers and crew members to help foster my own filmmaking ecosystem. Getting film editing jobs began with doing intern work for small non-profits and small brands, which allowed me to have a reel of work and position myself to get paid work on film projects. Along the way, certain projects fell through due to lack of financing, creative differences, timeline changes, and complex circumstances of life. This is a part of the process that I think none of us can avoid, and perhaps necessary to understand the roadblocks that pop up with bigger projects that involve more people. These conflicts teach problem solving skills, especially as an editor when facing issues like a lack of b-roll, poor audio quality, and glitching files and equipment. My job also requires me to communicate concerns to the director about how viewers will experience the film. Telling them if a take comes across poorly, if the structure of the story isn’t making sense, if the music fits the tone, and a host of creative and technical issues that could prevent the suspension of disbelief. Ultimately my job is to shape the story out to make it a believable, immersive experience for the audience, fulfill the director’s vision, and uphold the integrity of the heart of the story. Chasing the heart of the story is a constant across all of my artistic mediums. It is the purpose that drives my creation, and the fire that keeps my drive as an artist alive. Gaining those skills fortifies my ability as an editor, a communicator and collaborator, and as a filmmaker developing my own projects and as an independent artist.

Subject and character wise, I aim to center Black and queer stories because that is what is most important to me. Most of the film projects I have worked on are situated in the vast expanse of Blackness and queerness, covering stories from the many folds of our being. I am largely influenced by Toni Morrison’s realization that in order to read the stories you may want to read, you have to write them. I desire to see Black, queer stories imbued with magic, so that is the vein I write from. And that same energy flows to my photo work, my collage work, and my video work. Operating from this colorful, mystical understanding, my art is ultimately a labor of healing and creatively expressing what emotions and experiences need to come out and be named.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A Rundown of A Week in ATL:

Monday:
Activities – Ponce City Market
Food – eat at restaurants there; Botiwalla by Chai Pani

Tuesday:
Activities – Botanical Gardens, then Piedmont
Food – eat at restaurants at Piedmont; Flying Biscuit

Wednesday:
Activities – Hiking/nature walks
Food – Pack sandwiches, fruit/snacks (granola/protein bars), water

Thursday:
Activities – Black Art in America & MINT Gallery during the day, Open Mics/Live Music at night
Food – Tassili’s

Friday:
Activities – Six Flags/White Waters
Food – eat at the park

Saturday:
Activities – Chill all day (watch tv/movies), ALT ATL Party at night
Food – Tacos & Tequilas Mexican Grill, Sugar Shane’s

Sunday:
Activities – yes, please bookhouse & carespace, then another nature walk
Food – cook a big meal at home, Sweet Hut

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to my ancestors for making a way for me. They are the reason I exist and guide me through this big life of mine with gentle care and necessary discipline. And to all of the monumental, titan artists — living and dead — who came before me: Toni Morrison, Lucille Clifton, Toni Cade Bambara, Julie Dash, Barbara McCullough, Carrie Mae Weems, James Baldwin, Pearl Primus, Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, Dr. Katrina Hazzard-Donald, Zora Neale Hurston and on and on and on….And to my loving partner who is with me in my steadiest and shakiest moments, grounded in fierce love and intimate understanding, and growing in our lives together.

Website: https://www.byarielbrown.com

Instagram: @byarielbrown

Other: Email: brown.ariel.n@gmail.com

Image Credits
All photos shot by me, birdfoot brown
Blue portrait co-credit: Courtney Harris