HUMAN CHROMA
CHROMA A publication celebrating young and talented creatives from the VSAA community and beyond. Volume 6 issue 5 november 2021 Based in Vancouver, Washington Edioter: Sophia Le Advisor: ANgel Pantoja Staff: 9 issu.com/chromamagazine chromamag2015@gmail..com All photographs belong to artists and have been published with their permission. Do not copy and share any images without explicit permission from chroma magazine. Thank you for respecting the photographers featured and the integrity of their work.
EDITORS NOTE Hi! This is Sophia, and for this Chroma we decided to go with the prompt: Human. We wanted to go with the idea of human due to the isolation we universally felt through quarantine, and by creating these photos we could hopefully create a sense of unity through our art. The cover was shot seperately, and is meant to tie into our shared sins, our imperfections. After all, we are only human.
Table of contents Olli Will Jaina Sophia Tori Kadence MaRen Ian Destiny
OL L I Johnson
empathy
I wanted to pick a topic that resonated with me on a personal level to remain authentic in my art and how I am. I feel things on a very extreme basis; In every situation it is all or nothing. I took some inspiration from renaissance paintings and My Bloody Valentine’s album, Loveless. Empathy is actually something that is very controversial in my life.
I grew up believing it was bad not only to feel your own feelings, but then to feel the emotions of others so strongly as if they were your own? That’s absurd! Empathy works as a double edged sword, the duality between being seen as a tender and humanitarian, but also as a manipulative “ emotional sponge”. Duality is an important theme in human existence and I wanted to showcase that.
WIL L Braaten This series was inspired by human imperfections and the beauty found within them. Most scars, stretch marks, or freckles tell a story that helps show one’s strength. The most human thing is to be raw and natural, show your ups & downs. All the images are members of my family as another connection to the theme of being human. The first family member is one of my eldest sister Brianna (26), this image is of her freckles. She was bullied throughout her childhood for them, she learned to love and embrace them despite it.
imperfections?
As well as my eldest sister,I photographed my youngest sister Winter (10), she was born with a freckle on her palm. Although an “odd” place, a freckle located on the palm is also known as a soulmate freckle. The tale of her soulmate will have a matching freckle on her palm
My step dad Steven (48) was also part of my series. He has a gunshot wound to the arm from fighting in a desert storm. This scar carries such significance to his story and symbolizes such strength.
My mother, Shawn (44) had to be included in my shoot. I focused on her smile lines to showcase the beauty of aging. Her winkles are something she’s dreaded getting but the older she gets the less it becomes apparent she sees beauty from her winkles
Lastly I photographed myself, I did my stretch marks on my hip. The growing and changing of my body has been a challenge. But our bodies are forever growing and changing. They support us in, and are there when we need them the most. And that is the most beautiful and human thing of all.
JAINA Flessas This photo series is centered around the human connection to our beds. For some people like myself, my bed is where I process a lot of emotions and where I find comfort after a long day. I wanted to create a vulnerable feeling through this series. I used my younger brother as a model, and here you see him laugh, cry, and feel stuck in the warmth of the blankets. Enjoy!
under the covers
Sophia L e Humans have such an interesting connection to religion. I wanted to explore this relationship in my photoshoot. What does religion mean to us? Who are the gods that we are worshipping? I focused on these questions throughout this photoshoot particularly through the idea of enlightement or liberation being shown in a veil, or the opening of the veil.
REL IGION
TORI moffett When asked what I thought about being human, my first idea was mortality. How people come and go at any time and any day. But along with that, death is shown as a celebration of life, but never really treated as such. When people are alive, most are taken for granted, not being checked up on, not spent time with, so that when their time comes to pass, those who were taking others for granted are filled with the regret of not checking in and spending time with that person. So in death they try to fill that void of regret by showing up to their grave and bringing flowers and having a picnic, but would they have really done that if that person was alive? Would they have made those plans? Would they care that much?
Morality
KADENCE Markovich Nature is a bountiful force in light of mammals across our planet. It fuels us, enlightens us, enrages us. My intent with these photographs is the concept that nature calms us. It soothes us with a motherly touch as the horizon kisses the fog of a late autumn dusk. My photos are simple, and my intention was so. To focus on the connection between nature, and the complexity of a human. Nature is all around us, we consume it daily, unrecognizable to our clouded eyes and modern judgement. I gave my model the freedom to feel the wind touch their skin, flow through the wool of their cardigan and fully surround them. By doing this, my outcome was a raw and pure response to the sedative of mother nature herself. I believe that nature is a powerful force, it’s terrifying and uncontrollable. However, it’s a beam of sunlight shining rays upon petals and allowing them to bloom.
Jasmine
MarEN Greene I wanted to focus on the simply mundane things about being human. Our houses in their natural, candid state, and the sense of isolation it can be so easy to fall into. I would argue that almost everyone, especially in these past nearly two years, has felt some sense of isolation and grief. To take my pictures, I drove around and took photos of houses and scenes that stood out to me, with the intent of capturing the feeling of loneliness/ isolation, as well as simply mundane daily life. In the editing process, I contemplated whether to leave my photos in color or to convert them into black and white. After thinking about it and getting feedback, I decided that putting my photos in black and white even further conveyed the sense of isolation I was going for.
isolation
IAN Mccuen I had a hard time initially thinking of how I would connect my photos to the theme. Then I ended up doing the most human thing possible, and telling my dad to be himself in the photos. In the photo series I took photos of my dad in soft lighting. I chose a warmer tone of light because I wanted the photos to be inviting. I took them in my garage with the only light source being my ring light. I got up close with a prime lens to make him the only thing in frame. I am really happy with how these photos came out because they really represent who my dad is.
Personality
destiny Robello I created a series inspired by the lack of connection a person may have. To me a lack of connection is just as important to recognize as already existing connections. By wrapping my model, Kian Boonabi-Mirafathali, in tulle, I created the idea of an invisible wall/bubble people tend to use to describe someone who isolates themselves. I used tulle to represent the many layers someone may have to keep people out. I didn’t think that one layer would accurately represent human connections with all the people they meet in their life. I wanted to consider the nice classmate who holds the door open in the morning, or the person who cuts me off on my drive to school, or my mom, dad, and brother. Some people only reach the surface of a persons being while others pass all the layers and get to know who the person truly is.
in the bubble
Chroma Magazine