Process Magazine - Jessica Lehrman Feature

ISSUE 06 THE VISUAL ARTS GUIDE

PROCESS Kelli Anderson

Jessica Lehrman

Maira Kalman

Aundre Larrow

An exploration of multiple mediums and the artist’s well trodden path

In conversation with a rebel photographer always looking for her revolution

The whimsical art of brilliant, Manhattan based author and illustrator

Finding new ways to look at art, others and ourselves through the camera lens

PROCESS

36 Kelli Anderson

F E AT U R E S

An exploration of mediums and the well-trodden path

42 Jessica Lehrman In conversation with a rebel photographer looking for her revolution

01

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51 Aundre Larrow Challenging the assumptions we have about ourselves

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62

Maira Kalman

James White

ARTICLES

The whimsical art of Manhattan based author, designer, and illustrator

The 80s called and they want their jacket back

01 How to Contact Art Directors

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The right and wrong way to send a cold email with tips to get their attention

05 Stories Behind the Lens

How to facilitate your best ideas

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27

14 Art is a Gamble

Critique Like a Pro How to Stay Cool Under Pressure

for Artists

How to keep your work from taking over your life

Pivotal People of Inspiration Sometimes all you need is someone to tell you that you can

How to use portraiture as a form of storytelling

09 Time Management

Attack the (Creative) Block

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Outsider Art The undone style that influences the most established artists

Why taking risks can help to move you forward

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Jessica Lehrman is a New York based photographer whose work has been featured in publications like the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vice, Vanity Fair, and Spin.

She’s been exploring New York City’s underground rap and hip-hop scene and documenting a six-week road trip with her family, examining the Occupy Wall Street movement, touring fracking sites with Yoko Ono, or collaborating with fashion designer John Varvatos.

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Describe your path to becoming a photographer.

learn a lot in art school, but I’d also spend a lot of money that I didn’t have. I wanted to do nonprofit work and collaborate with artists and make money and help people

I fell into photography by accident. I originally wanted to

instead of only helping myself. Don’t get me wrong: art

be a painter, but I was horrible at it. The problem was that

school is amazing for lots of people, but it didn’t feel right

my parents are so supportive that anytime I did some-

for me.

thing, they’d say, “That’s so amazing! You’re so talented!

You should do that for a living!” My dream was to go

Central America and photographed there for a while

to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), so I applied

before moving to Santa Monica, California. I ended up

for their pre-college program. Since I didn’t go to high

getting hired as a photographer for the Santa Monica

school, I needed to get some experience with that type of

Mirror after I met the art director, Deborah Daly, at a yard

structure. The RISD program was basically a three-month

sale. It was so random. That woman changed my life. I

introduction to college, so it was perfect.

love her. Around 2008, some friends of mine were attend-

After I left RISD, I took two years off. I lived in

ing Purchase College, State University of New York. They

Were you homeschooled?

told me to look into enrolling, saying it was like the cheap version of RISD. I didn’t necessarily want to study art, but

Kind of. I did a super alternative state-funded homes-

I still wanted to be around artists, so I decided to apply.

chooling program. We were required to study regular

Unfortunately, they denied my application because I

subjects like math and science, but we also took classes

didn’t have a transcript. The closest thing I have to a tran-

about sacred geometry and read books like Howard Zinn’s

script is a list of all of the feelings I had about my classes.

A People’s History of the United States. If I ever have kids,

(laughing) That didn’t work for Purchase, so I had to call

they’re definitely going to do it.

them numerous times to convince them to let me in.

When I went to Purchase, I triple-majored in

When I was 16, I accidentally got hired to do a commer-

new media, arts management, and media, society, and

cial for Cingular Wireless and made a shit-ton of money.

the arts. It sounds more artsy than it was: most of what

I did not grow up with money, and it was the perfect

I learned was about marketing, how to run a nonprofit,

amount of money I needed to attend RISD. I applied at

and how to set up a business in the arts. It was amazing. I

the last minute, so I didn’t get into the painting program.

learned so much from it. I was able to work for the college

Instead, I ended up majoring in traditional photography.

doing photography and marketing, although I didn’t make

I borrowed my friend’s Canon AE–1 without knowing how

much money. It also set me up to enter the music world,

to use it at all. After shooting my first roll of film, I was

because Purchase was super music-focused, so there were

completely hooked. I thought, “I’m done with everything

a lot of musicians and bands that I could photograph.

else—I’m going to do this forever.” Looking back, I’m so

glad painting didn’t work out.

During the summer of my freshman year, I went to India

Did you choose photography because you didn’t get into painting?

I went there for two years before dropping out.

with a friend. When I came back to school, everything was different. I thought, “I can’t do this.” During my next year there, I slowly started feeling disenchanted by the idea of college. Then I got arrested, which was super expensive,

Kind of. I wanted to get into the art world, and the pho-

and that basically served as the push to drop out. After

tography program seemed like the most obvious way to

that, I moved to Brooklyn, and I’ve lived here for six years.

see what it was all about.

It’s crazy! I feel so old. It’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere

After studying photography for three months, I learned

in my life. Growing up, my family traveled around a lot.

that I hated art school and didn’t want to be there. I

My parents are gypsies, and we moved every three or four

wanted to study business instead and become a pro-

years. We lived in an RV a lot of the time. I call Colorado

fessional photographer. I fell in love with photography

my home because I had most of my formative experi-

because I love telling stories, and I wanted to tell stories

ences there, but we only lived there for four or five years.

without necessarily being an artist. I’m more interested in

So living in Brooklyn for six years is a long time for me.

the journalistic aspect of photography. I knew that I would

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When you first moved to Brooklyn, did you imme-

diately start working as a photographer or did you

photo booth company. The photo booth job was actually the best, and it taught me a lot. It was all about getting

have a day job?

people to pose within a very short amount of time. I shot

No, I was crazy. I made the stupid decision to not get a

their friends at events, and it was a lot of fun. I did a lot of

day job because I believed it would deter me from look-

silly photo jobs for a long time, and I was poor for a long

ing for photo jobs. It was the worst summer of my entire

time. I’m still pretty poor, but at least now I’m at a point in

life. I was paying $400 a month to live in a closet in Bush-

my career where I’m actually turning work down, which is

wick with bed bugs. I was on food stamps, and I remem-

great. I don’t want to put my energy toward projects that

ber crying all the time because I couldn’t count up enough

aren’t positive or won’t move me in the right direction. I’m

change for the subway. I was completely miserable.

being more selective with what I shoot and how I shoot

it and who I want to be associated with. But back then, I

It was good, in a way, because that’s how you get

hungry. I was losing weight and thought, “I need to work.”

hundreds of people who all wanted to take photos with

took whatever jobs I could.

But I told myself that no matter what I did, it had to be photo-related. One of my first jobs was working as a club photographer. I went out in the middle of the night with all of my camera equipment and shot super sketchy places on the Upper West Side, then came home on the day train with a handful of cash—it was bad. I also worked as a bar mitzvah and wedding photographer before working for a

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Was creativity part of your childhood?

Very much so. We didn’t have a lot, but my parents were able to create a whimsical, magical world for us where anything was possible. We traveled with the circus and

I have chosen to shoot stories that have a darkness to them, and that darkness has definitely taken a toll on me numerous times. My family has been supportive of me through all of it, even when they probably should have said, “If you’re unhappy, you need to come home.”

Was it difficult to photograph subjects like Occupy Wall Street and fracking sites?

Yes, but out of everything, the most darkness I have found has been in music. It’s difficult to witness the way people treat each other and how the industry works.

There’s a lot of pettiness, backstabbing, and competitiveness; it’s a fickle world. I’m overly sensitive and I take what people say seriously, so sometimes it’s hard when I feel a certain way about something and the rest of the world doesn’t. For instance, I consider everyone I photomet incredible people and had artists stay with us. I

graph to be a friend of mine, so I feel hurt if a band asks

remember waking up in our one-bedroom apartment in

another photographer to tour with them. Letting myself

Tucson and seeing 26 clowns sleeping on our floor and

become so involved in that world brought me to a pretty

having to step over all of them to get to the bathroom.

depressed state this last year. I’ve been pulling myself

(laughing) My parents taught me that anything is possible

out of it slowly by doing documentary pieces on cultures

and that you can do whatever you want to do.

outside of music. I first got into music because it felt revolutionary, and I believe it still is.

Was taking the photography class at RISD the

“Aha!” moment when you realized that photography

But I’ve seen musicians come in with grand ideas about

was what you wanted to pursue?

how they’re going to change the world and say everything

There was a moment at RISD when I took a photo and was

fame dilute all of it. It’s disappointing to feel so excited

chased down by a bunch of dudes because of it. That was the moment I realized how much power there is in photography. The adrenaline of being chased by those guys because I did something that meant something to them was a crazy “Aha!” moment of recognizing that you can make a difference and influence people with this medium.

You can tell someone’s real or false story, and there’s a lot of responsibility in that. That’s exciting.

they want to say, only to have companies and media and about a revolution, only to have it end so quickly. I don’t know what I’m going to shoot next, but I hope I can find a real revolution somewhere.

That being said, Kendrick Lamar is someone who

gives me hope, because he’s doing his thing and saying what he wants to say and not listening to other people.

The underground artists I work with in Brooklyn are doing that, too, which is why I will work with them for the rest of my life.

Was there a point when you decided to take a big risk to move forward?

Going to college was a big risk because my parents

Do you feel a responsibility to contribute to something bigger than yourself?

weren’t supportive of it. My parents went to college briefly, so it’s not like they were unsupportive of me getting an education; they just didn’t think it was necessary.

I had to take a stand and tell them that it was important that I do it.

Moving to New York was another risk. Leaving college was scary because it meant the end of an era. College had been my life, and I was heavily involved with that community of people. It was risky to come to New York, especially without any money—which is super stupid, and I hope no one else does that. But it felt right. Lots of my experiences that have felt scary or intimidating at the time have turned out well in the end, so I keep doing it.

Contributing to something bigger than myself is the only reason I want to do photography. I’m interested in people who are doing something to better the world. Photography allows you to be the light that shines onto someone so that the rest of the world can see them.

When you become a photographer, it’s easy to

get caught up in thinking you need to photograph certain people and be a part of certain scenes. A couple years ago, that’s what I thought I needed to do. Now, I’m realizing that all I want to do is photograph people who inspire me and help them inspire others in return. I’ve pitched most of the underground artists I’ve worked with to every

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major outlet that I shoot for. I’m not saying they wouldn’t be able to if it wasn’t for me, but they’re now in the New York Times or Rolling Stone. The fact that I can give them that extra little push is the reason I do what I do.

Would you say that you’re creatively satisfied?

No. I’m super depressed and I feel creatively stunted. I’m at a weird point in my career where I need to take a leap, but I haven’t figured out where I’m supposed to leap to yet. I feel very uncreative at this point in my life. I probably shouldn’t be saying this shit. (laughing) I should probably be saying, “I feel great, and my work is awesome!”

Actually, a lot of people we interview say they’re not creatively satisfied.

Really? Good. I feel like I’m at a place now where I’m shooting for the people I’ve always wanted to shoot for,

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but doing so doesn’t meet the same definition of success

say, “Yo, I’m so inspired right now!” Maybe I’ve just lived

for me as it used to. When I was young and hungry, it was

here too long to remember that there’s shit happening

much easier for me to go out and shoot everything. I’m

around me.

not that inspired by most of what I used to photograph anymore, but I don’t know what I want to photograph

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?

next. I’m waiting—which is not good—and trying to be proactive and searching for a story that I want to tell, but I

No matter what I’m shooting, my main focus is to help

haven’t found it yet.

people’s stories be heard. I want to shine a light on peo-

ple who otherwise wouldn’t be visible. Saying that I want

I’m kind of disenchanted with New York right

now, and I don’t know if I want to live here anymore. I

to change the world may sound too lofty, but I’m inter-

want to find a movement or a group of people who are

ested in using my work to expose and promote incredible

doing more for the betterment of humanity than what I’m

people who can inspire others to be revolutionary and

finding in New York. Everyone here is struggling, and it’s

create positive change in the world.

hard to be creative when you’re struggling because you’re so focused on trying to survive. That means I’ll take jobs because I have to pay my rent. Maybe the right move is to live in a fucking cabin somewhere or live on the road: that way you don’t have high overhead and can shoot the projects you want. Maybe if I lived like that, I’d be able to

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