By Guest Blogger: Brock Ferlaak
I was introduced to the photography of Jamaal Singleton during a recent exhibition of his work at Kingstown, a coffeeshop and wine bar in Brooklyn, NY. Framed under museum style lighting, his artwork ranged from small prints to wall-size pieces. Singleton had also constructed a single portrait into a functioning table. Struck by his black-and-white candids of NYC life and studio portraiture, I was dying to speak with Jamaal about his process and artistic journey. Several weeks later, among his various works, I rejoined him at Kingstown Café to
ask about his artistic journey.
BF: I want to start from your beginning. You mentioned that you’re interested in
so many things in different mediums. How did you decide what to focus on?
JS: From a very young age, I already had artistic pursuits. I mean, from age seven or eight I was making colored smoke bombs and collecting sea shells to sell to my classmates. Throughout my childhood, I was using my creativity in an entrepreneurial way with the goal to make money. Being “crafty” just came natural to me.
BF: And where were you growing up at that time?
JS: Chester, Pennsylvania. It’s a very small town about 20 minutes outside of Philly.
BF: Were there key moments in your life where you started to discover your artwork as something to pursue professionally?
JS: Photography came much later. I started with drumming and drill team, which was the start of my music journey ...I was ten or eleven years old when I used to play for my local drum teams. The first one I drummed in was called Step to This.
The first drill team I joined was called Majestic. I was with Majestic throughout my teenage years until I started my own drill team, Dramatic Impact in 2008. I ran that drill team for about three years, with the help of some adults in my life who would assist me with the paperwork and everything for that. We competed in competitions and participated in community events.
I’m in high-school by this time, exploring all my interests as much as I could. In 10th or 11th grade I started taking courses in photography, a new interest for me. I did a senior thesis project on the history of photography. I participated in talent shows and a fashion show which led me to discover modeling. When I graduated high- school in 2009 I put photography on the backburner for a while to focus more on modeling. I started taking trips to New York City in 2010-11 to do photoshoots. And by 2012, I moved to the city full-time to pursue modeling.
BF: That’s a wide range for your teenage years. Though you took a break from photography, did modeling help you learn from photographers?
JS: Modeling was definitely my biggest teacher in becoming the photographer I am today. I was observing how other photographers would set up studio lighting and direct other people in posing. As photographers in New York are often their own stylists as well, I learned a lot about the art of styling process and incorporated a lot of those lessons into my own style.
BF: It seems like this transition was a steady one for you. Going from a musician to a model, all while holding an interest a photography. In the present, how did your recent exhibition come about? Were these shot with the intent for your current running show or were some pulled from previous work you’d done over time?
JS: This show is a collection of all the shooting I’d done over the years. I was sitting in my room looking at all the work I had done and reflecting on life. As I reviewed my portfolio of photos, modeling, and music, I realized that everything my younger self said he was going to do, I was now doing.
It’s easy to focus only on where we want to be and what we want “one day” to be like. But if you take stock on what you have done and measure that to your ambition from yesterday... that’s where I got the title and theme of the exhibition, I called it One Day Became True. To me, it means that if you push for what you want and put the work in to pursue it, you can make it happen. Whether that’s taking photos, making music, or writing a book.
BF: That title makes so much sense now. You’ve had pieces published in Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, and America Noire magazine. Were those also moments where you felt you’d reached a destination that you had only dreamed about?
JS: Getting publication features is always cool. I did used to dream of having those woah moments like, “woah, I got an ELLE feature.” But also, once you accomplish anything, that fiery passion of “I want it” goes away and is replaced with a new flame of, “Oh, I did that, and now what?” For me at least, it always means it’s time to think about what’s next.
BF: What was the process of finding and working on those publication features?
JS: I was hired for my first feature, the America Noire feature, by their creative director. It was my job to produce and cast the shoot in Atlanta. And it was a year-long process of close collaboration with a lot of research into printing and how to produce a whole magazine. The experience was great for my career, as it showed I was capable working in many areas of production at an expert level.
BF: Those experiences definitely seem to have boosted your artistic confidence. At your exhibit, I found myself noting various categories of photography. Street, documentary, studio portraiture... I noticed how your work featured some manipulations; exaggerations of features like hair, eyes, and skin. Was that a style you worked for a long time to develop or was it a result of lots of experimenting?
JS: It definitely took a long time to develop. If you ask any photographer who continually practices at their specific editing style, eventually it becomes a no-brainer. That’s just how they’re going to work, how they’re going to shoot. Now I’ve finally gotten there, where I see the image in my head before the shoot. Other times, I still find the image in the editing process. Sometimes even months or a year later I pull out old images I’ve been holding onto and decide to edit them in a new way.
BF: Was there any meaning behind specific choices? I noticed you had a portrait of a dog and a separate one of a man, both with exaggerated eyes.
JS: I had that idea about a week before the show. To me, it boils down to making work that’s interesting, that will get people talking and coming back to [it]. Sometimes, choices have deep sentimental meaning for me. But with the eyes, specifically, they came together in the editing. It’s a common motif that ‘eyes are the window to the soul’. It’s a memorable feature when you enlarge them dramatically to look back at you.
BF: You may have already answered most of this next question, but where do you feel most creative? Shooting on the day, or in the development and editing?
JS: Definitely editing. Look, the photography has to look good out of the camera, so the shooting process is very important. But I feel the most creative in my alone time. It’s where the most work gets done. Shooting usually takes a few hours, but editing can take many hours or days.
BF: I can tell, even in the more experimental edits, that it’s all very purposeful.
JS: Sometimes I have to cut myself off from editing. Perfection can be a dangerous thing to chase, because sometimes it turns into procrastination from working on other things. I try to give myself deadlines. I’ve been working on music lately and I’ve had to impose the same rules on myself. I give myself a deadline and a planned release date, or else I’d be working on and tweaking the music for a lot longer than I’d need to. Not everything has to be perfect, you just have to challenge yourself and overcome that challenge.
BF: Do you ever find yourself stuck from creative blocks?
JS: I used to a lot. Now I’ve learned to keep moving. If I start to work on something and get stuck, I’ve learned to walk away from it. Sometimes I used to quit projects, but now I’ve learned that I can put things away and come back to them at the right time.
BF: Any last pieces of advice for the photographer/dancer/musician just starting trying to figure it out?
JS: I wish the younger me had known patience. That’s where I think I’ve grown the most the past fifteen years. I used to want to rush everything, run ahead with my career, and chase success. I was young and I was hungry, and I still want a lot of those same dreams. Now, I pace myself, and have the patience to see things through and pursue quality over success or fame.
If you’d like to follow Jamaal Singleton’s work, his artist website is www.jsny.life his page for music on Instagram is @officialbmyrrh where he will be debuting his first feature-length LP next month.
Brock Ferlaak is a Brooklyn-based writer and filmmaker who originally hails from the lakeshore of West Michigan. He has earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Filmmaking. He is passionate about independent cinema for the creative process and collaboration necessary for the revolutionary and unconventional medium to survive. Though he attended an arts conservatory with a focus on hands-on learning, nothing could stop his voracious reading of the largest books he could find from Tolstoy to Sartre. Since graduating, he has brought his stylistic sense, production skills, and collaborative attitude to the world of publishing by becoming a Consultant at Enhanced DNA Publishing. He continues to write his own work and values what he learns from others both in life and helping to tell their stories. For more information about Brock, visit the website: www.BrockFerlaak.com.
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