A Conversation with Parker Day
Parker Day: Andrew, no. 77. Courtesy of the Artist.
Transcribed by: Stephanie Justice-Kenny
Parker Day shares her experience and process with Musée Magazine.
Musee Magazine: Can you tell us about your background in photography and what initially drew you to this art form?
Parker Day: I first started taking black and white darkroom classes in high school. I was lucky that I had access to that. It just spoke to me. I was always creative and have a bit of an introverted nature but I love people and find them infinitely fascinating. Photography allows me to create while connecting with people.
Musee Magazine: Can you walk us through your creative process from conceptualization to the final image?
Parker Day: I often get asked variants of this question and it seems to suppose there's a linearity to art. There's no linearity to art or life. I write down ideas but they don't always come to fruition (or at least haven't yet). There are so many variables that you can't account for. The idea has to line up with the availability of resources (models, other collaborators, props, wardrobe, location, etc. etc.) and above all there must be the drive to create. If the drive isn't there, nothing will be created. I've had exceptional drive in my career that's propelled me to create massive series, like FUN! my collection of 1,000 photos that have been inscribed on Bitcoin. But I would've never created that work had Casey Rodarmor, my old friend from high school, not pushed me to shoot it (and then himself went on to develop the Ordinals Protocol which allows for data to be "inscribed" on Bitcoin). There are infinite variables to creation, there is no set recipe. You have to be sensitive to your inner voice and hear its promptings, letting creation unfold in the moment through you.
Parker Day: Coupons (Contributing Artist: Molly Soda). Courtesy of the Artist.
MM: Can you tell us about a project or series that is particularly meaningful to you?
PD: FUN! is that. It's remarkable to me that it exists. For one thing, it's massive at 1,000 portraits all shot on 35mm film with elaborate costuming and makeup. And then there's the connection with Casey which I mentioned. I started shooting it just before I got pregnant and shot it all through my pregnancy and finally finished shooting all 100 models with my baby on set (in my living room). So that dimension makes it very personal in how it was tied with my life, and the life inside me. I hope my son, Phoenix Rose, thinks it's cool that he was there for it all.
MM: What was the inspiration behind it?
PD: FUN! is a distillation of the character portrait style I started developing nearly a decade ago. It feels like that style, and what I was exploring through it, have reached culmination. I'm not going to say I'll never shoot another portrait in that style again but I will say, I don't need to. For me, that work is complete. I started out making work about identity to understand what it is and how it's formed and performed, and what lies beyond the masks of identity. I'll likely still make work about identity but I think it will wear a different mask so to speak.
Parker Day: Claudia, no. 33. Courtesy of the Artist.
MM: What challenges have you faced as a photographic artist, and how have they influenced your growth and development?
PD: The greatest challenge was overcoming the mask of identity I had assumed of being a "successful and important artist." Yuck, what a burden! I thought becoming famous and successful would make me happy. The more I tried to be something to get something, the more miserable I became. The irony is that I was making work about the illusory nature of all personal identity and I was trying to conjure up an identity for myself and make it real. All identities are transitory and false. Attachment to any form produces suffering.
MM: What or who inspires your work?
PD: What inspires me, in life and art, is knowledge of the Self beyond all forms of egoic identity.
Parker Day: Many Faced God (Contributing Artists: Cameron Amelia, and Nikki Parish). Courtesy of the Artist.
MM: Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that you are particularly excited about?
PD: FUN! https://fun.film/
MM: How do you stay motivated and continue to evolve creatively in your work?
PD: I'm at a funny place now where I'm not pressuring myself to be motivated or creative. I'm taking a breather after shooting FUN! and am enjoying being with my baby and husband, living a simple life. I want to allow for space to grow in my mind so that when I do create again, it will take a new form. I will say I've been toying with the idea of going against the grain of my hyper-colored aesthetic and shooting large format black & white. I've always been retro so why not take it back to the 1800s.
Parker Day: Parker, no. 0. Courtesy of the Artist.
