We recently connected with Chris Tyler and have shared our conversation below.
Chris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
My most recent project actually, in collaboration with a recording artist by the name of Basi Vibe. Basi is someone I love and respect, as chosen family, as an artist, and as a human being. One day he called to loop me in on a music video he had in mind–a funeral repass to symbolize the mourning of a recently ended relationship. Initially, I was asked to style him for the video. After a few conversations and my child-like displays of enthusiasm, my role grew to include what was essentially art direction, stage design, production lead, and a few other logistical elements. I wore several hats throughout the recording process, all of them with utmost pride and joy. My eyes didn’t cry, but my heart wept tears of joy after the five hours we spent on set that day.
Before I had any reputation or experience as a creative, before I had any connections, confidence, or knowledge of how-to, I had a vision. I saw myself on set, saw myself bringing ideas to life, saw myself telling stories through sound, word, and visuals alongside people I loved and respected. I held this vision through countless nights of doubt, anxiety, imposter syndrome, and all the other spices that life contributes for our character development. To see myself that day at the music video, in real time, doing what I had asked the cosmos for at a point in the past is nothing short of dream fulfillment.
The cherry on top is that I love Basi like a brother. I went to every jam session possible, had been taking photos at his performances, wrote his artist bio for streaming platforms, sat in on recording sessions, and listened with excitement to every unfinished demo he sent my way. Now there I was–living out my vision, helping to manifest his that day on set. The level of investment, attention to detail, control, focus, and presence I held that day was all a reflection of the appreciation I have for Basi. Cheers to that day and many more like it.
Chris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
23, Afro-Latino, born and raised in South Sacramento. I see myself and my work as a vessel for expression, exploration, remembrance and transcendence. Remembrance of the grandiosity of our humanity, remembrance that we are all fingerprints of an infinitely divine experience that is continually unfolding through us in the present moment.
Modeling, the craft I’m most known for at this point in time, wasn’t something I ever intended on doing. As I reflect on the journey that has unfolded over the years, I can only be grateful, for what a beautiful ride it has been. I got ‘started’ when I was scouted for a clothing brand in Sacramento. The shoot was a great time and I was fortunate to meet several amazing creatives that day. Momentum steadily increased as I networked with more photographers, directors, stylists, and brands throughout Northern California and shared my portfolio on Instagram. Fortunately people saw something in me and took it upon themselves to reach out for work as I shared my value.
As of today, I’ve been published in 5 editorials, featured in NY/Tokyo Fashion Week & WWD, made a billboard appearance in San Francisco, and have cultivated a community of highly skilled creative visionaries. I’m still unsigned, so shopping for a solid, trustworthy agency might be the next order of business.
As previously mentioned, I never considered modeling as part of my destiny. In fact, I almost gave up on it as soon as I started. For a while I was stuck in this cynical, pessimistic headspace because I thought the art was narcissistic, superficial, and without purpose. And while it is not without its quirks, like every other industry, I soon found out how narrow-sighted I had been with this premature judgment.
Life gave me the chance to reinterpret the work I was doing, revealing how utterly fortunate I am to be in this position. I have so much power in front of the camera. Power to reflect the image of melanated boys, to give them representation, to give them an understanding of the magic we have inside of us waiting to be expressed, to uplift, inspire and empower others through imagery, to free my consciousness by telling stories, and to find beautiful moments of temporary home within each creative collaboration. Many of us create not because we want to–but because we have to. Because it was the only way we found escape, refuge, and solace in times of hardship, because it’s our portal to birthing new worlds, vibrant potentials, and expanded states of being.
I continue to provide talent services as a model, and have experience in creative direction, production assistance, photography, writing short stories, and poetry. Screenwriting, acting, voice over, and directing are the next items on my list of personal development.
At the intersection of my series of creative pursuits is one common denominator: storytelling. Through story we are awakened, taught, reminded, torn apart, and brought back together in ways that we could never imagine. Stories are what we write with each moment of our lives, and they are what I’m most excited to work with in every creative collaboration. At the core of it all, I see our stories as an outward manifestation and intermingling of the universal consciousness emanating from within each of us.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The opportunity to resonate with the hearts and minds of others, the chance to emphasize our underlying interconnectedness by understanding and voicing what is true within myself, through my work. I read this line from a poet, whose name I cannot remember, but it said how you are bound to strike a chord in the being of others if you are willing to confront what is viscerally true within yourself. It’s almost like a universal law. In many ways we are all sharing the same experience, just from different perspectives or with different labels. But at the core, the drama of our human struggle is so often the same. The opportunity to explore this phenomenon and remind of our inherent oneness is a deeply rewarding aspect of my role as a creative.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
That I needed to protect myself in love or matters of the heart.
It’s funny how those childhood sayings ring true as an adult. But truly, the only person you cheat is yourself when you take short cuts. And to not love fully, openly, honestly, is one of the most separative things you can do to yourself. I had been in and out of a particular relationship with this girl. I found myself getting close, opening up, but still monitoring and regulating my expression or depth of emotion. I did this out of protective instinct, as a means of keeping the upper hand, of having some semblance of control over my emotional stability. In case things didn’t work, in case they took a turn for the worst.
And I was successful, very successful at damage control, but at the cost of not being fully present and allowing myself to feel fully loved within the relationship. It’s a very isolating protective mechanism. So I’m unlearning that, for my own sake. I think we should all feel love, even when it’s dangerous. You’ll never know how alive you are until you allow your ego to approach the brink of death.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solsticeseer/
Image Credits
Alexis Floyd Jessica Wilson Stephanie Fiel