BY HEATHER MORTON

ONE OF THE MOST DYNAMIC things about the BIPOC Photo Mentorship Program (BPM) is how diverse our mentees are in terms of their interests and the challenges they face as they emerge towards professional practice.

Mentee Natalie Asumeng had long worked with elements of nature and the mentorship program came at an opportune time to help her move her work forward in meaningful ways as she pushed through pandemic and post-post-secondary graduation malaise.

She says, “As I graduated during the height of the pandemic, lots of art grads lost their passion to make work, including myself. I wanted to break out of that mindset, so I applied for the mentorship to see if that would give me the spark of creativity I needed. Joining the BIPOC Photo Mentorship Program was the beginning of a new desire to continue being an artist outside of school.”

Pandemic pressures weren’t all bad. In fact, Natalie seemed to lean into it: “The absence of institutionalized value systems led to non-traditional spaces such as living rooms becoming used as studios and gallery spaces where individuals felt safe to play with different mediums and forms of creating.” She goes on to describe her project A Dimension of Creative Invasion and Identity Confrontation: “This scene (next page) represents a moment of time and the act of deconstructing aspects of one’s identity through creative play within an everchanging sanctuary.”

The variety of opportunities on the BPM website meant that Natalie’s interests in bookmaking, grant writing, and learning more about artist-run culture were matched with Jessica, who recalls, “Natalie’s editorial and fashion work was engaging and unusual, and I was most of all impressed with her uncanny ability to combine text and image in a compelling way. Her design sensibility was fresh and all her work was imbued with a sense of surrealism and intimacy. Her books Sunsum (2021) and Amity (2022) are my favourite works she has made over the course of the pandemic and this mentorship.”

Natalie credits her time with the BPM as crucial in getting these books made. She says, “Having sessions with Jessica inspired me to create two books. Sunsum is about reflection for people who might feel overwhelmed by life. Through images and poetry, the book encourages readers to focus on taking a break and absorbing the nature and the environment around them. The photographs are close-ups of locations engulfed in vegetation. This guides the viewer towards the greenery and examining and observing its ordinary yet unique appearance.

“My second book Amity is about the process of friendship. Through an abstract concept, I tell the story of how relationships are formed and how they can fade away. Creating these books with my mentor’s guidance helped me kick-start my passion. Within our sessions, we also discussed the gallery industry and my aspiration to pursue different creative careers to better myself as an artist.”

Though the mentorship has officially ended, Natalie and Jessica are still in touch. Natalie is still working with botanicals and food and is currently the Educator in Residence at Doris McCarthy Gallery. Jessica’s commitment to mentorship has prompted her to join the BPM steering committee while she continues to offer mentorships. She echoes a familiar sentiment among mentors involved in BPM when she says,

photoED magazine would like to acknowledge the support of THINK TANK PHOTO for supporting the BIPOC PHOTO MENTORSHIP participants.

#thinktankphoto #mythinktank #thinktanktravel #VentureObserveConnect