Today we’d like to introduce you to Joey Lehman Morris.
Hi Joey Lehman, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a suburban Los Angeles native. I was part of a youthful, local underground music scene here in Los Angeles for a number of years while thinking about the field of Biology and my interest in getting into nursing. I have been supporting myself since fairly young, and as I delved further and further into a life of small apartments, I found the visual arts, and photography specifically, provided a creative outlet and a form in which I could speak more quietly in the confined conditions in which I found myself than playing loud music could. My first mentor in photography was such a smart, enthusiastic, and generous individual who spent years convincing me that I was much better with this newfound skill than I actually probably was. Gradually, my relationship to the biological sciences started to subside while my interest in the visual arts began to amplify for the foremost reason that no matter how hard I worked at it, it never entirely made sense; unreasonableness and whimsy found warm and welcome opportunities to overcome logic. It’s been blah blah blah years since then!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth is not something that I ever expected or required, and it is not something that I ever knew, personally or practically.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work with analog and digital technologies (though most often, analog) to make photographs of our material and geographic or environmental surroundings. My pictures serve as a kind of portrait of California, paying attention to tangible influences that have formed the fabric of place and the construction of geographic and cultural identities. I am interested in looking closely at convergent histories of past and present while simultaneously romanticizing and looking critically at the California landscape.
What does success mean to you?
Success is found in developing the ability to do things that are meaningful, even when you are not in the mood to do them.
Contact Info:
- Website: joeylehmanmorris.com
- Instagram: @jjj_bird
Image Credits:
Joey Lehman Morris Empyrean Field I, 2020 carbon photographic print 50″ x 40″ Empyrean Field IV 2020 carbon photographic print 50″ x 40″ Empyrean Field IX 2020 carbon photographic print 50″ x 40″
