What inspired you to create your project Black Bouquet?

SCHAUN: I was working with Walker Marsh who owns “The Flower Factory” [in Baltimore] and I had been thinking about this for a while, but I guess this was kind of like the catalyst of it. The city had mowed down his garden that he had built on Gay street, and he needed a way to raise money to get supplies again and be able to pay volunteers to come help on the farm. He had been doing a series with some other photographer who would come out from Red Bull or something like that. Walker asked me to come in and participate and do the same thing, but we turned it into a bigger event. Having people come out in large groups, music, the whole vibe was just different. I was working with Michelle Stafford, and she has this Bemore Yoga Community. She was trying to find ways to engage with them even more than she already does and figure out how to get them to be in community with each other.

I told her I can help, but that I can do it in my medium, which is photographs. I came out to one of her classes and there was a wall on the side of the building on North and Druid where Umar boxing is, and it had a little sign that said “Today’s Special”. There was about 30 people out there. With music playing, everybody stood under the “Today’s Special” sign and got their portrait taken. It just felt really good to just be around people, especially in that large kind of group and everybody’s talking to each other and learning about each other’s businesses, and then they have their portraits taken.

So I was like, how can I combine these two ideas of being in community with each other and learning more about these beautiful people that you’ve never really met before and never really seen before, and make it beautiful. I sat with Walker and I started asking him, I was like, have you ever seen a black bouquet? Like, have you ever seen black flowers? And both of us were like, no, I don’t think I have. They have to exist, right? And he was like, yeah. And I was like, but how come we don’t see them the same way that we see pink, yellow, purple, all kinds of colors of flowers. It seems like the whole spectrum, but I’ve never, ever seen a black one. So he looked it up and yes, they do exist. Some of them have very deep meaning in their use. Then I thought about when I teach my younger students and the way that we enter, we interact with each other, and kind of get a feel for each other is to tell each other what color are we feeling right now?

One of my students said she was feeling black and the other students said “Black? Why, why are you feeling black? What’s wrong?” And she says, “I don’t feel bad at all.” Like, why do you automatically assume that because it’s black it’s bad? And I was like, “Yes, black is an important color.” They were going in on her saying black is not a real color. And I was like, “It absolutely is a color and black adds depth to any color.” So I knew I wanted to talk about that, the depth of blackness. These very special and beautiful flowers, which are people who, regardless of whether or not you know they exist or believe they exist, they do. They exist in places and spaces that you either wouldn’t be looking for them or that you don’t think they can thrive in. I wanted, in some sort of love letter, to let other Black people know that I see you. I think you’re beautiful just as you are. I don’t have to pick you, your existence in general is enough.

I wanted them to be a part of the bouquet themselves. I wanted to start inserting blackness into these bouquets, and that’s kind of how it evolved. It’s still evolving. It’s basically my love letter to blackness and to Baltimore. I only shoot people in Baltimore for this project. I’ve been requested to shoot in Atlanta and New York, and other places like D.C.; lots of different cities have asked for it. Right now this particular project, until I wrap it up, the first part of it is definitely Baltimore based.

How have you navigated the photo world/industry?

SCHAUN: I’m having a great time navigating it. I’ve navigated mostly alone, which can be stressful. However, it’s really exciting seeing which emails make it to my desk. I try to maintain good relationships with the people I’ve met in this industry. I think that’s important. I get repeat clients and great recommendations and I appreciate that. I’m not sure it would be as easy to navigate had I not nurtured the relationships I’ve built over the years.

What do you hope people take away from your imagery?

SCHAUN: I hope that they look at my work and they feel something. I think that’s the biggest takeaway. Whatever it is that they feel, even if it’s not necessarily how I was feeling when I shot it, I want them to walk away feeling seen, and feeling emotional, which is usually the response that I get. If you could see my DMs, you’d be like, are you a therapist? There’s people that, for some reason, they feel very connected to my work and I love that. So I think that’s the biggest takeaway is I want them to feel something and remember it. The same way that older movies made me feel, I want them to feel the same way about my images. I want them to engage in a higher level of thinking when they look at my images. I want them to do some deep diving on why they feel the way that they feel when they look at an image of mine.