Creator Labs is a visual arts incubator that supports rising talents in the creation of new work about important cultural narratives. A partnership between Google and SN37, Creator Labs provides resources to photographers and filmmakers to document personal work that is grounded in social impact / cultural narrative, all made on Google Pixel 6.
For Season Five, the Creator Labs artists focused on the theme of “For All You Are”. This idea speaks to the aim of the program itself: providing artists with a tool and means to explore their individual perspectives without restrictions or bulky equipment. Additionally and most importantly, Google Pixel 6 has made significant updates to their camera software with Real Tone, resulting in it being named the world’s most inclusive camera. Far from the days of the Shirley card, Google Pixel 6 highlights the nuances of different skin tones beautifully and authentically as part of a larger initiative to build a more equitable experience across all our camera and image products.
Discover more about the artists and their projects:
Kennedi Carter, “Blood & Bone”
Having photographed the likes of Beyoncé for the cover of British Vogue and Olympian SimonBiles for the cover of Glamour, photographer Kennedi Carter has established a reputation for imagery that is at once visually arresting and highly stylized. For her current Creator Labs project“Blood & Bone,” photographer Kennedi Carter turns her attention to the world of bodybuilders, a community comprised of individuals whom she views as “some of the few people in the world that have autonomy over their bodies.” As with her earlier projects, including “Ridin’ Sucka Free” which focused on the untold legacy of BIPOC cowboys in America, Carter looks towards communities that challenge entrenched notions of identity and self-expression. “In these images,” Carter notes of her current project, “I would like to photograph bodybuilders, across gender binaries, race, and age.” The resulting images, she observes, capture the dichotomy between our ‘public persona’ and our ‘internal selves’.
Maryv, “Self”
“I find myself currently in a state of asking questions relating to my own sense of self,”photographer and performance artist MaryV Benoit notes of her latest project for Creator Labs. Featuring images of the artist astride a horse in an open field or posing on a snow-packed slope, MaryV’s current series — titled “Self” —this time finds the artist drawing inspiration from the natural world, a departure from earlier Creator Labs series, including “You’re the One Who Holds Me Tight,” which featured “chosen families” within the LGBTQ+ community. Speaking of her decision to shoot in wild landscapes around Denver, Colorado, MaryV notes, “I chose this type of scenery because I feel emotionally charged by it.” Importantly, however, throughout her body of work MaryV remains insistently committed to understanding — and speaking to — her sense of self. As with her appearance in the 2020 queer-focused Calvin Klein campaign #ProudInMyCalvins, MaryV underscores that her current project is very much a “personal exploration of understanding self.”
Pegah Farahmand, “Untitled”
For her first season of Creator Labs, Iranian photographer and artist Pegah Farahmand created what she refers to as “postcards to the self.” Beginning with black and white photographs featuring a single subject, Farahmand stitched thread directly onto the images, a practice of embroidering onto the photograph which she found inspiration in Spanish postcards dating to the 1940’s and‘50s. Building upon this sense of the “artists hand” present in each of the “postcards” created for the series, Farahmand adds excerpts of poetry and other hand-written elements on the card.
Texas Isaiah, “Family Ties”
With his Creator Labs work, “Family Ties,” artist and photographer Texas Isaiah foregrounds the outsized influence his parents have had on him. For Isaiah, who has made a name for himself shooting high-profile covers for editions of Vogue and TIME, his Creator Labs project is decidedly more candid, photographing his mother and father in their home, “which is filled with photographs, souvenirs, and other materials collected over more than 30 years.”
Aidan Cullen, “Coexistence”
“The differences between generations have never experienced more contrast,” notes artist and filmmaker Aidan Cullen of his Creator Labs project “Coexistence.” Having collaborated with the likes of Drake, Halsey, Trippie Redd, A$AP Rocky, Cullen is perhaps better suited than most to tap
into the spirit of today’s youth culture. For his first season of Creator Labs, Cullen aims “to portray a comprehensive portrait of the generational divide within one photo.” Through often elaborate tableaus reminiscent of photographer Gregory Crewdson or Jeff Wall, Cullen’s images are visually
explosive, highly stylized depictions of domestic mise-en-scènes. As Cullen notes of the project, “by showcasing different attitudes, styles, body languages & subject matter, I want to illustrate the differences between generations, while still being able to speak to where they are similar.”
Tim Kellner, “Landscape Projections”
“I’ve relied heavily on my time alone in nature to help bring me peace,” notes artist, filmmaker, and composer Tim Kellner of his latest project “Landscape Projections.” Like his earlier series for Creator Labs — including “Distant” and “Letchworth” — Keller continues to draw inspiration from the natural world around him. With “Landscape Projections.,” Keller seeks to depict the “process of clearing my mind” that he experiences in nature. Utilizing a variety of colored LED lights to isolate his figure within the context of a chosen landscape,” Keller aims to portray how, “every different environment and landscape brings out a different emotion or feeling.”
Myles Loftin, “Chosen”
“I want to focus on the idea of chosen family,” notes photographer Myles Loftin of his current Creator Labs project, “Chosen”. As with his earlier projects which investigated notions of identity, sexuality, and community, Loftin’s current series aims to “explore what that looks like, and what it
means for queer people to have to seek out support and community outside of their own nuclear family unit.” For Loftin, who in 2019 was included in Forbes’ “30 Under 30,” his ongoing body of work serves to bring to the forefront “the experiences of the queer and black communities.”
June Canedo, “Untitled”
With her current Creator Labs project, artist June Canedo has found inspiration from the natural world, combining sculpture, performance, and painting to capture the artist’s exploration of nature. While a departure from her earlier Creator Labs series — including “We Live Above & Below Danger,” which focused on items of apparel to contextualize her Brazilian-American cultural heritage —Canedo’s interest in nature nonetheless speaks to a longstanding theme present throughout the arc of her work, specifically, the connection to places, imagined and real, which we call home.
Andre Wagner, “Cedric Bakayoko: A Day in Flatbush, Brooklyn”
Photographer Andrew Wagner’s Creator Labs project takes the name of its subject “XXXX.” Now16, Cedric and Wagner first met when the former was 8, the two living as neighbors in Bushwick.“These photographs show a day in the life of Cedric,” notes Wagner of the series, “a teenager doing what teenagers do on a Saturday in Brooklyn.” For Wagner, whose street photography has appeared in the likes of The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue, the images of Cedricembody the artist’s characteristic verité eye.
Josh Goldenberg (Glassface), “Ultradreamer Portrait Series”
Working under the moniker “Glassface,” film and image-maker Joshua Goldenberg continues his “Ultradreamer” series, further exploring the emotional complexities that inform the creative process for artists. First discovered by rapper Lil’ Yachty on YouTube in 2014 and having gone onto collaborate and direct music videos for the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Drake, Goldenberg draws upon his own experiences as an image maker to inform his Creator Labs series.“I want to create an artistic representation of the theme of impermanence,” Goldenberg notes of his current “Ultradreamer” episode, “highlighting the constant change and metamorphosis we are all experiencing.” As with his earlier “Ultradreamer” installments — including his profile of Grammy-award-winning producer Teddy Walton — Goldenberg foregrounds how creators make manifest their unique visions.
Natalia Mantini, “Petrichor”
With her new series, artist Natalia Mantini once again looks to California’s natural landscape as a site of inspiration, examining the effect nature — and our interactions with it — have on the individuals sense of self and well-being. Taking as its starting point the Japanese concept of Shinrin-yoku, defined as “making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest,” Mantini’s images for the series document “the process of forest bathing” as she describes it, while also “highlighting the deep and immediate need to protect our Natural resources and land.” And, as with her earlier Creator Labs project, “Healing Towards Progress,” Mantini finds in the natural world as space in which to restore and empower the individual.
Anthony Prince Leslie, “Spyda”
Brooklyn-based multimedia artist Anthony Price Leslie explores the traditions of African folklore for his current project with the Creator Labs. Referencing the character of Anasi, an archetypal trickster who appears in the form of a spider, Prince locates in the folkloric figure “a representation of the resilience of the Black diaspora and the importance of storytelling as a method of preserving history.” As with his earlier projects, “In My Feelings,” “The Ville,” and “Out of Many, One People,” Prince’s latest body of work — melding experimental imaging techniques, performance, and highly-stylized costumes — continues to incorporate performance, site-specific installations, and photography as part of his ongoing dialogue with cultural identity, social justice, and performativity.
Mayan Toledano, “Havi”
With her new series, photographer and filmmaker Mayan Toledano returns to the subject matter of Mexico City’s LGBTQ+ artist community, a conceptual territory she first explored in her work, “NoMamés.” Here, Toledano turns her lens towards the project’s primary figure, heightening thecandid, intimate quality that has become a hallmark of Toledano’s images. Capturing her subjects —usually within the context of their homes or bedrooms — Toledano’s work depicts with equalmeasure a vulnerableness and strength in those who she photographs.
