We recently connected with Anitah Diggs and have shared our conversation below.
Anitah, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I’ve learned photography just by doing. I joined my high school’s yearbook class when I was a sophomore and learned how to take a “good” photo for the first time by being apart of that experience. Post high school, everything I’ve wanted to know about with photography is mainly something I just learned by myself. I’ve just been guided by the images that I’ve always wanted to create, and just learned each specific editing or shooting tactic that those photographers or editors would use. I feel like leading with what my intuition tells me has been the most helpful tool in guiding my continued learning with photography. I think other things that contribute to continuing to learn across all the crafts I do is consistency, and being in the right environment. Whether thats being surrounded by the right people, or literally being in the right working space. Right now I am trying to figure out how to learn new things, but as an adult, but also as an artist, so that’s been fun to figure out.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name’s Anitah Imani and I am a photographer, writer and artist. Inspiration for my work is always evolving, but the narrative of my work is always driven by the black women in my life, my experience with girlhood and womanhood, and all the media that inspires me. I’ve very drawn to campy art, I feel like I always have been. My images aren’t very serious, they are very colorful and playful and loud. I am also the co-founder of ENVY, a magazine and art collective based in Phoenix, Arizona. ENVY is a space I sought to create to exist freely as an artist, and share that space with other artists.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I feel like there is no other way for me to exist. I feel like if I am not finding a creative outlet to contribute to or escape to, much of my life would look so much different. It’s who I am, and so with that in mind, the goal is to be able to make images and create art that honors my inner child. I want my images to be something that people remember, and something that they can relate too, or find a moment of escape in.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect is really the small moments. Like when I go over to a friends house and see one of my prints on their wall. Or when I run into someone at a coffee shop and they tell me that they read an article from ENVY and they really liked it. I think just knowing that the work is reaching people, and they interacted with it or remembered something from it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anitahimani.com
- Instagram: @anitahimani
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitah-diggs-54b785209/
Image Credits
Images by Anitah Imani