We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Breana Parks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Breana, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project that I have made is my project called Many Moons. The project was a multi part piece that was a mixture of photography, textiles and poetry.

The project came about in 2021, where I was watching a show called Summer Camp Island. In the show, one of the main characters was a witch, she was just learning to fly but was having a block in her mind that did not allow her to fly. The whole episode, she goes back in her mothers lineage to figure out who was the source of the blockage. That sparked something in me and made me think about intergenerational trauma and how it is passed down from the mother.

From the idea, I went through many phases of how to present this piece but my soul focus was to take a deeper look at the 3 generations of women in my life who were still alive and how their bloodlines effected me as a person. I am mainly a photographer but since graduating college I have explored textiles in my work and trying to find new ways to present photography beyond just a frame. With that in mind, I decided I would teach myself to quilt in one year! Ambitious I know but I love a challenge.

So for the quilt, I used fabrics from the Philippines where my mother was born, and some fabrics from the US like a baby blanket. The quilt itself is red symbolizing the blood of my family. The centerpiece of the quilt is a collection of photographs of all the matriarchs in my family composited into a fetus to represent the next generation. The womb was made of 4 matriachs in my families festive gowns; my mother’s wedding dress, my late Maternal grandmother’s nightgown, my father’s mother blouse and my paternal Great grandmother’s church blouse and lastly my prom dress. All the mother’s fabrics touching their daughters fabrics, leaving me to be the umbilical cord to connect all the generations. All the fabrics were white and pure but connected through red thread for the active blood line.

The project was presented in Fall 2022, this was the first solo show as an artist. This also would be the last show my Grandmother would see before her passing. I am grateful for the piece as it made me be more reflective in how the patterns of these women hold me from flying but also make me want to soar.

The piece has since been in a few shows since 2022 and 2023, each time providing new insight on a heavy topic in my life.

The quilt was later photographed with 3 generations; my mother, my now late paternal grandmother and myself. This was a very special piece for me as i interviewed all the women to get a deeper dive into what they have learned and are unlearning from their mothers which is rare to hear. This was the first project, my mom has been in as I have grown as an artist and it was special to hear her be venerable and share her story with me. Also, we are coming up to the second year my paternal grandmother’s passing–the photographs in the piece are the last professional photos taken of her before her passing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In my younger years, I used photography as a way to freeze time, to hold onto the memories of my family that would be missed or forgotten. Because of that I would become the historian of my family events and hold the archive of people we have lost in the library of my hard drives. In some ways photography has allowed me to process the world; to explore social issues and identity and connection to others. Throughout all my recent projects, I have explored how far I can push my photography to go beyond printed paper–to see how I can display the images in new ways that are more fluid. Fabrics are always incorporated from movement, texture, and displays in three of my recent works.

Growing up as a biracial Black person, I have always been searching for ways to connect whether to myself, to others, to understand these were the driving forces for me to create. Photography was always interwoven into my discoveries of self. At University of California, San Diego, I never wanted to be put into a box in terms of picking my identity or conforming to the artist my professors wanted me to be. As I did that, I was able to be more vocal about things in my classrooms that bothered me such as being the only Black person in a predominantly white arts program. This was shown in my piece called 1 in 3, that looked at the statistic of 1 in 3 Black men going to jail and the media’s perception of them. Fast forward to summer of 2020, I started a project called Waves that focuses on showing the Black male body in feminine ways while highlighting the Black body in relation to water. From my background in Ethnic studies, I tend to research every element and historical component that goes into my pieces.

Two projects I developed in 2021 are called Illusions of innocence, and Many moons.
Illusions of innocence is a photo series that explores the perceived notions projected onto Black youth that forces them to grow up by the age of 10 thus stripping them of their innocence. The first images of the series are the stereotypes often put on the shoulders of Black youth. Juxtaposed is the second image which portrays the genuine euphoria of youth. The photographs are printed onto silks to act as a veil that some outside the community wouldn’t see. Many Moons is a collection of photographs and textiles of the female lineage in my family that will be turned into a quilted piece. This quilted piece looks at how the trauma a woman holds is passed down from their mother mothers linking them together. In addition to this quilted piece, there will be photographs of the female figures within 3 generations with the quilt.

Photography has become a vessel and challenge for me to transform how we view photographs. The common thread to photography is that history and stories are the things that link how we interpret work. My hope for my work is to be able to learn more about history and people through it, and along the way find myself more. And maybe someone would find themselves in it too.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

With my career, I would love to continue to be a multidisciplinary artist and get into more galleries. But most importantly, a thing i constantly think about is how i want to help my friends share their art since the art world is so vast and complicated. I would love to be able to help my friends promote their work because they are so talented and deserve it.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was in college, I majored in Visual Arts Media, Photography and was interested in Sports production. From the time, I was 19 I was working in sports production as a producer, and camera person. After college, I thought I would get a job in sports production since it was stable–then a few months later after a few jobs with Pac 12 freelancing, Covid hit. Covid put a halt in jobs for sports, and thus I was looking for work. I knew I wanted to be in the arts and photography but loved sports production.

One day during a protest on the street, I met a women named Erin Feher, she worked for the SF chronicle and was looking to start her own nonprofit photo journalism group that focused on BIPOC Stories. She offered me a job as a photojournalist on a few pieces. This lead me to not only telling stories more but also being inspired to make my own piece as well! In addition, I started teaching photography with youth.

Without the world pausing, I would have taken longer to fall back into photography and storytelling

Contact Info:

• Website: https://breanajanae.com
• Instagram: @iba_breanaparks
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bréana-parks/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@breaparks7

Image Credits

Breana Janae Parks