Visual arts incubator, Creator Labs, is back for its fifth season, with a stellar cohort of artists, producing all new original work rooted in narratives of intimacy, community and self introspection. Texas Isaiah, Pegah Farahmand, Anthony Prince Leslie, June Canedo, Andre D. Wagner, Aidan Cullen, Natalia Mantini, Tim Kellner, Kennedi Carter, Myles Loftin, Glassface, MaryV, and Mayan Toledano. Each of the 13 dynamic artists—ranging in discipline, focus and points of view—were tasked with interpreting this year’s theme,“For All You Are”. That’s the magic of Creator Labs, allowing emerging talent to create personal work, without the bounds of a brief. With the Google Pixel 6 as their lens, this year’s roster of artists captured/curated/conceptualized work from a myriad of perspectives. From rising star, Kennedi Carter’s exploration of public personal vs. intimate self and visual narrator Texas Isaiah’s intimate focus on his parents, to Tim Kellner surveying emotions experienced through different landscapes and Natalia Mantini’s examination of nature’s effect on an individual’s wellness.
Creator Labs, a partnership between Google and SN37, has committed itself to fostering creative exploration and the intersection between art and technology. As we continue to push the bounds of the power of the smart phone, the Google Pixel 6 stands at the forefront of image making with its Real Tone software, resulting in it being named the world’s most inclusive camera. “Using the Pixel as my lens is always a very smooth shooting experience. I am able to quickly transition from shot to shot, as well as control my settings as I would with one of the typical cameras I would gravitate to” Kennedi Carter tells GRAZIA. Google is advancing the notion of “the photo studio in your pocket”, allowing artists, image makers and documentarians to easily capture their ideas. “My experience using the Pixel 6 was seamless” says multimedia artist and storyteller, Anthony Prince Leslie. “The 2x digital zoom and portrait mode are clean and I didn’t lose much light when using them. I worked with my photo editor Priya Lad to print and scan the images and was surprised to see that the images can be pushed to their limits and still retain their quality.”
“For All You Are means to me, embracing all of me, my ancestry and the layers of my story. I’m made up of my own experiences and experiences of those that came before me”
—Anthony Prince Leslie
How each artist approached and presented their work is truly representative of the entire mission of Creator Labs. The nuances of their varying perspectives, all created from a place of liberty, speaks to the importance of the arts incubator, You an have work that examines the generational divide, from a cinematic approach (Aidan Cullen), while also having work that examines identity and the often Queer notion of the “chosen family” (Myles Loftin)—both varying viewpoints, but both grounded through work centered in social cause.
See how the artists each interpreted “For All You Are” with the Google Pixel 6 as their lens, below:
