Aubrey Edwards

”...my work connects different communities that wouldn’t otherwise have this connection or be capable of finding similarities.”

Every time I see, chat, or meet with Aubrey, I walk away more impressed. Her name is even saved in my phone as “Aubrey Bad Ass.” Her work is an alluring narrative that is seductive and grounded all at once. The stories that she shares are honest, sincere and inviting—like pie and coffee.

She’s a documentarian of people’s lives; she tugs heartstrings and highlights marginalized people and places. Her projects include Letters from the Backside, a photo and oral history of the back side of New Orleans fairgrounds and racetrack; Homeboys Portraits from the nation’s largest gang-intervention and re-entry program; the Veterans photo project with the DOE fund; and most recently, Aubrey submerged herself into the transgender community in Singapore.

Erica Wilson/Dashboard Co-op: Get us up to speed—you just got back from a big, grant-funded trip?

Aubrey Edwards: Yes, this was my second residency in two years and was fully funded by the Singapore National Arts Council. I lived in Singapore for a month interacting and interviewing those living in the transgender community. I basically hit the ground in Singapore, a highly conservative country, with a month to work my way into this very close-nit subculture while being accountable to the people that paid for me to be there.

Dash: Umm, yeah did that ever get kind of tricky?

AE: Oh well, I have been photographing people for so long and have worked in various subcultures, that I’ve learned to gain their trust and respect. It’s just a very fine line between exploitation and documentation, which is something I try to stay on the right side of. My work is more than just portraits, but oral histories so people get to tell stories about their lives that are coupled with images. In the case of being transgender, in a hyper conservative Asian country, they can tell the story of their experience and share it with a larger audience. The work connects different communities that wouldn’t otherwise have this connection or be capable of finding similarities. Over a month I interviewed and photographed 25 trans men and women.

Dash Wow That’s a significant amount.

AE: Yeah, it was crazy! I would go out, covered in tattoos, with six-foot tall trannies in a very, very conservative country. It was good!

Dash: So how did you get started as an artists? Did you go the art school route? Why photos?

AE: Well my mother died when I was 6 and when she passed my father gave my sister and me a Polaroid camera to distract us. I grew up taking photos as an outlet for those first couple of years after my mom passed and it just stayed with me. When I did go to school I went for journalism. In my third year I saw a Deborah Luster, a portrait photographer in new Orleans who now is good friends. I saw her speak when I was about 23 and thought, “I NEED to be taking portraits!”. So, I finished my journalism degree simultaneously got another two-year degree in photography. And from there I started assisting and from about 25 I was working freelance and was the main shooter for the Austin Chronicle. It just took off from there.

Dash: One of the big pulls I had in proposing you to Dashboard, not only that you are a great photographer, a woman, and working, but because of your connections to New York and New Orleans.

AE: There is crazy energy in New Orleans right now. It is a huge blossoming community and I do attribute it to Katrina. People had a knock down of these borders between them because they have this shared experience of the storm and rebuilding and they had to come together. We now have this amazing community forum that is completely supportive. More and more artist run galleries popping up it has become this very amazing place to be.

Dash: That is a similar feeling I had years ago in Atlanta. I felt that there was a lack of support and community amongst artists—that is part of why I was so excited to be asked by Beth and Courtney to work with them and Dashboard. Atlanta artists champion each other and art organizations do too.

AE: That is one of the really strong characteristics of New Orleans. People do that shit themselves though; they pull themselves up by their bootstraps…we will rebuild, take control of our community and our streets.  There is a lot of grassroots stuff happening. You never really had a strong contemporary art presence in New Orleans— it was blue dogs and shit, fleur de les and puffy paint. So now you’ve just got this really viable, energetic art scene that is able to show work. There is going to be a New Orleans show in Chelsea opening next week at C24.

Dash: Awesometown! I will totally check it out. So are you working with vets in New Orleans like you do in NY?

AE: Yes I am working with the vets, but they do not have the DOE fund. At the DOE in New York, our big show is November 2nd at Art Connects.

Dash: Yes, I am excited about that.

AE: As soon as I got to New Orleans I wanted to keep the veteran program going down there so I approached the director of the transitional/homeless shelter and now I’ve partnered with them.

Dash: I felt very strongly about your involvement with these groups, which is why I approached you about Dash. You reach untapped groups that can really use these types of programs. I feel that sometimes we are afraid to reach out to a group that we know very little about for any number of reasons. Since I went out with you and the veterans, my eyes just opened.

AE: Yeah, I know. I look at how photography was used, for me, in my life, how it was such a therapeutic tool. A camera is powerful and useful and can be used to help people tell their stories, thoughts and feelings through images.

Dash: Sweet or salty?

AE: I’m Greek, so it’s all oil and salt.

Dash: Thank you, Aubrey. Any last words?

AE: I tell stories, I like to connect people through images. I think we become better people when we can understand the people around us. My goal is to share cultures and subcultures with a wider audience, connect different communities through oral histories coupled with images. Doing this, I think we learn a lot about each other.

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