Interview: Phillip Loken
By Lia J. Latty
Published November 15, 2022
Did you always know you wanted to be a creative and a photographer?
PHILLIP: Honestly, I knew I was an artist as early as I can remember. I’ve moved through different mediums of creative expression though. There’s a photo of me at about four years old playing a toy snare drum. I still have a passion for music, but that’s where this all started. A dedicated focus on photography came around 2012. I played the drums from about four to 18, then started designing graphic tees with a friend in high school. That brand led to a streetwear blog I ran through Tumblr called Cool&Well-Dressed in 2012. In the beginning, I needed original images for the blog, so I bought a used Canon 20D. That blog was fire too. Anyone who’s supported me for some years now has definitely seen my work there. I had interviews with Diamond Supply Co., H33M, Karmaloop, BBC; it was a great time. I’ve actually had a camera in my hands (mainly disposable) as early as like 10, but the start of Cool&Well-Dressed in 2012 is when photography really stole the show as my new medium of expression.
What inspirations influence your work?
PHILLIP: So many inspirations influence my work. At a conceptual level, it’s primarily the desire to document Black life with a hyperfocus on us southern folk. If we’re talkin’ photographers who have inspired me and inevitably influenced my work, I’d say Courtney Jefferson, Carrie Mae Weems, Deana Lawson, Adger Cowans, T. Eric Monroe, Jamel Shabazz, Dawoud Bey; the list could truly never end. I get inspired by artists of other mediums too like Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Romare Bearden, Telvin Wallace, Anthony Patterson, Reginald Sylvester, and André Leon Gray.
What is your process like when you’re working with the people you photograph?
PHILLIP: Different approaches for different situations. If it’s an assignment or booking, I try to do as much research on whoever or whatever I’m shooting. Then I schedule a call with the subject where we discuss the shoot and I get a feel for them as a person. We’re having conversations during the shoot too. I love good conversation; it always leads to great moments and that’s bigger than just photography. When I’m shooting my own projects, it’s a pretty similar process, just more conversations and research.
Octavia Rainey V for Black Oak Society
How do you navigate the world of contemporary photography?
PHILLIP: Bruh, that question is a universe within itself. Through years of trial and error, I’ve learned to trust myself and my work above all else. I let that inner feeling guide me. I’m a good mix of spontaneity and strategy. A good seven times out of 10, I’ll sit back and thoroughly map out a plan, but those other three times you just have to go with the flow. Another thing that guides me is not having a fear of losing. I’m here for the wins and lessons. I’ve dedicated myself to my work and navigating the world of contemporary photography however it naturally occurs.
How do you define your relationship with photography?
PHILLIP: An unconditional love. As I mentioned before, I’ve moved through many different mediums of creative expression, but I have a very strong feeling that photography will always be a part of anything I do.
On the lowest of keys, photography was always a part of everything already.
Carmen Cauthen V for Black Oak Society
“We all can’t control what people take from our work, but I hope I always give Black people a sense of pride through my imagery.“
Explain your approach to photographing Carmen Cauthen and Octavia Rainey for the Black Oak Society.
PHILLIP: First off, these women deserve all the praise for the work they do for their communities in Raleigh, North Carolina, true protectors of Black Raleigh’s culture. I’m so fortunate to have been chosen by Black Oak Society for that assignment.
My approach to shooting them was very similar to how I answered the previous question about my process. As soon as I was given the assignment, I did some research on both of them. After that, I scheduled a couple calls with them, then moved onto scheduling the shoot. During the shoot, we had many conversations about their lives and experiences with defending their communities from gentrification. We connected deeply on that topic because Raleigh will always be home for me, and I hate seeing it lose its culture to gentrification as well. I even recorded the conversations we had at the shoots. That helped me out during the editing process and writing my descriptions for the final pieces.
Our calls prior to the shoot are what really led to the images that were made. The iconography used was a huge part of what came from those calls. One example is the rattan peacock chair (rented from Samantha Everette’s Studio) Octavia Rainey is sitting in on her front porch for the pieces Octavia Rainey I, III, IV and V. I wanted to capture that same majestic, noble energy expressed in that iconic image of Huey Newton in his peacock chair holding a spear in one hand and a shotgun in the other. I saw a parallel between Newton and Rainey. In the images I made I wanted Ms. Rainey to embody that fearless and robust essence Huey embodied, as if she was speaking directly to gentrifiers saying “No, this is my home, my neighborhood, my community. And I am not going anywhere.”
Another great example of iconography used that came from previous conversations are the pieces Carmen Cauthen I and II. The shoot took place at Richard B. Harrison Library, the first public library for Black people in Raleigh. Ms. Cauthen told me her Aunt won the Vacation Reading Book Club contest held at the library in 1937 and the prize was an original copy of Carter G. Woodson’s “Negro Makers of History”, signed by the chairman of the library’s board. On the table behind the book sits an original newspaper clipping from a 1954 issue of Raleigh’s News and Observer with the headline “Segregation Is Declared Unconstitutional”. Those two pieces of history would have never been included in the image if we had never had conversations about Ms. Cauthen’s history and the history of that library prior to our shoot. Those images weren’t chosen for the exhibition, but my goal was to have them exhibited as a diptych. They may get into another exhibition in the future, who knows.
What do you think hasn’t been properly explored when it comes to the Black community in the South? How do you see yourself filling that gap through your work?
PHILLIP: The gap I fill with my work is a perspective on Black southern culture from an active participant. I’m not on the outside looking in, I am a part of this culture. I was born in Texas, then moved to North Carolina when I was four. I’ve lived in so many different cities across North Carolina, but East Raleigh has been home since I was about 12. Another link to the southern chain is my mother and her family being from Jacksonville, Florida.
I love this culture and I’m truly only one of so many different identities in the Black South, but I love giving a look into the culture in various ways. My 35mm film scans from Atlanta Art Week‘s Day Party are a great example of what I mean. I honestly don’t remember seeing other photographers at the party, but I knew I wanted to go as soon as I saw the flyer on Instagram. It was definitely fun, but I did effectively document a true moment in Black Southern art history and just another piece to Black Southern culture in general. Access and understanding how important this moment was gave me the ability and intuition to make these images during the party. I went mainly to network and have a good time, but being a photographer and intentionally having my camera turned it into so much more.
What do you hope people take away from your imagery?
PHILLIP: We all can’t control what people take from our work, but I hope I always give Black people a sense of pride through my imagery. That’s my main goal and I think it’s important to remember that black people are not monolithic. People can feel pride in self in very many different ways. I hope people also take away a genuine feeling of authenticity. One doesn’t outweigh the other in this regard, but authenticity and pride in self are what I hope back people take away from my imagery.
My work is open to adoration and commentary from all people, but I always work with the intention of a Black audience.