Today we’d like to introduce you to Maya Wali Richardson.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I think my story of becoming an artist mostly centers around internal conflict. I’ve been taking photographs since I was a teenager, but I didn’t take my photography seriously until much later, once I was in college living in New York.
I’m half Indian and half white, and I grew up for the first part of my life in the isolated and natural environment of Cape Cod, and then moved to Los Angeles for middle school and high school. I come from a family of artists – my mother is a writer, my father is a cinematographer, and my sister is a visual artist and landscape architect. So from an early age, I was exposed to people dedicating themselves to their art. Growing up and throughout my teens and early twenties, I had a lot of different interests, I never felt committed to one identity. Because of those multiplicities and uncertainty within myself, I didn’t feel confident calling myself a “true” artist or photographer. I think being surrounded by family who were so confidently and professionally creative made me in some ways afraid of expressing my own creativity because I felt like it was only one aspect of my personality.
In college, I did an interdisciplinary study of photography and began developing personal photo projects. After school, I returned to LA and started working as a freelance photographer. Over the past few years, I have come to understand the ways in which I rely on photography as an expression of my emotions and as a way to better understand my environment and my place within it. I’ve learned and accepted that photography is still only one part of who I am and what I love to engage with and think about, but I no longer feel that makes me any less of an artist.
Please tell us about your art.
I take photographs, predominately on film. I have a camera on me most days and think of most experiences and daily activities as opportunities to photograph. I’ve always been affected and absorbed by documentary and fine-art photography, and so my work is a blend of the two. I’m interested in taking scenes and moments from my daily life and trying to capture them in a way that reflects my emotions. I’m inspired by the challenge of reconciling the external world with my own internal one.
Being mixed race and growing up in two very different environments are crucial to the way I photograph, because it is through those dualities and blend of cultures that I move through the world. My childhood in Cape Cod was really magical, I spent a lot of time running around and actively imagining in nature. In a lot of my images, I draw inspiration from the natural world and try to recreate the ways in which plants and animals felt so mystical to me as a child.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
This is something I’ve struggled with in LA! Because of the way the city is laid out, I’ve found it can be difficult to foster and maintain new communities here. But, especially given the current pandemic, the internet is a really great resource for community building and learning. I tend to shy away from social media, it’s definitely not a platform or space that feels natural or comfortable to me. So rather than focusing on it as a tool to promote myself and my work, I’ve been trying to take advantage of it as an easy way to be exposed to a wealth of ideas, artists, and communities. Following more Los Angeles based photographers and photo-related organizations has helped me recognize and feel how abundant the photography community is here.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I mostly share my work on my Instagram @mayarichardson. Most of the images on there, or on my website, mayawalirichardson.com are available to buy as prints.
Contact Info:
- Website: mayawalirichardson.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayarichardson/
Image Credit:
Maya Wali Richardson
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