Ma'George Casting Photos
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KAMEELAH J. RASHEED (b. 1985, East Palo Alto/Bay Area, CA) is a self-taught photographer, writer, and high school teacher based in Brooklyn, New York.
She is a co-founder of Mambu Badu, a photography collective that seeks to find, expose, and nurture emerging female photographers of African descent.
You can find her at:
@kameelahwrites
Artist Blog
Flickr
Tumblr e: kameelah.rasheed@gmail.com
@kameelahwrites
Artist Blog
Flickr
Tumblr e: kameelah.rasheed@gmail.com
ARTIST STATEMENT
Around the age of 10 years old, my family saw a family standing in a field of wilted dandelions and weeds in front of Sears. They had mustard yellow suitcases and a few boxes. We went home but I did not forget that family. I sat on my green carpet, pulled at the lint balls, saddened. Little did I know, that family standing in the field of dandelions would be my family years later.
At the age of 12, my family became homeless. In the process of moving around, many of our family photographs were lost and destroyed. While a few were salvaged, there are gapping holes in our family history; something was gone. From a young age, I grew fascinated with notions of memory and histories. Time travel emerged as a secret interest. I spent hours at garage sales and estate sales searching for pictures of black families. I evolved from a collector of orphaned photographs to a photographer. Everything I do now is about building an archive--a memory base. Without memories we disappear. In many ways, my art practice is born from a fear of forgetting. I constantly photograph and collect audio because I don’t know my family’s history. It’s gone. Maybe I can never find it, but I can help others build and preserve their history. Less concerned with grand narratives, my photography focuses on intimate micro-narratives--families, small towns, and subcultures.
A historian at my core, I am never without my Nikon cameras, a few rolls of film, an audio recorder, and a notepad. Memory, and temporality are central to my work. To this end, while portraiture—is my main medium, I utilize and often merge various photographic approaches including documentary, found photography, rephotography, and collage to articulate my vision.
via kameelahr.com