This Artist Built His Own Studio in His Backyard
For artist Khidr Joseph, the old adage really is true: The world is his canvas. Where many of us see empty space, he sees a perfect location for his next art installation—and the studio in which he'll create it. While Joseph's day job is as a video editor for House Beautiful, any free time finds him creating his art, which he conceptualizes and photographs in a studio he built in the backyard of his Brooklyn home. Joseph's work spans genres and media, blurring lines and pushing the envelope of classification. He is simultaneously the model, actor, woodworker, makeup artist, set designer and, yes, photographer, guiding his work from start to finish—then displaying it in his surrounding neighborhood.
Joseph himself will admit that his art can be hard to describe, though the connecting thread is that it is, “very political and very Black.” Specific pieces run the gamut from drinking glasses with colorful pieces of tape on them to images of Black baby dolls in military uniforms.
It all started back in middle school, when Joseph found himself in his first ever photography class. The magic of the dark room sparked an interest that has only grown since. By the time he got to college, he had both honed his skills and was confident in his chosen area of study.
But, life threw a wrench in Joseph's plans when his school cancelled the photography program, forcing him to turn his attention to studying the fine arts. As it turned out, Joseph was able to find a meeting point for his old love and this new study, by applying different media to his photography work.
That combination led Joseph to his senior thesis, which focused on homophobia in the Black community. The project–like much of his current work–found him in the role of stylist, model, and photographer. In a way, this thesis was emblematic of Joseph’s approach to his artwork, in that he forced himself into an uncomfortable conversation, wearing makeup and making himself one of the central figures of the story.
This process is nothing short of exactly what Joseph expects of himself and his viewer. For him, each project begins with something he finds deeply important, and often deeply personal. By putting including himself as a part of that visual narrative, Joseph purposely puts himself in an uncomfortable place.
This is key to understanding his artistic mission, as this depth of involvement in his own work is the artist’s way of extending a hand to his audience to ask them to do the same. As Joseph puts it, “The art that I make, I constantly have to rebuild myself and rip myself apart and put myself back together. If I can do that, my viewer can, too. I’m not asking anyone to do something that I haven’t already done myself.”
Joseph works entirely alone, on everything from constructing an outdoor photo studio from scratch to creating costumes for the characters he may portray in his photos.
He shares his work across social media, but also has found a physical outlet in his neighborhood, where he wheat pastes his work to sidewalks and construction walls. Though they may not stay long— “If the piece lasts longer than a week, that’s a good week,” says Joseph—that process often becomes a part of the work itself. For a project highlighting the toxicity of sidewalk sexual harassment, Joseph pasted prints with the message “Protect Black Women.” Soon enough, he found that the sign had been altered to say “Protect Black men” with the word “women” partially spray painted to make the edit.
But Joseph sees this less as an insult to the art itself and more as further proof that the conversation needs to be had. “I enjoy when people dislike my work, because I think that response is very important,” he says, “Because then there’s a conversation that needs to be had of, ‘Why does this make you feel so uncomfortable?’”
Joseph sees himself first and foremost as a storyteller, particularly as one who is telling stories that others may want to otherwise avoid. “If I don’t do it," he asks, "who will?”
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.
You Might Also Like
