Art, Comics, and More

#BlackExcellence365 Spotlight: Aundre Larrow

Hey Tumblr! Our first #BlackExcellence365 Spotlight of 2020 is Aundre Larrow (@aundrelarrow), a Brooklyn-based visual artist whose work has been featured on Adobe, Walmart, Verizon, and more. We got a chance to talk to him about his favorite projects, including his @teenvogue​ series showcasing the lives of formerly incarcerated women.

Tell us about yourself. When did your passion for photography start?

My name is Aundre Larrow and I’m a black artist based in Brooklyn, New York hailing from South Florida. I’m a Jamaican immigrant, an only child, and a Triscuit lover.

I started taking photos on borrowed film cameras from friends until I turned 15 and my theater teacher gave me his old Minolta SRT 101 as a gift. After that I would use my money from working at Old Navy and whatever I could talk my mom into donating to buy film and get it processed at the Walgreens a mile walk away. The passion started when I realized I could freeze moments I held dear and capture them. I loved getting my film back. I loved sharing it; Making little yearbooks and giving them to friends. I still have some of those prints in my childhood room.

Your work tells many stories, primarily of Black bodies which some photographers find it difficult to capture. What inspired you to make your series about shooting against darker skin tones?

Whew, I don’t know what it is about the phrase Black bodies, but it always hits me hard. I read an article on Mic. And it got me thinking.

I thought back to this teachable moment I had after college. I was interning at the Gainesville Sun. The photo editor had tasked me with taking portraits of the high school athletes in the fall feature, but I didn’t use a hair light. When I came back with the images, he looked at me sideways like “what’re you doing?” We can’t tell where their hair stops. (To make matters worse, I had used a black backdrop.)

I later learned from trial and error, from assisting photographers like Coty Tarr, and from studying the work of folks like Michele Walker, Joshua Kissi. Street etiquette paved the way for me at bevel, TBH.

You recently did a story with Teen Vogue featuring formerly incarcerated women. How did that project impact you and the work you create?

Maaan. You don’t know yourself until you’re in a small room listening to women discuss how painful it is, not being able to see their kids for months and months. One woman explained to me that one parent had abused her, and the other was enraged that she reported it. These women built new identities for themselves while separated from everything they knew. These two quotes will always stick with me:

“When I got out, it wasn’t like a walk in the park or whatever. When you’re in penitentiary, there are certain hours of the morning that you have to stand up to be counted. So I would automatically wake up and stand up. Sometimes, I would get up and lock myself in the bathroom. I spent 18 years in a room with a toilet and a sink. This was the closest thing, you know, to feeling safe. Can’t nobody get to you. It wouldn’t be until my kids would start knocking like, ‘Hey, are you okay?’”

And: 

“Our struggle has been from the beginning of time. Like I said, we’re a nurturing species. This doesn’t go for just the Black mother or person. Everybody, every racial background, has their own struggle. But, I think we’ve been beaten, raped, and downtrodden for so long that our will to survive and save the world has become like our bank.

You might not be my son, but if I see you in trouble, I am going to help. If I see the police run up on you, I’m going to throw myself in front of you. If I can save somebody’s son, I am going to do it because that’s how we’ve been built.

We, you know, from the slave ships, we were the ones singing them love songs, belly to belly and all the feces and stuff. We held on and kept everyone together and told them, ‘I love you and just hold on ’cause we gon’ make it.’”

How do you embody the mission of #BlackExcellence365 in your everyday work?

Existing is a form of resistance, no?  No, but for real, excellence is something I can’t determine for myself. I simply try to embody the process of creation. 

How has Tumblr allowed you to showcase your work and connect with other Black creatives?

Tumblr has brought so so many Black creatives together. Just to name a few, @skinnywashere, @stewyiscool, and Tutes; Tumblr OGs telling the New York story for so many of us to follow along. That community will last forever. Those connections are unbreakable.

When I interviewed @lawrenceagyei he spoke so fondly of finding the work of Joshua Kissi and how it inspired him. It brought a smile to my face 

Tumblr gave me the ability to shoot Fashion Week and a platform to share the full story. It’s one of the best things about the platform. Photo stories pop because you decide the weight of each image. It’s easy to share, reshare and show BTS.

Thank you for sharing your story, Aundre! 

Tumblr, do yourselves a favor and make sure to check out his photography and follow his journey. And, hey, we wanna hear from you. What other Black Tumblr artists or activists should we spotlight? Use the tag #BlackExcellence365 to let us know.