Meet Princess Amugo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Princess Amugo.

Hi Princess, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today. 
I had always had a keen interest in various art forms such as music, singing, and writing. But it wasn’t until I got enthralled with photography that I started to take my artistic ventures into my own hands and share my work with others. I have been taking pictures ever since I was in middle school. I would use my Android phone to take pictures and then apps to edit them the way I envisioned them. I think that I had gotten interested in visual arts due to the indie music and media I had been digesting. I thought the striking imagery and use of color was so mesmerizing, and I wanted to try it out myself. So, after school, I’d take pictures of my friends doing wacky things, capturing our youth and silliness and quirkiness. I wanted to make our small-town realities feel like the indie movies that we so often compared our lives to/tried to emulate. I took an interest in the Polaroid/film look both in pictures and video. This continued into high school as I took a photography class and got my first film camera that had cost $5 dollars at the thrift store. Once I started college at UCLA in 2016, I was able to create my own concepts and contribute to others. First, I had been a part of the African Arts Ensemble from 2016-2017 in which I got to work with other Black creatives on campus, help bring Black art events to life and got my first opportunity to hang up one of my photos. We would constantly seek out Black talent that was around us in the UCLA and wide LA community. I joined the Cultural Affairs Commission in 2018 and joined the Art Committee. The first project I curated (with the support from my committee) and participated in had been called “Taking Up Space,” which discussed fat liberation and fat phobia where. I had reached out to photographers who took pictures of fat folks who shared their experiences and had been in conversation with said topic (their responses to the questions we came up with was under their pictures). I took pictures of my friend that I creatively directed with a rented camera that I got to put up in a gallery space on campus. Another project that I participated in was my friend Samar’s project called “Manifesting Malleability,” which envisioned reimagining what systems of collective care, healing, and regrowth looked like specifically for queer folks. So, we borrowed another camera, set up a background in my apt at the time with some sheets we had, and asked the participants to bring things that comforted them/had sentimental value. My friend and I took the pictures, creatively directed the shoot, edited the pictures, and set up the gallery together. It has been an amazing collaborative experience that will forever be so special to me. After this, I continued to do photography work through grad photos, portraiture, taking photos at events, and always taking fun pictures of my brother. I now am trying to step into being a singer/songwriter and poet by posting original songs, covers and poems more often on social media. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. I am constantly getting in my own way and doubting my abilities as an artist. Which often leads to destroying my confidence and wanting to be in the background or just devaluing my work completely. I also don’t come from money, so it can be difficult to produce the level of work I envision when I have limited resources. But I try to talk to people who care about me in order to get out of my head and psyche myself out of the mentality that I can’t go for what I want. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I mainly take film photos that lean on ethereal, otherworldly themes. Whenever I am producing a photo, I want it to be dazzling and eye-catching, making reality feel like an elevated state and moreso a collection of these breathtaking moments. I just so happened to capture a split second of that majesty. The analog aspect of film photography in which I am unable to see the photo until it develops also adds this extra level of mystery and appreciation of whatever comes out. The photos I am most proud of usually have a developed intention behind them such as my photos that I took for a poem that I wrote titled “ODE TO MY COPING MECHANISMS” that describes my own self reliability when it comes to dealing with mucky feelings. 

The songs that I produce and recently started sharing would fall under that indie singer/songwriter genre. I take personal experiences, feelings, and poems that can be difficult to say and sing them instead. I think the song that I am most proud of doesn’t have a title yet, but it has a nice melody that I find enjoyable. I feel the most proud in the fact that although it isn’t perfect, it perfectly captures my style as a singer and that I had the courage to share it. 

Hm, I feel like as a human being, I come with my own special concoction of experiences that have shaped me into the particular artist that I am today. I convey the themes and topics I hold dear to me in a raw way that I hope people can resonate with. I could say that there is a certain hard-hittingness to my photos that are poignant and a rasp to my music that conveys the pain or viscerality that the song is conveying. However, I believe what sets me apart at the same is what connects me to so many others: my artist expressions are attempts to see myself for who I am. In doing so, I try to produce work that shows that fragility and softness that so many of us harness in our essence. 

What are your plans for the future?
I hope to continuously put out more work and travel the world because of it. I want to step into my role as a creator more and more with a fervor that becomes undeniable to myself that this is my purpose. I want to work with more people that share my values and create more projects that have to do more with where I come from. Create more projects that I am proud of and come from the want to experiment that challenge me. I am looking forward to putting myself out there more! I want to put more time into practice and growing. I’m hoping to get my driver’s license at some point to be more independent. 

Contact Info:

• Website:  princessamugo.wixsite.com/my-site-1/portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/princessamugo/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@princessamigo?_t=8jykvYDKEqk&_r=1

Image Credits
Andrea Morales
Hillary Nguyen
Willa Salam