Arielle Bobb Willis

0:11Uh, hey, my name is Ariel. I'm based in LA, but I grew up between New York City and upstate New York. I first found photography in high school while being diagnosed with depression. And then years later in college in New Orleans, um, after being hit by a car on my bike, I realized how random and fragile life can be and decided I wanted to pursue photography unapologetically while I had the chance. I was bedridden for six weeks after the accident. Um, and I became really curious about what a portrait of myself would look like without me being in the photo. Um, I had a lot of time obviously. So I started

1:04looking at painters, fauus, surrealists, German expressionists, Harlem Renaissance, black outsider artists of the American South, um, films, street photography, even my younger siblings drawings and realized all of the things I loved were all in conversation with each other in some way. I like art that is not answered right away. Um, there's color, there's shape, there's abstraction, but also play, reality distortion, intuition, um, and this need to express something rather than represent it perfectly or logically. Um, all the artists I admire seem willing to bend reality to make something that feels true to them. And, um, I think I was drawn to that freedom and selfrust.

2:02Um, I started thinking of where that portrait of myself would be taken. I also had like $20 to my name when I first started shooting, so I just used what I had. Um, which is outside and the sun. Uh, working outside has definitely become a part of my creative language. Um, I love meeting inspiration halfway and being out on the street provides that. I'm always looking for color and light and texture, something to respond to. I approach styling similarly. I'm thinking about clothing as color and texture and how it could interact with the body and the environment. I go to thrift stores, 99 cent stores, and it's not really about you looking cool. Um,

2:50more about becoming one with the composition. I'd rather you be art than be sexy. Um, I didn't know after the accident in 2015, but over time, the more I've gotten to know myself, the more I've understood why creating this world has been so necessary for me. I create because photography has become my way of staying available to life. Um, it's a therapeutic practice for me first. And photography asks me to stay present when depression wants to keep me thinking about the past or the future.

3:34Um, my photography brings me back to what's actually right in front of me, like these two tangled in this green stretchy dress I got from Goodwill. Um, my work has given me a pure, deep understanding of how magical the world is in spite of how gray it can sometimes feel. Um, it reminds me of how important it is to notice and practice gratitude while we're here. And I love using materials we might not use in adult life, like colorful popsicle sticks. Um, I used Vaseline to stick them to Dcoin's face and he was incredibly patient and trusting for sure. Um, so yeah, I think we think of our purpose a lot as humans

4:27and photo has taught me that I'm already purposeful. Um, all I really need to do is be and be present and noticed. Um, notice uh beautiful pink bantto knots um and a brown textured wall with beautiful 5:00 p.m. light. You know, it helps me fall in love with as much as I can. And I can be overwhelmed, maybe some of you as well, by how unpredictable life can feel. And there's just something incredibly gratifying about having this space where I can create a world that makes sense to me. Um, a world where we are all simply color and shape and um, I'm super particular with location and subject and styling and props and even posing. But when I'm on the shoot, I

5:25improvise constantly, and it's very nice to get out of my own way and just make what feels right in the moment. It's pure feeling. Um, the work itself is where all of these ideas and feelings um I have come together to become something tangible. Color is emotive. It can say everything that needs to be said.

5:52Um, so within just creating for myself and posting my art online to Instagram, I started to naturally over time build a following, a community of people. I started to get writeups in the New Yorker, and it's nice that early on, um, I was asked to be a part of the New Black Vanguard book, which was a life-changing experience for me. My work was a part of all of the traveling shows around the world. Um, I was actually asked to make a sculpture for the Cleveland Museum of Art and it's titled to be with you such of you. Um, it reminds me of what love can feel like with another person if you lose yourself within the relationship.

6:41Um, I love gallery shows in unexpected places. This was my exhibition titled Furiously Happy with um Capture Photo Festival which was shown in Toronto in the Toronto subways and Furiously Happy was also shown as a billboard exhibition with the festival in Vancouver which was really cool. Um I think there's something really special to me about putting art back into places where life is actually happening. um like this Chinese restaurants parking lot which I really loved.

7:14Um I've been creating and working within the industry for a decade now and um I've had the opportunity to publish my first monograph which I have here. Woo! Yay! With Aperture titled Keep the Kid Alive. Um, I think the title perfectly describes what photography has given me. Um, a way to stay connected to that truest part of myself underneath all the complex noise of life. Um, that knows I'm okay and approaches the world with curiosity and selfrust. Um, I have this signed book for anyone after who would want to come and meet me. And you can have it if you Yeah.

8:03So, just meet me. Meet me if you Yeah. Um, so yeah, for years now I've been creating original artwork with the iPhone for Apple. Um, I shoot 95% of film. Um, 95% of the time I shoot film. Um, but I genuinely use my iPhone constantly to take pictures in my everyday life. I love street photography. Um, it forces me to continue to be completely present.

8:34Um, I actually have this series called People Are Always Posing for Me. Um, nobody's actually posing for me obviously, but sometimes everything comes together so perfectly and um, it feels like the world is just gifting me photographs. And I love street photography because you have so little control and it's such a difficult thing to do well. Um, my everyday images and my constructed photo shoots that you saw are always in conversation with each other. What I notice in real life often finds its way back into the photographs I make, like the shadows and the yellow wall, the movement of the hula hoop, and I just love how connected and sweet the couple is with the Kirby T-shirts. I think it's

9:22just a sweet moment. Um, and lately, apparently, I've just been noticing paint everywhere. Um, I have albums and albums on my phone of different categories of photos I've collected over the years, but I love these little mysteries like who decided to paint on this door? Did someone spill paint on their feet and like walk away? Um, and then why is there like a perfect green handprint on the side of this house? And I don't know. I have no idea. But they're just these inexplicable traces of life. and it's exciting and light and and fun.

10:02Um, through creating my own work and the everyday work as well, I've had the privilege of working in fashion. Um, fashion has never felt completely separate from my personal work. Um, within fashion uh within my fashion editorials, I still use clothing to express and still use crayons and paint and locations. I love um working with a magazine like Vogue who sent me a bunch of bags to shoot and style one year can obviously give me access to clothes and people and locations that allow me to expand the world I was already building.

10:43Um like this carousel shoot in Harlem where each animal is a kids drawing. So it's a sweet bonus and something I really want to do more of. Um, I'm currently pitching a lot of ideas, so we'll see. I also get to work with other artists, um, that I admire a lot, um, including two Valentino campaigns with Lady Gaga, um, or the New York Times music issue with all of these wonderful, um, artists. It made me more confident working with different kinds of people who already have their own strong sense of self, um, just like I do.

11:22There were like 50 fans behind me when I took this photo of Lil Na's X. Um, but it was such a beautiful moment. Um, with the last bit of light of the day, I only used sunlight and we ran around LA going into alleyways when we could to get some privacy. Um, yeah, every artist I've worked with has been so kind and so open to my ideas, which has been great.

11:53So, yeah, I've always thought artist portraits as someone standing in front of their work, which can be beautiful obviously, but I wanted to approach it a little differently with painter Tadasia in Rio. I wanted her to embody her work. Her paintings are so expressive and dominated by color and I styled it all and it was just a beautiful it was a great trip. I've also had the opportunity to work with more com in the more commercial world like with Nike and UGG and many others. Um, and it was definitely a learning curve for me, but it teaches me how to advocate to a huge group of people what an image needs and which has also helped me across all of my other photo shoots, but also it helps

12:41me be better at communicating in my personal life as well. So, yeah. Um, whether I'm constructing an entire photo shoot or walking down the street and noticing a handprint on a wall, it all comes from the same loving um, devoted place. I'm devoted to curiosity, to paying attention, and allowing myself to be moved by the world around me. And I just hope all of you have something in your life that makes you feel as present and balanced and grateful to be here as photography does for me. So yeah, thank you.

13:37Thank you.