Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with LIFEWTR and the Gallivan Community Center in Boston, MA. LIFEWTR is leading a beautification initiative as part of their overarching goal and collective effort to inspire change through art and bring art education to communities around the nation. This beautification initiative targets schools and community centers in areas of need of art education and/or funding across the country. Local artists design and paint murals, beautiful and large pieces of wall art, for these buildings. This is all done while the students are away for summer and they return to beautiful murals, transforming the area into a wonderful display of artists expression.

The artists I had the opportunity to photograph and interact with had such creative and inspiring minds. Thus, my goal for their portraits was to encompass the theme and feeling of both the respective artists mural as well as their personality. I spent some time with them prior just making conversation to get a feel of who they are as a person and internally deciding how I wanted to display that by way of photography.

Sophie adding the finishing touches on her mural.

It was a wonderful experience interacting with each artist as I photographed them. Each one had individual personality traits or quirks that really shined in their portraits. My goal for the these portraits was for the final image to reflect the artist’s personality, their vibe, and overall who they are as a person.

Chris Piascik signing his mural.

Overall, the day was a wonderful foray into the mind of a different type of creative than myself. Seeing how someone can take an idea in their mind and translate that into a visual medium like painting is such a fascinating thing to me (also a skill that I envy and want to learn one day!