Written by Elise Mullen, Photos provided by Kaylah Sambo
Fourth year photography student, Kaylah Sambo, has explored many different avenues throughout the creative world, leading her to play with adding graphic elements to her photography.
Initially pursuing street photography, it was the commercial world that pulled Sambo once she decided to make photography a career. “My mom is a fashion designer so I literally grew up around fashion. I still really love doing that but lately I’ve been getting into shooting musicians because of the creative freedom you’re able to have,” Sambo said, “With fashion, the focus is on the garment, as it should be, and your photography is meant to highlight the garment. But with people and focusing on the personality of a musician it feels like you can do really wacky and creative things so that’s where I am going with it.”
Her mom isn’t the only one who has influenced her work, in fact Sambo comes from a naturally creative family. “My dad is a painter, and he draws and is incredibly creative. My aunt is a painter and musician and recently has gotten into making puppets. My uncle is in film and owns a production company and is always introducing me to old and new films and talks to me about books and creative processes. I think being a part of a creative family, that is not just specifically photography, but every aspect of creativity, helps dictate what I see in myself and how creative I can be,” Sambo said.
Exploring different avenues within the creative field such as printmaking, video, animation and more plays into the feel of Sambo’s work, and sets it apart from others. “I think the word aesthetic got a bad reputation when I was a freshman, saying something is so aesthetically pleasing, but I do like aesthetics and making something pretty for pretty’s sake is really fun and I like the idea of making work that’s fun to look at and fun for me to make, I never want to be bored of the stuff I make,” Sambo said.
Although passion and excitement for your work is what every artist strives for, when COVID-19 hit, it lead to a lot of creative uncertainties. “The beginning of quarantine was really hard. When we were told that school was going to be online it was hard to figure out what I was going to do. I don’t think I made anything I liked, I was making work for the sake of getting it done,” Sambo said.
“I think in photography, and in our courses, we get a lot of freedom to shape our work to our portfolio and what we want to do and I think after the effects of spring quarter where nothing I made even touches my portfolio, I was determined to not have that again. I recognize we’re still in the pandemic, and things are still hard, but if I am going to be paying full tuition I’m at least going to make sure that the work I am making is something I am proud of,” Sambo said.
In society, oftentimes being Black consumes your identity, that is what you are known as. “It’s a huge driving force so I’m not Kaylah the photographer or Kaylah the SCAD student, I’m Kaylah the Black photographer or Kaylah the Black SCAD student,” Sambo said, “I’m not saying it’s wrong to be labeled as Black, obviously that’s not a bad thing by any means it’s just that when that is the main focus it takes away from you as a person and that’s when we get into the idea that you can’t be this because you’re Black. If I shoot a black model then automatically I’m representing our culture when in reality I see them as pretty portraits, this is just work I want to make. This isn’t Black work, it’s just art work.”
Sambo acknowledged that race does impact some of her work, but it is not her main focus as an artist. “You can’t deny that race is a part of your life. There are things that affect me and some of my work is heavily driven by my race. But at the same time, it’s not the only factor. I wouldn’t say this is the kind of work I make because I’m Black, it’s just what I like,” Sambo said, “There doesn’t need to be a special category or special lane made for Black people. We can be a part of the same category as anyone else and still hold our own.”
