Daily Inspiration: Meet Kodi Mabon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kodi Mabon.

Hi Kodi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story? 
My story and journey to how and where I am today is literally just a compilation of experiences that have happened in my life and have heavily been impacted by my family, but before I begin, hi, hello, I’m Kodi. I’m 25, and I’m your Chicago-born and raised LA living photographer, multidisciplinary artist, and curator. 

Growing up, my family has been really big on imagery and taking family photos, hence why I have so many baby photos and photos of family outings. When I was younger me and my mom in our Chicago home would pull boxes and boxes of photos a lot of which were before her time, and she would sit me down and explain to me who everyone was in the photo and how they relate to us as family; there was always so much love in the photos, I love looking at an image and being able to hear what’s going on or feel whatever happiness or love displayed in those photos, this eventually lead to me getting my own film camera. 

My first film camera was a toys r us mickey mouse camera; it was beautiful and so silly and great for a 7-year-old, I would take it to school and take photos of my friends or on school field trips. Something that started off so silly and just for fun ending up following me and put me on a path onto something I love doing and turning it into a staple and career for me. 

My love for film went even deeper and bigger, which I don’t even think I fully conceptualized at the time when I got introduced to films. My mother was my first introduction to a lot of things. She also introduced me to now it is my favorite Director and main influence, Spike Lee. Spike, to me, has been an influence because of the styles and ways in which he produces his films. The first film I was ever introduced to by Spike was Crooklyn. I loved crooklyn because it reminded me of Home and all of the similar characteristics. When it came to my family being a living in a black household, I also fell in love with the way the film was directed and shot; some of the stills in the image still sit with me as he describes Brooklyn and his upbringing And is portrayed in such a romantic, loving way that you feel when watching his films the love that he has for Brooklyn and Harlem moving forward into present now of getting older I can say that that is still stuck with me and is now an even bigger influence as to why I shoot and do film. 

Moving from Chicago to LA has been an adjustment, and I still find myself adjusting even though people would say I’ve been here a while, so I should kind of know the ropes of how LA moves and works, and for years, it’s been very hard for me to adjust and understand the cultures of LA And I’m just now come to the realization that I will never truly understand LA and its ways because LA is not home. Chicago is home, and being here, I see things a little bit differently because of the way I’ve been raised. 

I try to emphasize that in every way possible and show more of my culture and the way I view things through my eyes, kind of forcing people to see all the love that I have for home and things that remind me of Chicago, the same way Spike Lee does in his films about Brooklyn. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
To walk you through my story would be almost like describing Rocky Road ice cream; as corny as that sounds, I say that because my journey is sweet even with its rockiness along the way; 

Being that I am a self-taught photographer, my creative journey started simply as me just taking an interest in film and being introduced to things that caught my attention. I’ve learned, especially with film, to be very, very patient and to try and try again and that every time you try, you’re gonna get something completely different and I think that’s the beauty of film, and I’ve always been why I’ve been so attracted to film because there is no editing process there is no viewing before you get your photos. It’s kind of like you see something beautiful, pull out your camera, and snap it. That’s the film. What you see is what you get, and with that has come a lot of trial and error. 

Some of those errors simply finding a film camera. Something cool about me, and then I’ll give myself kudos for, is that all of the film cameras that I have been Thrifted piece by piece, meaning that they’ve been Thrifted from a thrift store, some without the lens. Sometimes, I’ll just find the lens to a camera And end up Thrifting a camera that can fit that lens, or sometimes, I’ll find the body of a camera and then have to search for the lens, so all of my cameras have been put together piece by piece just by findings on thrift things alone. 

With the help of my stepdad, who is also been helping me on this journey, helped me piece my first ever camera, which was my Pentax camera; with that camera, I kind of learned to just wing it, and kind of learned based on some of the mistakes that I’ve made me and a lot of the times that made coming from the film store with the blank roll of film and figuring out why it came blank And then that led me to learn settings, aperture and shutter speed which can all sound like big terms if you’ve never used a film camera and learning actual film versus a film camera that I got at Toys “R” Us was a big shock and took a lot of patience. I’ve also gained experience with other cameras, being that I own a Pentax, a Canon AE-1, which is the main camera that I use for shoots and storytelling, and I also have an Olympus, which is my point-and-shoot, and I have a Canon EOS. I like to say I’m building a collection. 

To tie everything together back to comparison to my Rocky Road ice cream even with all of the blanks that I’ve received in all of the films that have come back with light leaks. It has been a beautiful journey because those things have helped me better improve my film and learn my ends in my ounce, where now I can teach other people and give them an introduction to such a beautiful thing as capturing a natural photo on film. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I feel that there’s so much to me and what I do that all intertwines to create this bigger vision as to what I do that simply being a photographer just doesn’t even begin to cover it all. On top of being a photographer with an emphasis on storytelling and capturing plus-size bodies, I also curate and host my own art shows called Kodi’s House Party x Friends. 

My house-party mixers are heavily influenced by myself and my extremely talented friends and folks I know, who have so much to offer to the world with their mediums but oftentimes aren’t given that space to showcase their work. Another reason why I chose to throw my own art shows is because I wanted to make a space where everyone is welcomed and everyone gets a shot to showcase their medium. 

I got tired of hearing my friends and also myself applying my mediums in spaces to get denied from certain art scenes and spaces or feeling unwelcome in spaces they should feel safe in. So, instead of trying to be accepted into a space, I went ahead and made my own. My events are very queer Black and POC focused, and I make sure to include everyone from all ranges of mediums I even for the first time with my second house party Were able to include a variety of over 18 vendors, the specialize each with their own different unique trinkets. 

My house party is like my baby, a very special project that I hold near and dear. Every time I host on my plan is to host them more frequently and eventually be able to host them here in LA and at home in Chicago the whole goal objective that I want someone to take when leaving my mixer is that is the little creatives in your hood that makes the world go round. 

I say that because each mixer, I look around and think about how extremely talented everyone is and how each form of medium that I see makes an impact as creative people are the future we are the innovators we are your future musicians, we are the future photographers, and we deserve to be given a chance and that is what I do it for. 

I also think that’s what sets me apart from others, and what I’m proud of most is that not only did I make my own lane and do my own shit just off the rips of not being accepted into a space, so I said forget everyone else imma do my own thing and not only did I succeed but I made such a beautiful community like no other and it makes me feel good to know that folks feel safe enough in my spaces and I’m always overjoyed in the way the community comes together to help me host and keep this dream and passion of minds going. 

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
lol I don’t think it’s a lot folks find surprising about me other than film is still very new to me in terms of like being more serious about it, and folks just atomically assume I’ve been doing this for years when it’s really been like 2 officially, but I was just determined to learn and ended up practicing and self-teaching myself, I also do get the question of why my photography page is 773visions and the story behind that is 773 is the Chicago area code and no matter what I do or photography there is always a piece of home with me in any vision I capture 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juicygirlnextdoor/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/773visions/

Image Credits
@princessamugo
@willkapedia