minneapolis portrait and fashion photographer // elizabeth
As I’ve taken more and more time away from photography and instead focused on my art direction career, I’ve reserved whatever remaining creative energy I can muster to take on projects I am truly passionate about. There’s been a few weddings here and there, but it’s mostly personal projects. While I haven’t done a styled shoot since October 2018, I’ve spent the last two years working on PLACED, examining the diverse experiences of Korean adoptees and the many nuances of our identities.
I realized sometime during the process of creating PLACED that the whole point of my existence as a creative, whether in art direction or photography, is to uplift the existence of marginalized folks. The personal work I had been doing before PLACED did all these things, but I didn’t quite have the language to communicate my ‘why’ in a succinct way. I know what it’s like to not see anyone that looks like you in media and culture and how severely that impacts how you see yourself and determine your worth. It warps the very vapid definition of beauty we so heavily emphasize in this culture.
Elizabeth is one of my closest friends. We met last summer at a protest and spent the rest of the year [and years to come] fighting for justice for our communities. We’ve talked a lot about our ever evolving definitions of beauty and perception as women of color. We’re both obsessed with art and fashion, but lament over the lack of representation in many art forms or how trends/styles/forms were not created for people like us in mind. Therefore, we decided to do it on our own terms.
Initial inspiration was renaissance era paintings in which the (cis) female body is celebrated. Those notions of beauty transcended throughout history, but what about the Black femme? Our goal was not to necessarily recreate these paintings, but instead reinterpret them with Elizabeth’s own ideals of beauty and femininity. We formed a crew of almost all WOC, painted a few backdrops, and made this shit happen!
If you’re looking for a way to support Elizabeth on her birthday (and really, every damn day), please take time to learn about the happenings in her homeland of Tigray, Ethiopia. She has been dedicating what’s left of any emotional labor to bring awareness to the massacre, and support the victims. She’s designed a t-shirt in which 90% of the proceeds goes towards relief funds for the Tigrayan people. Please consider buying one or donating to her directly.
CW: nudity from a strong & beautiful Black body.
C R E D I T S
photo & concept: diana albrecht
styling: eb umana
makeup: sophia liliana
florals: lizzy baker of play bouquet
assistants: photo / jenna mahr, floral / vanessa villaverde