Interview with artist Katie Adkins
Katie Adkins is a Little Rock artist whose photography straddles the line between documentary and fine art. As a photojournalist her photos have been published in The New York Times, U.S., News & World Report, The Guardian, to name a few, and she currently works as a freelance photographer for The Associated Press. Katie’s work has been exhibited throughout Arkansas and the Midwest and is widely collected. More of her work can be found at Gallery 26 in Little Rock, Perspective Gallery in Jonesboro, and at her Instagram and website katieadkinsphotography.com.
AAS: Katie, I understand you are originally from Georgia. What brought you to Arkansas?
KA: I was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I attended The University of Georgia as an undergraduate and later attended Savannah College of Art and Design. Soon after graduating with my masters, I moved to western South Dakota with my husband. We spent eight years in the Midwest before moving back to the south. We ended up in Little Rock closer to my husband’s family and much closer to mine as well. I’ve lived in Arkansas for four years now.
AAS: Did you study photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design?
KA: I studied photography at SCAD and received my masters in 2011. My undergraduate degree was in business, so it was quite a new experience for me, and I absolutely loved it. As part of my program, I took courses in film photography, and I studied documentary and commercial photography as well. I learned everything I could and jumped at every opportunity. During this time, I had the privilege of assisting Martin Parr, a well-known Magnum photographer, as he photographed for his upcoming exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. We spent several weeks together, working 12-hour days, exploring Georgia from the city to more rural areas. The finished exhibit was part of the High Museum’s Picturing the South series, featuring commissions from photographers such as Sally Mann, Alec Soth, Dawoud Bey, Richard Misrach and of course Martin Parr.
AAS: You’re known for your fine art photography and as a photojournalist. How and why did you get into photojournalism?
KA: My passion for photography started as a child, looking through LIFE, TIME, and National Geographic magazines. Even back then I understood photography as a means of telling a story about a person or place. Many of the articles in those magazines featured stories from exotic locations and people living lives entirely outside my own realm of existence. They opened my eyes to the way others lived and gave me an appreciation for current events and the role photographs play in storytelling. To be honest, I probably shouldn’t have been allowed to read these magazines at that age. Some were heartbreaking stories with equally heartbreaking photographs. They told of wars and famine around the world. They showed the beauty of humanity while also showing the cruel suffering others face.
The same curiosity that drew me to the photos in magazines drew me to my own family’s documentation of holidays and events with those living and those long gone. My dad and grandfather were amateur photographers (and later videographers) of our family functions. Reflecting on these family photos and videos of my childhood it is no mystery why I am drawn to wanting to document. My work goes beyond that of my dad and grandfather though, in that I want to see what is outside of myself and my family. I want to see how other people live to, I suppose, try to make sense of my own perspective and experiences in the world.
Photojournalism and documentary photography are a natural fit given my early interests and influences. I didn’t go to school specifically for photojournalism because at the time, I didn’t know exactly which direction I wanted to go. Now that I am older and have lived a bit more, I am much more able to steer myself in the direction I want to be. When I was first out of school I did a lot of different types of photography - product, real estate, event, wedding, and photojournalism. I found that with everything I photographed, I was always looking for the candid, more documentary style of photos. This is not always the best approach to say, real estate photography, where a realtor is trying to sell the home, not the lifestyle of the previous tenant. It is through this experience, getting the hours under my belt, that I was able to start to home in on what it was I wanted to do with my art and to try to create an identity within it.
AAS: I want to ask you first about your documentary photographic series, Queen, which documents the drag queen circuit in the south. What was that experience like?
Queen, digital photograph
KA: Queen is a project I started recently, actually, and so I am still in the very beginning stages of the creative process. That process for me starts with an interest in a subject. Recently in the news there has been a lot of negative attention around drag queens here in Arkansas, from the claims that storytime with drag queens is harmful to children to the recent classifications of drag shows as strip clubs for adults only. I met Queen Anthony, the namesake for this series, through a friend of a friend. Through Queen I have been introduced to many other performers, each with a unique identity and story to tell.
I am not sure yet where this project is going. I am following the process that has worked for me in the past which is not to overthink the end result and instead to focus on shooting. Once I create a solid foundation of images, I can then begin to shape them into a narrative. Then, with a more focused approach, I can shoot with much more purpose. The photos from Queen are some of the initial photos I have taken but I have not yet reached the shaping phase. Instead, I will jump at every opportunity to photograph Queen both within the drag world but also outside of it. My initial idea for the project was to show the juxtaposition of life as a drag queen in the south: the performance world vs. personal life. The project could really go in several directions, and I am waiting to see where the images take me.
AAS: When you are doing these kinds of intimate photographs, is there time spent building trust before you begin to photograph?
KA: Photographing people is such an intimate experience whether they are sitting on a park bench or taking their clothes off. I am always aware of this intimacy as I approach a subject. There is definitely a period where I try to acclimate my subjects before taking photos. This occurs “in the wild” when I am on assignment as well as when I am working with a subject who has agreed to participate. This acclimation process varies, depending on the person and the situation. Sometimes I meet with a subject beforehand, always with my camera bag and usually with camera in hand. I typically never shoot during this first meeting. I may meet a subject several times and not take a single photograph. When I am out in the world, I always have my camera out. Some people will immediately let you know they are not interested in being photographed, through body language or verbally. Oddly enough, I rarely have this happen. Most of the people I encounter are comfortable being photographed (there is surely some commentary here about the inundation of cameras creating a numbness to being photographed). With my series Queen, because I am photographing a more intimate and vulnerable subject, I introduce myself and I ask permission to photograph while they get ready.
While my main objective is to be a fly on the wall, I realize that this also can create an uncomfortable distance between myself and the subject. As a result, I try to find a balance between blending in but also being personable in order to put my subject(s) at ease. As a woman, people tend to trust me taking their photograph and that allows me access to people and places that may otherwise be off limits to others.
AAS: Another of your documentary photographic series I find fascinating is MIDWAY. Was that for a specific assignment?
KA: MIDWAY was a project that had its roots in my master’s studies at SCAD. As part of a class on documentary photography we were asked simply to document the fair. It was this “assignment” that led me to my larger project that lasted for years. Places such as the carnival provide endless fascination because of the people they attract. I went to many fairs, shooting anything and everything that interested me. Once I had a large body of work, I started to see some patterns in my photographs and I was then able to start shaping a narrative that focused on the relationships that were naturally part of this environment.
AAS: Tell me about Carnie (Stare). There is a lot in this image, and it can speak to viewers in different ways. Was it the written rules of the game that caught your attention? What were you hoping to say with that image?
Carnie (Stare), digital photograph
KA: My goal as an artist is to create something that has a different meaning for each person who views it. I absolutely love hearing what strikes someone about an image because it inevitably is different from what I notice. With Carnie (Stare) the intense gaze is what initially drew me to him. What is he thinking? I’m not so sure I want to know. The intensity of his stare with the strange mix of creatures looking over his shoulder were compelling, absurd even. Your question of the written rules of the game being the inspiration for the photograph is fascinating since, before you asked it, I had never even noticed them. How can that be? It is because for every person who views a work of art there is a new perspective, a new understanding.
AAS: Another of my favorites from that series is Carnie (Behind Bars). I find it fascinating and honestly, a little creepy. Tell me about it.
KA: The image that really cemented my series MIDWAY is Carnie (Behind Bars), an image of a carnival worker, face painted white with a garish red nose and oversized black lips, sitting in a cage and heckling people as they walked by. It was one of the first images I took, and I immediately understood the significance of it and the narrative possibilities it created.
Carnie (Behind Bars), digital photograph
There is a stigma, perhaps of a bygone era, that carnival workers are people who have been in trouble with the law, who travel with the carnival circuits that move from town to town for months at a time. I found this image compelling because of that. Is that a fair representation of the carnival worker? I don’t know. Was I drawn to this image because of that, consciously or unconsciously? For sure. The image is bisected vertically down the middle, perhaps as a commentary on the duality of life as a carnival worker.
One of the more common questions I get is why is this series in black and white? Why do I not want you to see the painted red clown nose that complements the large red lettering on the backdrop? Color is a distraction. I wanted to see beyond that color. What exists when you take the distractions away? Take the color, the lights, the sounds, the smells of the carnival away and what is left? A stripped down, black and white version of a carnival worker, sitting in a cage with a pale face, hands tucked protectively into his pockets.
AAS: You took a photograph at a rodeo from an extraordinary vantage point – and here you used color. And it captures so much about rodeo life – danger, camaraderie, and artistry. Congratulations on that one. What is the story behind it?
Untitled, digital photograph
KA: Being an assignment photographer and having credentials has its perks. I was shooting for a local newspaper in South Dakota when I took this photo at the rodeo. Before this assignment I had never attended a rodeo. While I am from the south, I am from Atlanta, so pretty urban. I think that the photos reflect my fascination and curiosity of the event because I was seeing it all for the first time.
Someone who worked at the rodeo saw me photographing and asked if I wanted to go up on the catwalk, high above the event. To my surprise, he took me up and left me. No safety talk. No oversight. I suddenly found myself all alone above an arena full of people. After the initial shock I quickly had to decide how to (safely) get photos from this (ad)vantage point. The grid pattern of the catwalk overlaying the chaotic scene below helps to orient the viewer to where I am and I think it adds another dimension to the photo. The white hats create movement to an otherwise mostly still moment, before the gates open. I do love the obscurity of the image, it is fairly abstract because of the grid overlay as well as the vantage point and as a result it requires someone to study it a bit longer. It isn’t as obvious, and I think any time you can get someone to invest in your photo you have done your job.
AAS: Katie, I want to come back to the view that journalistic photography and fine art photography must be distinct forms. We have already talked about several photographs that I think blur those lines. Tell me about House. I just love it because it has a dreamlike look. Was it an assignment?
House, digital photograph
KA: On the surface this image documents an installation piece at the High Museum of Art. This Roy Lichtenstein piece called House III, was installed outside on the lawn of the museum. My photograph of the piece pairs it with a large tree with the backdrop of the modern building and I remove the color, once again, to emphasize the shapes and forms created by the three elements. The large puffy clouds create a cartoon-like addition to the overall image.
Is this simply a documentation of the Roy Lichtenstein piece? For me, no. I took elements that were existing and composed them so that they created a narrative. The lines between photojournalism and art have never been clear to me. I would say that documentary photography is what lies in between. I straddle the line. Perhaps my initial approach to a subject is one of a documentarian but inevitably my perspective as an artist influences what I photograph and therefore what results is more than just a documenting of a person, place or thing. It is the creation of a story that, sometimes isn’t apparent for years, such as with this piece.
Mom’s Wave, digital photograph
The funny thing about photographs is that over time, they change. I don’t mean literally, obviously. The photograph remains the same but our associations with the photo, the people and the places within them, change. House was taken in 2014 when I was home visiting with my mom in Atlanta. Until this interview, it had not occurred to me that this was around the same time that my mom started to show symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s. Having just been in Atlanta last week, moving my mom into a memory care unit, the bookending of this photo is all too apparent to me. Another image in this series is a closeup of my mom, standing in the window of the funny little house and waving with a big grin on her face.
AAS: Do you have any new projects in the works that you can disclose?
KA: I continue to work on my series, Queen, trying to shape my photographs into a cohesive narrative about what it means to be a drag queen in the south. I am also pursuing other projects including the impacts of global warming on farmers in Arkansas.
I have been pursuing photography seriously for nearly 15 years and I still feel like I am just in the beginning stages, learning how to put together a meaningful photograph or series of photos. Part of that learning is studying and finding inspiration from other artists, but the real learning comes from reflecting on my own work. I appreciate the opportunity to speak about my work with you because it is self-reflective and always illuminating to me. Understanding my own motivations and how my own views of the world draw me to certain subjects (or away from them) will continue to push me out of my comfort zone and hopefully to create more meaningful art in the future.
