Cameraboi: An Interview With Alex Kiander

Written by: Olivia Austria-Kemble

From his silver chain to his shiny metallic grill, eccentric and unique instantly came to mind when meeting Alex Kiander.

Kiander is a visual artist with an arsenal of skills and a book of stories to accompany. He started his path at Madison College in the 2010’s, solidifying his roots in Madison’s photography and art scene. Despite the rise of Madison’s fresh generation of talent, Kiander is established as one of Madison’s early wave, multi-medium visual artists.

An example of Kiander’s work.

Kiander and I settled in at his friend’s apartment. After common pleasantries, I learned that Andy, the owner of this apartment, and Kiander periodically collab on pop-up shows. Andy caters the events with fresh eats while Kiander captures portraits of friends and strangers. Kiander sets up shop at venues such as Commonwealth Gallery and Milwaukee street festivals, as well as local bars like the Plaza Tavern. The duo sometimes even outfit Andy’s apartment to be a venue.

Kiander can often be found in local venues, such as the Plaza Tavern.

That said, it became apparent that pop-up shows are Kiander’s favorite type of event. He enjoys the freedom to create and promote his own event, something uniquely found in a pop-up show. These shows are definitely more casual and intimate, a scene that Kiander flourishes in. He described how shooting portraits reveals each subject’s personality. From there, his inspiration takes over: “It starts out with just simple portraits, but soon there’s plants—other props in the mix.” He pulls from the disposition of each person, and picks the camera and the shot to match it.

Although pop-up show portraits are fun, Kiander doesn’t stop at just basic portrait photography. He’s well-versed in multiple different camera platforms, such as polaroid cameras, vintage film cameras, and digital cameras. With such a wide array, I had to ask what his weapon of choice is. Kiander simply responded, “It all depends on what I’m shooting.”

He explained that because each event has a different vibe, he chooses a specific camera to capture it. “Polaroids are fun,” he said. He then added how the medium allows for an almost instant, physical copy, which makes the photos easy to distribute. “And I use film for shows” —referencing his knack for going to local concerts and shooting on both compact film cameras and digital.

Among Kiander’s work is an intriguing style he refers to as “3D photographs.” And the creation process is almost as interesting as the product. Kiander uses a special camera from the 80’s that captures the same image from four different angles. Traditionally, one would use the camera to create physical photos with the same three-dimensional characteristics, referred to as a lenticular photo. However, Kiander amended this process to keep up with the digital trends. In this case, once the image is captured, he takes to Photoshop, where he overlays the images to create a looping GIF. The end product is a three dimensional photo that can be posted online.

3D photography, as Kiander calls it, creates the illusion of a three-dimensional photo. (Photo credit: @_shakylegs_ on Instagram).

This type of photography has been taking Instagram by storm. New cameras and apps have been created to replicate this photo. But, take it from the king of 3D photography— “Nothing compares to the original process” —referring to the qualitative difference between 3D images created in the imitation apps versus the original lenticular cameras. Although the photos may appear all the same to us; a trained eye, like Kiander, can easily spot the difference.

Kiander was an early adopter of the 3D photography trend.

We wrapped up the interview by talking about future plans for Kiander. He explained how he wants to get to a point where his art can fully support him. As of now, he splits his days between his photography business and his job as an Art Director for Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction. He is currently working towards becoming a self-sufficient photographer and artist.

For more of Kiander’s work, visit his Instagram, @alexkiander or his website linked below:

https://www.alexkiander.com

Sex Education: Power & Strength of Female Camaraderie

Written by: Mason Braasch

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!

“So what’s your thing then?” asks Jackson. To which Maeve replies, “Complex female characters.”

True to this quote by lead charcter and cookie-cutter “bad girl,” Maeve Wiley, Netflix’s Sex Eduacation is all about the female charcters, especially in the inspiring and empowering second season.

Sex Education, although extrememly graphic and definatley PG-13, has been recieving praise from fans since the first season was released in 2019. Its ability to be open about particularlly hard topics like sexuality, race, and sex has made it a favorite, allowing it to be renewed for a second season. The show can be praised for a lot of things, considering its openness and representation, but what is most commendable about the new season was its plotline that demonstrated the strength and power of female camaraderie.

Although the second season of Sex Education follows the same basic plot as the first — narrating the story an underground sex clinic run by students of a British high school — what was most impactful to me (and to many other female fans) was the plot of side character Aimee Gibbs.

While Aimee was riding to school on the public bus, she was sexually assaulted when a stranger ejaculated on her jeans. We see Aimee silently struggle through the reality of this encounter following this incident, as she starts imagining her assaulter everywhere she goes and is unable to receive physical touch from those that she loves.

This raw portrayal of sexual assault was devastating to watch and unfortunately, familiar to many. Yet, as the season progesses, Sex Education shows us just how strong women can be. After keeping her assault a secret for much of the season, Aimee finally opens up to her female counterparts. This ignites a conversation about how the one thing that all of the girls on the show had in common was “nonconsensual penises.”

This sad yet powerful scene was just the beginning of a montage that showed the true power of female anger and camaraderie. Aimee and her friends were united through the ways in which they had been taken advantage of. Sex Education then shows the girls coming together to express the anger that they — and all women — feel by loudly proclaiming their frustrations and destroying glass objects in an abandoned dump.

This display of strength had me laughing, crying, and cheering, as it is so rare that we see a diverse group of women sharing moments of strength together on screen. Better yet, to see women take back control after they have been sexually assaulted is empowering, encouraging, and beautiful.

So, while Aimee’s plotline was not the main focus of season two, it is an important plotline for all viewers of the new season. Spreading awareness and raising hope, the story of strength and female camaraderie was the highlight of season two, and of the whole show in general. To watch women take control and fight back is just the narrative we need, and Sex Education delivered in a truly beautiful way.

Gender in Photography : King Princess and Defying the Norms

Written by : Panagioti Tsiamis

On the 21st of June, 2019, the online platform “them.” published  King Princess: Free to Be, an article meant to coincide with the upcoming release of the titular musician’s debut album. While King Princess is recognized in the music community as a formidable artist, she has also used her platform to destabilize long-held gender norms. In this way, she has become an icon of gender-fluidity and role model to many people who don’t fit into the established binary. The photo in question depicts King Princess, in a full-length body shot, staring dead-on into the camera, all the while lifting her dress to expose a pair of leopard print panties. This piece, while seemingly provocative at first glance, reflects the title—literally scattered throughout the photo—and allludes to the musician’s insight on sex, gender, and identity.

Further observation reveals much about this photo and its underlying message. She stands with a slight tilt, her shoulders relaxed. It is a stance of vulnerability but also confidence, further enhanced by the exposure of her lifted skirt. Her hands come to rest at her waist, as if King Princess were clutching a belt rather than the folds of a skirt. There is something distinctly masculine about her posture, contrasting the feminine attire. The intrigue and intensity produced by the lighting adds to the narrative of the photo and acts as a point of interest. How light plays out on the subject’s face is of particular interest. It is difficult for the viewer to look directly at her. The shadows produced by the angle of the lighting make her expression seem rather enigmatic. One side of her face is turned away from the light and the side turned toward  is obstructed by loose strands of hair. The result is rather intense shadows on both sides, a motif in photography usually reserved for men. Her face isn’t bathed in light, there is no false sense of beauty or glamor. She  challenges—dares—her audience to listen. The exposure of her undergarments is not seductive, but confident and honest, a shedding of skin: freedom. She is lifting the curtain, so to speak, to reveal something unexpected.

King Princess is situated at the very front of the frame, nearly filling it vertically. She almost appears too close, too personal, even as a full-length body shot. The foreground feels cramped. This is only emphasized further when the viewer becomes aware of how much space is behind her. In this empty space, King Princess is left alone with the viewer, producing a more private atmosphere and a more focussed scene. She is clothed in a mint green satin dress, complimenting the backdrop but wholly upstaging it. The green floral shirt peeking out at her collar bones also plays into this color palette. It is under her skirt where things diverge. Her boots are white and covered in yellow-accented fabric daisies. The matronly hues of the dress-shirt combo are contrasted by the girlish and childlike hues of the boots. The tone shifts again, however, as the panties come into focus. King Princess dons a pair of loud and obnoxious leopard print panties, rightfully acting as not only the center of the photo, but the center of attention. It contradicts not both the softer color pallette of everything else in the photo and the more demure imaging. The leopard print evokes a sexier and wilder form of femininity, also something decidedly tackier. The discourse of colors here is analogous to the discussion of sex and gender identity discussed in the article.

This photo is revealing, but not in the way one might expect. The details of the piece allude to a deeper meaning, something honest and far more serious. There are elements that seems to defy the norms of gender and sex and uphold the complexity of identity, challenging the status quo. This message, found embedded in the photo and the words woven throughout, advocates for a greater freedom: freedom from the expected.

Glamour Project

By Vanessa Weeden

I am certain that I feel the need to capture the intimacies that exist in the relationships between myself and the world. When holding a camera, I find myself reconfiguring this world using long exposures, open apertures, and experimental lighting. I often frame my subjects in light and reflections to emphasize the narratives that exist in my mind. To explore how we purposefully present ourselves in front of the camera versus how we subconsciously carry ourselves, I capture in both studio and natural settings.  
In the ongoing project "Glamour," I am creating glamour portraits inspired by those of the early 20th century, using soft focus, colored lighting, dramatic posing, and hyper-femininity. I am exploring stereotypical female beauty in historically unconventional models. It is important to me that I am representative across all groups of people including different genders, body types, and ethnicities. Further, I believe there is importance that I, a female, am behind the camera, rather than the male photographers of the time. For this specific body of work, I encourage my subjects to choose their own attire and makeup (or lack thereof,) so that they can be portrayed in a genuine way. In an attempt to create the characteristic soft focus of 20th-century glamour portraits, I use an open aperture and often photograph through a plastic bag.

Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin

Written by: Tori Lopez

Rosa Parks. You see her name plastered everywhere: schools, streets, even highways. Parks’s refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus helped to spark the flame behind the Civil Rights Movement. But before Parks, there was another black girl who refused to give up her seat. Claudette Colvin, a teenager who also hailed from Montgomery, said no to the bus driver nine months before Parks.

Born in 1939, Colvin was raised in a poor neighborhood in Montgomery, Alabama. Despite this, her teachers made an effort to educate their students about black history. She credits learning about these influential figures to standing up for herself during her bus ride.

That said, after being let out of school early on March 2, 1955, Colvin and her friends went on the nearest bus. They situated themselves in the middle row. The front of the bus was for white passengers only, and as the bus filled with more white commuters, Colvin and her friends were ordered to give up their seats.

While her friends shuffled to the back, Colvin remained in place. She remembered the strong black figures she had learned in class during that moment. Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth — it was like they were holding her shoulders down. Colvin wasn’t scared, she was inspired. 

“I paid my fare and it’s my constitutional right,” she said.

The bus driver stopped as soon as the driver saw a police squad car. Colvin was arrested on the spot.

At just 15-years-old, Claudette Colvin stood up to the injustice around her.

Colvin’s parents and her pastor arrived three hours later to bail her out. Although her mother was proud of her daughter for standing up to the system, her father asserted that they were all in danger. Her father stayed up throughout the night with a loaded shotgun, worried that the Ku Klux Klan might arrive.

The community was more mixed. Although some would help protect Colvin’s home and applaud her for her courage, others argued that she made the situation worse.

It’s true that other African-Americans displayed the same boldness as Colvin. Rosa Parks did it. But Colvin wanted to continue to fight the system, so she hired a lawyer.

It took about a year for the case to start (considering Colvin had gotten pregnant and acknowledged that it would interfere with her case and image). But when it did, it became known as Browder v. Gayle, a landmark federal lawsuit that terminated segregation on public transportation in Alabama.

Colvin isn’t upset at Rosa Parks for getting all the spotlight during the Civil Rights Movement, or at least not anymore. In fact, both were members of the NAACP. Colvin knew Parks personally, citing Parks to be a quiet yet generous woman. Shortly after Colvin was arrested, she would sometimes stay overnight at Parks’s apartment.

Claudette Colvin is still alive and well today.

And that’s something to keep in mind: during Black History Month, we should not only avoid pitting women against each other, but continue to support the brave African Americans that built this country. Claudette Colvin may not be as well-known as Rosa Parks, but her contributions to ending segregation were and are monumental.

Likewise, we should take the time to remember that Colvin’s actions happened in 1955. Colvin is still alive today at a mere 80 years old. This isn’t ancient history; figureheads like Colvin are still living today. We should take the time to listen to them, learn from them, and make sure their efforts weren’t in vain.

So of course, before Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin. And after that, there will be more influential African Americans, paving the way for the next generation of black youth.