Lens and Keys

Hey APC!! My name is Alexis Chang, and I am a 17-year-old musician, producer, and photographer. I am multiracial; my dad is ¾ Jamaican and ¼ Chinese, and my mom is full Korean. I was born in New York, and am currently based in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with music production, I am currently exploring photography and cinematography, with a focus on portraying aspects of movement through modeling, as well as acting. I create art because, to me, it is an emotional outlet, and I love the idea of being able to bring a vision or sound I have in my head into real life. I hope my art can make people feel something, whether that feeling is strong or small. I make art so I can hopefully inspire my audience to go out, create, and leave their comfort zones. There is so much room for new, young artists in the world, so I wish, that through my own art, I can motivate those people to pursue their passions so they, too, can inspire me through their own work!

It’s hard for me to identify myself as just one kind of creator, given my multitude of interests. My passions, like me, are always hopping around because I am very energetic and always finding new things to pursue. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to become more comfortable with expressing myself through many different art mediums. Music has always been my first passion and is probably the area I am strongest in. I probably spend twenty hours out of the twenty-four-hour day listening to music. Songs always make me feel some type of way, whether they hype me up, make me dance, or put me in a more thoughtful, introspective mood. My main goal in my own music production is to be able to create projects that will give people those same feelings, and that they will be able to find comfort or support there. Up until recently, I have always set up a wall, restricting myself to being just a “musician” or “music producer,” because that is what I knew I was good at. As I have absorbed myself into new interests over the past couple of months, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the reasons I am into those things.

In terms of my love for music and music production, I credit my dad, my Uncle Trevor, and the entire Jamaican side of my family. I grew up listening to classic black soul artists like Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Al Green, and Donny Hathaway. There would often be songs by R&B artists like Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Faith Evans, India Arie, and Mary Mary playing at the cookouts at my grandma’s house. There is always some reggae playing in my dad’s car, and in my grandma and aunt’s houses. It has taken me many years to realize how much the music of my childhood has impacted me, affecting the music I create today. 

I was lucky enough to spend four years of my childhood living in a small neighborhood in London with my family. While living there, my dad took my sisters and me to meet my grandma’s brother, my Great Uncle Trevor, who has lived in England for most of his adulthood. My Uncle Trevor is a singer-songwriter; he plays guitar and produces all of his own songs in his tiny homemade studio in Birmingham, England. The first time I visited him when I was eight years old, I was surprised and awestruck from something I had never seen or thought of before – the idea of being able to have a music studio in my own home, a place where I could go to create and record the music inside my head whenever I wanted. Watching him feel so comfortable in his own space, and listening to him play music for me on his guitar, sparked my love and curiosity for playing the instrument, which then inspired me to start writing lyrics, the stem of many of my earlier songs.

Additionally, in many of my beats, I sample from older songs as a form of production. I’ve realized that a large part of where I pull inspiration for samples to use in my instrumentals is from growing up constantly hearing a variety of old soul songs being played in the morning as my mom and dad made breakfast, or from hearing Kanye West’s beats on the speakers in my living room when chilling out with my family. At a young age, I was introduced to Kanye’s early albums, The College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation. Those songs are some of my favorite songs of all time, not even only because of the lyrics, but because of Kanye’s genius mind that we can appreciate through those beats, he produced himself. They remind me of my childhood and my time with my family, and I often refer to those albums when I need to beat inspiration or ideas. I have an immense amount of gratitude, love, and appreciation for the adults in my family – my aunties, older cousins, and especially, my dad  – who have and continue to, shape my musical knowledge and taste to this day. I feel incredibly proud of the way my family chose to raise me on music from their era, as it has allowed me many times to connect with people who are very similar to me culturally or had similar upbringings. 

On the other hand, there is my passion for photography! When I am planning out my visions for a shoot with my friends, I am continuously inspired by vibrant, saturated, colorful sceneries with high energy. I always try to have an element of sparkle or gold in my photos, whether it is a tiny bit of face glitter, or just planning to shoot in the time of day when the sun starts to set and the sky is bright red. I have a huge obsession with the sun and the time of day known as “golden hour.” I love contrasting, as well as blending outfits of a certain tone or color, with the colors of the backgrounds behind them. The relationship between the subject of the photo  – that is, the model in focus – and the background, always interests me and gets me excited as I take the picture. Some of my favorite photographers who have inspired so much of my own work as a photographer are Ayo Stevens, Jade Chung, Asai (@Asaitakeaway) on Instagram, and Ryan Mcginley. When planning the choreography for my “models” – or my friends who I am taking pictures of – I feel drawn towards a vision of relaxed, free bodies – almost as if the subject of the picture is falling forwards, backward, or almost floating through the air. Including myself as a model, I love to experiment with the position of the characters in the photo, as if gravity has disappeared. I’ve realized that a lot of my ideas for the way I style my models come from both my Jamaican and Korean family members. I love dressing people up in a sort of “vintage” old school style, while also wearing something cool, or ~chic~, and out of the ordinary. In the past, I have gone through old family pictures from the albums in my living room, where I have found pictures of my mom or dad as teenagers with an outfit I really, really like. From that old photo, I am inspired to incorporate that element of style and culture into how I style my models in my own pictures.

Ultimately, my art is a culmination of the influences of my Jamaican and Korean upbringing, along with the inspiration I am so lucky to get from the people I love – my family and my friends. Those people in my life are the ones who keep me going, the people who I can call my muses, and the people who are always there to encourage me when I’m feeling stuck or in a bit of a creative block. I am so excited to see what the future holds for girls of color in the art industry. We have so much to offer, both as individuals and as a group! We are so talented and powerful, and I can’t wait to meet, connect, and create with girls of color around the world as I develop as an artist.

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