I’m passionate about creative representation in my community. Kids can be so much more successful — personally and professionally — if we reach them early. So when music executive Karlie Hustle first approached me about volunteering my services as a professional photographer for picture day at PS25 in New York City’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, I was immediately invested. Karlie had seen a tweet of mine that said “I still take small jobs, I still feel like I'm scratching the surface and I still learn something new on every job” and wondered if this “small job” spoke to me. This small job became everything but “small” for me — it superseded everything I thought it would be.
PS 25 is a Title 1 public school. This means at least 40% of the families are low-income, with many enduring the effects of housing instability. PS 25, like many public schools in NYC, also suffers from dwindling enrollment. With enrollment directly tied to funding, this has resulted in even fewer resources allocated to the school by the Department of Education. Currently, there are fewer than 70 kids attending PS 25, which is not a sustainable number long-term. The school has been the subject of closure and merger discussions in the past, as documented by season one of the "School Colors" podcast. The podcast interrogates the politics around the rise in charter schools, gentrification in Bed Stuy, enrollment issues and the activists who helped stop PS 25's closure back in 2018. Given this context, and in a post-pandemic world where many are struggling more than ever, PS 25 didn't have the resources to make school pictures accessible to all. For all of these reasons, I said yes to Karlie immediately.
Working with this school left me beyond inspired. It was so emotionally fulfilling and grounding. As a former public school student, I saw my younger self and my community in all of these kids. I have to admit, going into the shoot, I was nervous. I wanted the kids to feel good and have a great experience. I had screens around the photo set up so they could see themselves in real time. Watching their reaction to the photos was priceless. Allowing them the agency to show their personalities and redoing photos they weren't super happy with was also really meaningful to me. In order for it to be a proper picture day, we wanted to make sure the kids all received a printed copy of their photos, both large and wallet sizes. We printed and shipped them all.
This project left a bigger impact on me than I would have ever imagined. Something that really struck a chord was when some kids asked their teachers about photography and modeling after their shoot. I had a chance to show these kids that they could pursue a career in the arts because they saw someone who not only looked like them, but sat where they once sat.
Earlier this year, I started a nonprofit called Best Side Foundation. Our mission is to inspire, expose, and foster the development of low-income youth in the field of photography through creative programming and hands-on experiences. I knew I wanted to give back and reach kids who I identify with and open their creative minds early. I just didn't know where to start. After doing this project with PS 25, I realized I wanted school photos to be my first initiative under the Best Side umbrella. Next year, instead of going to just one school in New York, I would like to reach many. I see it as the perfect way to expose kids to photography and representation within the creative industries, while also giving them something tangible like a photo of themselves.
There is an exponential decline of funding in education and arts in this country. And I firmly believe that all of the bigger issues we’re facing are rooted in education. We need to break the barriers of creativity being a privilege. And while picture day may be small, that’s my bigger picture.
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