Breyona *Bree* Holt is a photographer, and the director of Exquisite Eye. The Atlanta native speaks on her move to California, her gaze and centering black experiences.
The Start & Influences
Sasha-Gay: Tell us about your early life and introduction to the arts.
Bree Holt: I was introduced to photography early in my life, as my father is a photographer and both of my parents always took cool photos with their friends that I adored. After losing my mother as a teen, I understood the importance of capturing moments with my camera. I started to take photography seriously shortly after joining the yearbook team my sophomore year of high school, and have never put my camera down since.
SG: Your photographic eye is quite distinct. The consistent themes are a sense of warmth; the subjects glow and they are always centered in your frame.
BH: I love using warm tones and negative space, but I honestly just create what feels right to me. I believe that everyone will feel and see something different and that is what art is about. Creating my own world and having others perceive it their way.
SG: You are from Atlanta, but currently living and working in California. How do both locations influence your work?
BH: I am influenced from the people and the energy that I choose to surround myself with. Atlanta played a big part in helping me become who I am today. Atlanta pushed me to want to create a lane for more black girls to be represented, hence why I started only shooting black women. I am still living through my experience here in California so I can not speak too soon, I am fairly new and still learning here.
SG: Did this move result in any noticeable shifts in your photography?
BH: To me, the move has just sharpened my eye and taught me more things as a creative.
Framing Blackness
SG: There is no denying that the Black experience is in many ways entrenched in your work. Can you speak on why it is important to focus on this experience?
BH: I think that a lot of people in the industry did not look to people of color as being high fashion or beautiful enough for certain jobs. So, when there were not many opportunities for us on the art scene, I did the best I could to create timeless art. My mission has not changed and I still am working hard to put our work in the spaces where our art and beauty can be appreciated.
Atlanta played a big part in helping me become who I am today. Atlanta pushed me to want to create a lane for more black girls to be represented, hence why I started only shooting black women.
SG: As a Black woman in a genre that is still dominated by men, what have your experiences taught you about the disparities between the recognition men and women artists receive?
BH: That there are still ignorant men who believe that photography is a “man’s job” and no woman should be shooting but we are growing past that and there are more women stepping behind the camera and killing it. In due time more women will be booking bigger jobs.
SG: There is a creative renaissance brewing within the African Diaspora, and Atlanta is a major hub for that right now. What role do you think ATL will hold in this artistic revolution?
BH: I think ATL will hold some of the most iconic indie artist of the 21st century in art, fashion, music, and beauty.
SG: If you could work with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
BH: It would have to be Rihanna. She exudes such a free spirit and I am sure she would be open-minded to all of the crazy ideas I would have for her and MURDER it.
When there were not many opportunities for us on the art scene, I did the best I could to create timeless art. My mission has not changed and I still am working hard to put our work in the spaces where our art and beauty can be appreciated.
