Fortune Cookie of the week: “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”- George Washington Carver

Hey y’all. Since January, I have been deep in my researching cocoon. At the start, I began learning about photomorphogenesis, the way plants change their growth and development in response to light. Doing this kind of self-built curriculum.

I needed a deeper rest since this past record frost came through and wiped out about half of my plants. In this hibernation, I dived deeper into black history as it relates to botany and realized alot. It took me a moment to understand that photomorphogenesis wasn’t a regurgitation of what I learned in school about photosynthesis or “plants need sun”.

Plants don’t only use light as fuel. Instead, the plants intrepret it, with certain wavelengths activating specific photoreceptors. Red and far red light trigger phytochromes. Blue light activates cryptochromes. UV light activates protective pathways. These signals influence gene expression, stem elongation, leaf expansion, pigment production, flowering time.

So the light is not just energy but also can be instruction for the plant.

The more I studied this, the more I wanted to experiment with this info and sit with different forms of light on my seedlings. First, I started the UV lit encounter you may have seen below. I was not trying to force growth or get any specific result. The glowing water did not make my canteloupe seedlings grow faster. It did not unlock a secret agricultural breakthrough.

This was just another kreative experiment. More of my schneigains and artful play. I did ask myself:

If plants read light as language, what does it mean to tend them through light?

I had to be careful as extended UV exposure can stress seedlings. But it also activates protective pigments like flavonoids and phenolic compounds that shield DNA. It stimulates defense, but not flourishing.

Next, I did another test, this time with controlled natural sunlight. It was beautiful to bare witness to these living organism’s reactions or lack thereof. It also made me pause, reflect, and ask myself certain questions.

If plants read light as language, what am I learning to read?
If they adapt to radiation, what am I adapting to?
If they build protective pigments under stress, what protects me?

As I studied photomorphogenesis, I learned more deeply about Marie Clark Taylor, who studied how different wavelengths of light affect plant growth long before LED grow systems became common. She was doing this research decades ago at Howard University.

But she is not the only elder whose work I am building on.

I have also been studying Emma Dupree and George Washington Carver.

Emma carried deep knowledge of herbs and intuitive plant healing in the American South. Her understanding was relational. Plants in realtion to our bodies. Roots paired with specific ailments. Her wisdom lived in observation, intuition, and deep memory.

She inspires me to go deeper into plant and herbal knowledge. To understand how plants support the body and specific ailments. To see medicine growing all around me. Mostly important, to document and keep record of this info while integrating it gradually.

George Washington Carver inspires me in a different way. His agricultural imagination was ahead of its time. He understood soil regeneration, crop rotation, and plant innovation long before sustainability became a trend.

For my birthday, I added their images to a wooden raised bed box in my garden. This is was another kreative experiement and a gift to myself (and the pollinators). A reminder of who I am studying under, even across time.

Every time I water that bed, I see them looking on as witnesses. And a reminder that I am not experimenting alone. I am building on lineage.

There is something humbling about realizing that plants are constantly sensing, responding, adapting. They are not merely decoration or controlled by me.

They are alive in ways I am still learning to understand and work in harmony with.

All of this land stewardship work is shifting my photographic and artistic eye. I’m excited to see how this develops further…More in my next newsletter :)

Peace.

Ka’Vozia

psy·che¹

/ˈsīkē/

noun

1. the human soul, mind, or spirit.

Another definition lists that the psyche is, “…the brain’s projection of its contents through chemical messengers that influence our thoughts and feelings.” So, originally I planned to bring out my projector and use it for this shoot. That quickly proved to not work in this specific studio so we pivoted! Luckily, I was still able to replicate the brain scans in post. We focused on three main scenarios:

1. The subconscious mind working overtime.

2. Periods of Existential Feeling/questioning.

3. Awareness and release that come with clarity.

Photographer+Editor: Ka’Vozia Glynn
Assist: Sierra Bonét
Concept: Chelsea Mukenya & Ka’Vozia Glynn

Making a paper brain and graphic designs for the titles is a fun element I want to keep building on until my alphabet is full of life, colors, and symbols. Thank you for reading. I’ll have some garden + zine updates in the next newsletter.

with gratitude,

Ka’Vozia <3

Fortune Cookie of the week: “Loving friendships provide us with a space to experience the joy of community in a relationship where we learn to process all our issues, to cope with differences and conflict while staying connected.”
- Bell Hooks’ All About Love

Both Chelsea and Sierra are people I first met years ago through separate, spontaneous photoshoots. At the time, we were all simply kreating, without knowing how long those connections would last or move in the future.

Fast forward nearly six years and we found ourselves back in a studio space, this time to mark an important moment in Chelsea’s life. Working alongside friends and long term collaborators can carry a special kind of energy. I felt deeply present and grateful to be working with them on this studio set day. The trust they have in me kreated an ease and confidence that only came with time.

Chelsea’s college journey wasn’t linear, much like mine. Because of COVID, last minute shifts, and the ongoing process of becoming, her journey was layered, interrupted, emotional, and real. With growth, came perspective. And a bit of changing directions for integrity. Even harder, listening inward while navigating all the outside voices and advice.

During our consultation, we spoke less about graduation and more about process, especially since she majored in psychology. My mission was to kreate a set of images that both show the mental process(es) that she went through during her college journey and visually signal toward her field of study.

So, we translated that into three visual phases:

1. The subconscious mind working overtime.

2. Periods of Existential Feeling/questioning.

3. Awareness and release that come with clarity.

Even through small delays and studio limitations, we still flowed seamlessly through this session. All BTS images by Sierra Bonét. Thank you to both of these ladies! There are both talented photographers so please support & check out their works.

In the next newsletter, I will share the final (k)reative photographs. Thank you for reading…

Until next time,

K

Fortune Cookie of the week: “Anyone who has explored the world of archives will know that it is a treasure house, one that is full of surprises, crossing paths, dead ends, painful reminders and unanswered questions.”
- Nelson Mandela

I sat with this quote for a while.

Doing archival work is emotional. It is kurious. And heavy in ways you cannot always anticipate. With the intentions of restoration and preservation, archival images asks a few things. To move slowly through memory, to witness joy and grief living side by side, and, hardest of all, to accept that not every question will have an answer. Sometimes the image reveals more. Sometimes it refuses to explain itself.

Making small but intentional time for this kind of work over the course of the past few years has deeply shifted my relationship to photography. Returning to archives again and again has sharpened my patience, my care, and my sense of responsibility as an image maker. It has reminded me that photography is not only about “capturing” what is in front of me as most would insist. For me, it is more about listening to what already exists, deciding how it deserves to be held, or how I can kreate space for something new.

This week, I am sharing a glimpse into an ongoing passion project of mine titled Home & Habitat.

At its core, this body of work is an inquiry. A soft but insistent questioning of where we come from, how we grow, and what it means to belong, especially when our roots stretch across oceans and generations. It is both informed by my past explorations of what “home” means and my recent plunge into the natural world.

Upon my return from CR, an opportunity to work with Kerinsky appeared as I had sat with this idea for over a year prior. As a first generation Haitan American entering his 25th solar year, an entire lineage stepped into the frame with him…

The Question of Home

This theme has haunted me every since the IKEA mentorship. I now thought about it in more abstract and brutally honest ways. Home & Habitat explores the blurred line between home, the spaces we claim, inherit, and move through, and habitat, the environments that shape us, sustain us, and reflect us back to ourselves.

Florida became an important, dypostian type of mirror in this work. Its water, growing heat, humidity, and once-lush plant life quietly echo the tropics in unexpected ways. Hibiscus flowers blooming openly, the ever present relationship to the ocean, the way land and spirit feel connected. For many of us in the Black diaspora living here, Florida is not just a place of arrival. It is a place where ancestral memory feels close to the surface, even through the differences.

After exploring my own history and my peers, I came up these guiding questions:
What does it mean to build a sense of home while still carrying another one inside of you?
How do we honor where we come from while stepping fully into who we are becoming?

Archive as Ancestral Dialogue

One of the most intimate parts of this process is working with personal archives.

Kerinsky suddenly began to find archival image after our first chat. The selected images that were heartfelt, especially after hearing context.

A photograph of his mother and her school friend as teenagers in Haiti. A photo of himself as a baby. His sister. A crowd of people, anonymous yet familiar. A photograph of him and his mother together. A colorful stock image of Haitan homes.

These images were portals for me. Evidence of joy, struggle, survival, youth, love, and continuity.

Image Within Image

For this session, I used a projector to layer the images directly onto the present, placing photos inside the portrait itself.

An image in an image.
Past held by the present.
Lineage literally cast onto the body.

I have been playing with projectors for a minute now. This method felt somewhat aligned with how memory actually works. Nonlinear, overlapping, always moving. It allows the archive to live again, not as something behind us, but as something actively shaping who we are becoming.

First Generation Growth and Becoming

This work is kreated space for me to explore themes I am also currently navigating and having a tough time in. From adulthood and crossing thresholds. To being first generation in ways that are both visible and invisible.

There is tenderness in that space between honoring what came before and daring to kreate something new. Growth should not mean erasure. And expansion does not require forgetting. For Home & Habitat, the heritage acts more like a guide. Not an anchor, nor a limit. In this work, it is more a grounding force in the series that allows awareness, movement, risk, and becoming.

Home & Habitat is an offering. This project is especially for black folks whose lives exist between homelands, whose sense of self is shaped by migration, memory, and environment. For those of us learning how to root while still reaching. And those tending both inner and outer ecosystems. Thank you KJ for making this kreation a breeze and trusting me to do something different.

Let’s hear from you: What images from your past continue to shape how you move through the world today?

If this resonated at all, leave a comment or email me back.

More from this series soon.

With heart,
K

Fortune Cookie of the week: "Learn Global, Grow Local.”

This little saying became a compass for me this year. There is something about the way learning flows when you are studying through soil, water, and community instead of theory alone.

Before I begin, I want to send a special thank you to Irene, Mariajosé, Pierce, SBQRADIO, KC Moore, and Pedro for their contributions here. With of your support, I’m continuing to pour into Kreation Space, strengthening my kreative practice, and gathering a few literal seeds for the land I’m stewarding. The way you’ve poured into me mirrors the same community-led models of care that shaped this course. Thank you for believing in what I’m growing.

In July, I did the Summer Session II on Environmental Justice from the Ground Up. This course focused more on understanding environmental issues through a community-centered lens, examining how food sovereignty, water access, tourism, and land use shape both ecological health and local livelihoods. We used both ecological fieldwork and social science tools to analyze how Costa Rican communities navigate environmental challenges in real time.

Here’s some more of my core takeaways from my field notes:

🫘 Sovereignty

“Control the food, control the people.” With that in mind, food sovereignty is a special of freedom that is directly related to seed-saving and land sovereignty.
Every agroecological farm we visited treated seeds with a high level of importance. Similarly to the elders, seeds were carriers of memory, knowledge, and resilience. Seed-saving is a form of protection.

Biodiversity on the other hand…Although we may be quick to think of it for its aesthetic value or optics, it’s actually just the baseline for a healthy ecosystem that we have strayed so far away from. Nature’s DEI. I could feel the difference between the exhaustion of monocultures in the soil and the vibrancy of agroforestry. Tapping into the four types of biodiversity is a long-forgotten blueprint to our survival.

This part of the course reflected my own journey with both land stewardship and my art praxis. It reminded me that no future exists without the ability to grow, save, and share.

👩🏽‍🌾 Generational

One theme kept popping up…The land is aging with its farmers.
Fewer young people are turning to agriculture. My pattern recognition skills reminded me that this same thing is happening in the US with farmers, as well as in the trades. These farms depend on elders whose knowledge isn’t being passed down at the same rate. It’s important to remember justice isn’t solely about access. There has to be some level of sustainability or continuity to it, otherwise... Who will care for the soil next? What happens when those hands aren’t there?

🇨🇷 🇺🇸 Interconnection

It became impossible not to see the mirrors between Costa Rica and the U.S. When it comes to matters around trade, consumption, environmental policy, and food systems, I started to notice how we are effecting each other or where we are repeating patterns. Going abroad with intention has a way of showing you how deeply global everything is. Justice is never local in isolation. It echoes, crosses borders, and boomerangs back.

💧 Water

My understanding of water changed here. I am still processing it. Honestly, this was the most complicated aspect for me to fully grasp.
I did note that water and the management of it sits at the center of power, politics, and survival. Watching how people organized to defend their rivers, wells, and springs made justice feel physical, not abstract. Noticing things like who tends to lose access first, who protects it hardest, and who carries the responsibility for future generations made this even more complicated.

🫛 Integration

If you know me, you know I’ve been obsessed with learning, collecting, and sharing knowledge. I like to understand how things work and why. But something shifted during this second session.

I realized I’m finally ready to integrate what I’ve learned. Not just gather it.
To build on top of it and apply it with intention.

Costa Rica showed me the beauty of small-scale solutions and reminded me that justice grows from the ground up. Whether from a seed, from a spring, or a community meeting.

This course forced me to slow down, be present, and really process what I’ve absorbed these past months. I’ve struggled with guilt at times, wondering how I can study, learn, and explore while the world feels heavy. But this experience softened that weight. It reminded me that I cannot shoulder the world alone and that my offering is through kreation, storytelling, stewardship, and building spaces for us to bloom. So amidst my return to the states, I begin to follow through, implement, and experiment what I have been learning about in the agricultural space.

Thank you for reading.
Thank you to everyone who has held space for me during my time there.
And thank you to everyone helping me grow what comes next.

Signing off,

K

Fortune Cookie of the week: from

The fortune cookie quote has been circling in my mind lately. The idea of kreation as resistance, as grounding, as necessary. In a time like this, when we see history repeating, I’m reminded that to kreate is to care, to world-build, and believe in the possibility of something different. Writers like Nairy, Octavia Butler, and others who touch on co-kreation with life have become a North Star for me.

After weeks of studying soil, agroecology, and sustainability in Atenas, I packed my camera, a notebook, and a few Spanish phrases I had been practicing and headed toward the Caribbean coast. This was my second time visiting Puerto Viejo, but this time I stayed a little longer. My first trip was only two days, just enough to leave me wanting more. This time I went solo, with no itinerary beyond being fully present.

The landscape shifted gradually along this 4 hour bus ride. The greens were deeper, the air was much thicker, and some of the beaches were lined with soft black sand that sparkled faintly under the sun. The Caribbean coast had a pulse of its own, slower and heavier in rhythm. It didn’t ask for constant productivity, only presence. I ended up meeting people from all over, often just by walking around. Naturally, the camera became a bridge between languages, a way to connect without needing perfect words.

One morning I joined my roommate, someone I had met through our shared housing. She was also studying abroad but in a different program from mine, so we were still strangers getting to know each other. We went on an excursion to get her hair braided by the beach. The diasporic similarities felt strong here. My pattern recognition skills were on high alert, as I noticed familiar gestures, conversations, and laughter that reminded me of home, yet I also enjoyed the differences that made the moment unique. I thanked the braider and the muse, Macey, for allowing me to join and photograph them in this shared experience of beauty and care that transcends borders.

I met Martin, a kind Mexican jeweler and fellow yogi, on a different day while exploring town. He carried a gentle energy and a sense of grounded curiosity that made conversation easy. A day later, after chatting with a local Rasta near the beach, I met Carmen. She walked up to a nearby bench while eating her food, and soon we were deep in conversation. Carmen, a Philly native and fellow Aquarian on her own solo trip, carried a calm sensibility that felt instantly familiar. Our talks about purpose, kreativity, and security as young Black women abroad meant a lot to me. We looked out for one another in small, unspoken ways that reminded me of the strength and softness that’s crucial within sisterhood.

The next morning, the three of us met up for yoga on the beach. That night, we all ended up together again, laughing, dancing, and exploring the town. I photographed a series of long-exposure light paintings while the three of us and a few others danced with lights they had brought. The results were colorful and psychedelic-like. To me, the vivid hues of the night, the taste of the food, and the soulful pulse of this coast felt more familiar and welcoming than the Pacific side of Costa Rica.

Puerto Viejo itself felt special, with its blend of Patois, Spanish, and English shaped by the Jamaican-Costa Rican history. The conversations moved between the three with an ease. It reminded me that language doesn’t always have to be mastered to be understood; sometimes it just needs to be felt.

When I wasn’t speaking, I was observing the light. The way it bent around palm leaves, sprakled off the water or in brown eyes, and turned walls into color studies. I began leaning here into (k)uriosity rather than control.

During those days by the sea, I began to understand self-reliance differently. It wasn’t about doing everything alone but about trusting my spirit when it came to connecting with others, especially in a new place. Self-reliance meant listening to my intuition, knowing when to say yes, when to step back, and when to lean into community.

This break nourished my soul in ways I didn’t expect. It gave me space to rest, to play, and to see my learned lessons and blind spots more clearly. I learned where I still hold fear, where I need to soften, and how connection can be both grounding and freeing at once.

Before this trip, I struggled to fully embrace going there. Back in May, I felt guilt for studying abroad while the world felt heavy. This break forced me to slow down, to be present, and to process what I’ve been learning not just intellectually but spiritually. It reminded me that I cannot carry the weight of the world alone and that the way I am of service, through my kreation, whether storytelling or tending to the land, are enough.

As I prepared to return to the Central Valley for my next course on water management and environmental justice, I carried a more embodied type of awareness. It wasn’t rooted in production or outcome but in observation. Costa Rica was teaching me how to learn again, through patience and people.

To those who may be reading this and who I met there, thank you for looking out for me, for the shared meals and laughter, and for exploring with me. You reminded me that connection is its own kind of art.

Once again, thanks for kreating the time, energy, and attention in your day to read this. If you want to support the continuation of my work, consider buying me a film roll or a cup of tea here. To support this newsletter and the physical Kreation Space I’m growing, you can pledge your support here. Enjoy your week!

Love,

Ka’Vozia

song to set the tone: Point & Kill by Little Simz

Fortune Cookie of the week: "The map is not the territory."

Hey!

So picking up from where I last left off…My study abroad experience. Right.

For the month of June, I did the summer session 1 on Biodiversity and Sustainable Food Systems in Costa Rica.

We often emphasize the importance of a good foundation and structure but what about the soil underneath?

During Summer 1, the idea that there is no building sustainable food systems without well-balanced, nutritious soil and incorporating biodiversity really sunk into my brain. While I thought I knew this before, experiencing so many sustainable food systems in such a biodiverse place solidified that I was only seeing part of the picture. Coming from an area in Florida with sandy soil that lacks rich nutrients, I have mostly been growing in containers and raised beds for the last three years. However, I never considered or intentionally nurtured biodiversity, outside of occasional beekeeping.

On top of helping me finally understand what is needed and knowing what pieces are missing where I currently I live, this course revealed to me how to slowly get there and what steps I need to implement locally.

the practical methods to do in the both the physical/virtual Kreation Space using a 1% better each day approach:

• Bokashi komposting: sped up kompost, microbes, more nutrients

• Kreate more Syntropic Agroforestries for better biodiversity, soil health, and climate resilence, and yield options

• DIY organic soil amendments & fertilizers

• Diversify your offerings/kreations like a farmer going organic

• Plant more Native species & kreate more pollinator hotels

• Share/trade seeds with neighbors, garderners, etc.

• Share & teach what you learned as the ultimate test

On a more philosophical note, the fortune cookie of the day set in for me during this trip in many aspects. One afternoon in Central Valley, craving matcha, I teamed up with two others and booked an Uber to a place called "Watcha Matcha." The app said 30 minutes. Easy.

Twenty minutes in, the paved roads began to narrow. Homes were soon just dense foliage, and the smooth road transitioned to a bumpy, unpaved path riddled with rocks. They exchanged confused glances in the backseat while I just thought maybe we were taking a detour. At the twenty-two minute mark, the road simply disappeared, dissolving into a stunning but clearly wrong destination: a cliffside natural spring with tiny waterfalls, where locals were bathing.

With eight minutes still showing on the map, our slightly irritated driver asked, “¿A dónde vamos?” “A Watcha Matcha,” I said, equally confused, pointing to his screen.

An hour and change later, after the driver aggressively reversed and navigated the steep hills of Alajuela, we finally arrived at the cafe. The map on his phone was not the territory.

That redirection was an alarm bell. It was a perfect reminder of how we often desperately cling to plans, labels, limited perception, our "maps," without the flexibility or humility to accept that reality is far more complex. The driver and I both had to accept new information and update our route.

Being prepared to course correct, and allowing myself to change my mind based on the actual territory, not the predetermined map, is a skill worth kultivating.

This truth also resonated deeply when I reflected on my decision last November to study abroad. I was paralyzed by questions. Where should I go? Would I be able to handle it?

I had maps: brochures, course catalogs, and budget spreadsheets, but they were merely the idea of the experience. I could have memorized every province and city in Costa Rica on a paper map, but that intellectual knowledge is entirely different from breathing in the fresh air, seeing the green hills, trying to navigate a conversation in broken Spanish, or tasting a perfect cup of warm, oatmilk matcha found after a wrong turn. I realized then that I don't just want to study the map; I needed to explore the territory itself. I chose to go because I wanted to trade the safety of the map for the messy, beautiful, and unpredictable reality of the territory.

Thank you for kreating the time, energy, and attention in your day to read this. If you have any recommendation for fortune cookie quotes, please send them my way!

If you want to support the continuation of my work, consider buying me a film roll or a cup of tea here. To support this newsletter, you can pledge your support here.

In my next few newsletters, I will continue to share my photography from this summer as well what I am integrating from my studies it into my life, plus some new kreative offerings that you can purchase, if you’d like.

Hasta liego <3

Ka’Vozia

Fortune Cookie of the week: “Your feet know more about the forest than that government lawyer. Your toes know more about the forest than all of Civilization."― Nemonte Nenquimo, We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People

Hey! It’s Ka’Vozia. If you’re reading this, I want to thank you for making time to check in, follow my journey, and stay connected through the good and bad. Despite the difficult times the world faces, I continue with Kreation Space because I still believe we deserve space for kuriosity, kreativity, and nourishment. Maybe now, more than ever.

Let’s catch up and to do that I’ll need to rewind a little. Last year, while writing my artist statement for an exhibition I got stumped. I probably wrote and re-wrote it least 5 times. I felt like I wasn’t fully embodied in what I was writing. While writing how my photography “sits at the intersection of community, culture, identity, and nature…” I realized I hadn’t truly explored nature, nor ecology. Yes, I could tell you how some elements of the natural world appear in my work but at that point, I couldn’t articulate why. So, my kuriosity here led me into active exploration…

From there I started to immerse myself deeper into multiple interests of mine that I had been putting on the back burner. These interests were ones that would not only engage me but offered a learning by doing approach that I couldn’t resist. Here’s a few things that have helped me learn deeper about the natural world and land stewardship:

• Volunteering at the Smithsonian Aquarium, ChoZen retreat farm, Oxbow Eco-Center, and with E.N.D. It! Corp.

• Maintaining my local beekeeping club membership.

• Joining Girl + Environment to connect with other black & brown environmental leaders.

• Continuing my photography practice, grounded in nature’s rhythms.

• Growing my own food, flowers, & medicinal herbs, then turning them into tea blends, mixtures, and infusions.

All of these multi-passionate experiences were like guerilla gardening: scattering seeds randomly in unknown soil, never certain which would take root or what might grow.

Come to find out, these seeds would grow my understanding of connection, sustainability, and kreativity as I transition to the multi-disciplinary stage.

Fast forward to this year’s Earth Day events. At the end of April and start of May, it was the first time I have actively contributed to Earth Day in so many engaging ways. It took those baby steps of doing neighborhood clean ups in Girl Scouts to beach clean ups in highschool to make me think of what new ways I can contribute today. I figured using my photography and painting skills locally would be appreciated so I volunteered at my local wildlife reserve’s event. Here, I enjoyed learning about all the different local initiatives catering the environment and community. Next, I made my way to a kreation-based school with Shanti at This Bamboo Life to do an interactive art installation using bamboo and affirmations to leave for the kids. This was fun to interact and kreate with ages starting at pre-K and ending at highschool.

In May, my photograph “Nephtalie & Her Firstborn Daughter” was on display at Photo London 2025 in the Somerset House alongside my peers for a group exhibition. Although I could not make it, seeing images of people interracting with the exhibition was cool. Thanks to the organizers of this as well as Zelie for the photos :)

This is the month I officially found out I would be studying abroad in Costa Rica for two months with the School of Field Studies. Thanks to the Gilman Scholarship Program, other scholarships donors at SFS and ASU, as well as my study abroad advisor! It took a minute to mentally and physically prepare for these two courses in Biodiversity and Sustainable Food Systems and Environmental Justice from the Ground Up, hence my newsletter break. However, I thank you for sticking with me through this shift. The past few months have been so transformative.

If you’re new, please consider subscribing. If you’re already on the list and have a few extra coins, consider contributing here. Stay tuned to my next few newsletters where I will share my photography from this summer as well as what I learned studying abroad in Costa Rica and how I will integrate it into my life. Until next time <3

With love,

K

Fortune Cookie of the week:

Whatever the ways of the world, what fruits do you bring? - Rumi

Just a while ago, I finally had a deeply refreshing phone call with an artist I have been acquainted with for a few years but had never met or chatted in depth with. A week later, I had another equally nourishing conversation on the farm with a fellow kreative person.

In both of these discussions, the topics of rest, ambition, and community came up. We explored many questions while looking at our collective and individual experiences, specifically as it relates to community.

What does it mean?

How do you build one?

How do you know if a community is right for you?

What should it look like, given our current situation in the US?

What does reciprocity look like when we are not operating in an equitable world?

Can shared purpose act as glue while everything else falls apart?

How do we treat inherited pain in our communities?

How do we kreate belonging without erasing difference?

What happens when you don’t have one?

These conversations were timely and unironically aligned with much of the work I’ve been doing these days…Further, the discussion shifted to the lack of community and what issues stemmed from that. I’m grateful for the start of these ongoing conversations and what they opened up for me. And, I am not in a rush to figure them all out. While it’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds and watch the layers peel back over time, I am immediately interested in what it means to simply be a villager in the different spaces I show up in. So far for me, this means…

Someone who shows up in community/village spaces that align with my personal values and interests.

Someone who uplifts, nurtures, and advocates for shared and green spaces like parks or the library.

A steward of the land.

The villager who makes room for collaboration, whether that be a portrait session, trading plants/seeds, or a guided yoga session. The one who is of service to kreation.

Someone who barters, gives, and receives openly.

One that meets things with curiosity amidst wrestling with boundaries, disappointment, conflict, or burnout.

What does being a villager look like for you? If you have built a community or are in the process of building one, have you simply been a villager first? If so, in what ways did you approach it? If you have any responses or thoughts in response, feel free to leave a comment or message me. I have such a varied mix of subscribers, so I am interested in your different perspectives.

Thank you for viewing some of my Foto Friday favorites and reading my little equinox reflections! Special welcome to all the new subscribers whom I’ve run into or met at the market.

Please enjoy the rest of your weekend! I am still navigating how I would like this newsletter to flow. So, a huge thank you to all who are still engaging with these emails, following my journey, rooting for me, and extending me the grace to evolve <3

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Bye for now…,

Ka’Vozia

I love being put on to new things so don’t hesitate to email me back with your music, poems, or art recommendations!

Fortune cookie of the day: “If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

Initially, I had many ideas leading up to it about what images I wanted to make this year with myself. The result ended up just being the one that felt the most true to where I am right now and it came so easily to me.

The year is flying by on a slightly eerie note, with no signs of slowing up so I have just been focusing on what I can control.

How are you?

I hope you all are taking care of yourselves, despite all going on.

One way I have been taking care of myself and others simultaneously is through embracing permaculture. Volunteering at community gardens and local farms has helped me continue to cultivate and build confidence in my green thumb while also being of service in ways that are needed and valued. Building my family’s new garden from the ground up whilst sowing seeds is one of my ongoing projects, y’all :)

The more I am in nature and embracing dirty fingernails, the more I begin to notice a growing change in my perspective. I am intrigued by how this hands-on work is transforming my personal values, photography, and overall kreative practice.

Kool updates:

• Contributed many of my past works to the first issue of , an official Black-owned magazine publication company with Black writers, artists, and creatives showcasing their work for your coffee tables! Get your issue here.

It has been a blessing to witness build community in such an inspiring and intentional way.

• Shortlisted, alongside my peers from the IKEA mentorship, for a photo prize.

• Frequently exploring the zine-making process and paper cutouts

  

  

  

  That’s a wrap! If you made it this far, thanks for reading <3

Until next time,

K

NRG FLEXX [Infinite Zonez Edit 1] by Suzi Analogue

Recently, someone asked me, “What’s next? What you got going on?” “…Still doing that photography thing?” These are such simple questions, yet I had no clue how to answer them. I’m pretty sure my mind went blank for a minute there.

As a multi-passionate person, I tend to overthink which response to give in this situation and end up keeping it simple for the other person’s sake. I have been embracing my non-linear journey, which requires so much faith, resilience, and patience from me. But it can be a bit difficult to explain to people who only see our lives as straight, parallel lines. Especially in a culture where we rush a lot, hold achievements and accomplishments over values and character, and discredit the mere existence of uncertainty. I’m learning it’s okay to keep it simple with some people. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know,” or “I’m figuring it out,” especially to someone who is in a hurry or only asking to be nice.

Contrary to what it may look like, learning and practicing to a decent level in a few different skills that interest you takes much a special type of discipline and a strong adaptability muscle. I realized you can still use systems, planning, routines, ebbs, and flows, which I’ve begun implementing in the past year. However, being multi-passionate and multi-distracted is not the same and there is a thin line.

I attribute learning some of these lessons to years of being in many different organized sports and clubs growing up. Those processes and cycles seem familiar to me as I now manage school, kreativity, barista-ing, and volunteering. Discipline and persistence are what I gained over those years. After all those years spent going to practice, playing in games or tournaments, even when I sucked, pushing myself mentally and physically during training, still showing up in clubs, trying not to fall asleep in class, I feel grateful for that time. These days, I hear a lot about hurrying to niche down in something most profitable, but it is combining my diverse skills that is leading me to growth, connection, and my unique perspective.

Fortune cookie of the week: "You can't get over to the left turning lane without crossing first."

me + a projector, my plants, a couple minerals, my camera playing around in the studio :)

While I still make work in portraiture and documentary photography, I have expanded my work to the sciences, specifically permaculture and environmental science. This expansion comes by way of me no longer prolonging my other interests. Not waiting until I have a bunch of land to learn how to grow food or until I’m older to try things I’m eager about. I began showing up in spaces and trading the skills I currently hold for knowledge and training in the skills I want to gain/improve. I come ready with gloves, a notebook, or a camera in hand, ready to learn skills I can apply to my personal life and community, i.e., growing more of my food, bee-keeping, and other sustainability practices.

At first, I didn’t necessarily think it would affect my portfolio work as a photographer, Kreation Space, or that I would share any of it. I thought I was just working with what I have to build the lifestyle that fits me. But my perspective has expanded since stepping into more of these spaces. I’m so excited to incorporate nature into the themes I make work about and share other offerings tied to what I’ve been learning i.e. zines, prints, maybe a tote?

Without (k)uriosity, I’m not sure I would have ever consistently picked up a camera or volunteered on a local farm where I knew no one. It can be easy to let fear take over, almost too easy… I instead have been practicing using fear as a tool. Asking and answering reflective questions as an approach to staying calm and questioning the validity of said fears works wonders. A simple Who, What, When, Why, and How? quickly addresses the concern and centers me in moments where fear arises.

A family friend who is a mineral collector gifted me some to photograph and test my macro skills with. This became an issue because my current lens kit doesn’t optimize for macro photography or super close-up shots. But it’s hard me to turn down a good challenge. For challenges, I have been unconsciously applying the scientific method. This led me to use a magnifying glass as a temporary solution for my first round of test shots with the crystals and minerals. Using what I have is a major part of my practice. Hence, why I use the minerals in the visuals as an example of holding space for your curiosity. I can’t wait to incorporate more of these minerals into the interior design of my actual Kreation Space!

I say all of that to encourage anyone reading this to keep trusting their unique paths and journeys! There are innovative solutions and cool opportunities that you can find by simply tapping into the different skills you have. This integration is so personalized and takes longer, but it can be fulfilling.

Until next time…

Much love,

K

This past August, I had the privilege to photograph a set of booth portraits at a local Back-to-school giveaway event in my community. This event has become an annual thing thanks to the late Darin Slate, a local legend and owner of Slate Barbershop, whose impact I still feel the ripples of in my community. The session was interesting because there were so many diverse faces and interactions. I remember loving the broad range of ages I had the privilege of working with.

One older gentleman in blue comes over for a photo after I finish photographing a kid with their new book bag. He was respectful as he approached the stool after signing his name, and he seemed to have a cool demeanor. His name was Derek, but people called him Party Rock. I remember him doing a simple prep and using his rag to wipe his sweat from the summer’s heat. I wondered if he was nervous, but his posture and eye contact quickly dismissed the thought. We first do a shot without his glasses, but I decide I like the glasses because they complement his look. So he puts them back on and poses for the photo.

"3... 2... 1... Click!"

After that, an old friend of his came by so that they could get a photo together. They seemed happy to see one another, reflected in the last image on this page. ‘Til this day, I still don’t know the nature or history of their relationship. A couple of weeks later, I met with a friend who informed me that Derek’s health declined, and he was expressing his thanks for our photo session that day and how he enjoyed it. Shortly after this, I received the news that he passed away, and his family expressed their thanks as that was his last professional photo.

I hope his friend and his family can see the photos one day and look back to that moment that was not long ago with a sense of grief and gratitude. If you have not listened to the three-part talk on Grief & Praise by Martín Prechtel that I listed above, I highly encourage you to do so.

Portraiture has an interesting way of preserving. It is a visual time stamp of a meeting between the photographer and the muse. In that moment, their existence is validated.

There can be a sense of praise in portraiture if done intentionally.

There are possibilities, in the fact that things could go left or right.

You may like the image. Or not. It could reaffirm a feature that you love about yourself. It could show you something about yourself that you’re not ready to sit with. Regardless, you were there.

There’s magic in someone being here one second and gone in the next…

A significant part of the work I’m building on requires learning to embody care in how I treat others during our brief crossings of paths, how I honor them in departure, and what I choose to learn from them when they’re long gone.

Although I did not know him personally outside of our quick interaction in August, I want to thank the late Derek Bennet and his family. I am grateful for the sentimental value I gained over the past few months as this played out before me. This is yet another experience that affirms my commitment to my path and gives me a deeper appreciation for the moments I record and bare witness to through photography.

“Everything, when it dies, you have to grieve the hell out of it, because if you don’t grieve it, then it was never really alive. And that’s what terrifies the hell out of us. If you have two centuries of people who haven’t grieved the things that they loved, when they left, properly, then where does that grief go?”

I hope to continue honoring those I cross paths and kreate portraits that are not purely limited to aesthetics but a testament to their existence. Thank you for reading this :) Before the year ends, I have one more special collaboration to share along with the rest of the Kreative Klass 24’ intros. If you’re new, please consider subscribing. If you’re already on the list and have a few extra coins, consider contributing here.

Until next time…

Be blessed,

K

Ahhhh, 2021. For me, this was a time of too much thrifting in an attempt to learn styling, learning what it takes to bring people together to breathe life into a vision, building new connections while nurturing older ones. Attempting to do all of this during a global pandemic wasn’t the easiest to maneuver.

At this time, my newly 20-year old brain was simply trying to make things happen in spite of all going on. I love kreative shoots as a service and one of my best offerings that I will continue to pour into because of the process. From ideation to execution, it is simultaneously stressful, stimulating, and satisfying.

Thank you much to my dear friend, Darius G. for these lovely photos of us at work. Thanks to my collaborators, Shasly and Maria, for giving me much grace, respect, and kreative space.

Until next time…

K

Fortune cookie of the week: "If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door." – Milton Berle

This past weekend, prior to Hurricane Milton’s disruption, I stopped by the Palm Coast and volunteered my photo booth services at the African American Cultural Society’s Cowboy & Gals Ole Skool Dance, a non-profit whose mission aligns with my work. On their website, it lists they work to promote “cultural enrichment, friendship, and fellowship.” I am still working out the kinks of my workflow as it relates to running the photo booth officially and volunteering at events has served me well in this process. Volunteering, studying, and practicing are in rotation for me at the moment as I finish school and refine Kreation Space

After a cold call pitch, Miss Loyce was kind and receptive enough to allow me to set up the booth and add another fun element to her party. And let me tell you, the guests did not disappoint…

From all the different, eye-catching looks to their excitement around getting their photo taken, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and it was refreshing to photograph a different crowd in a new place. Here’s some notes I wrote to remind myself about opportunities and making things happen:

• Open your mind to see all the possibilities around you. Don’t be afraid to mess up.

• Shoot your shot. Don’t take no response or rejection personally, it can be your protection, not aligned, or more for you to learn.

• Get out of your bubble/inner circle & try something different. Do this intentionally.

• Be kind, not nice. Make sure there’s a rapport first, in most cases.

• Be clear. Understand where you’re flexible and your hard no’s.

• Pay attention and listen up. That’ll show you what works and what you should probably tweak.

• Patience & perseverance!

Anything you’d personally add to this list? Comment below or email me back if so. I appreciate all of those who open & read these btw! Here’s more images from the event.

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Until next time,

K

Fortune cookie of the week: "A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." — Tim Cahill

Hi! Welcome to Kreation Space. This week I’m adding to my Foto Friday theme and travel diaries by sharing still & moving images from my trip to Sweden from December 2023. Not much writing in this one but as the fortune cookie suggests, I am grateful for the bonds formed as a result of this trip and the chance to explore a new place. The camera continues to lead me to new places with many chances to explore, connect, and learn. For that, I am forever grateful. These postcards are for me to look back on in the future and my invitation for you all to bear witness to this journey with me. Enjoy <3

song to set the tone: Send Me by Tirzah

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Thank you for tuning into Foto Friday! If you’re new, please consider subscribing. If you’re already on the list and have a few extra coins, consider contributing here. Stay tuned for the next postcards, which will be from my first trip to Paris, France & Miami.

Until next time…

With love,

KVOZIA

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song to set the tone: Freelance by Toro y Moi

Fortune cookie of the week: “What we pay attention to grows.” - Adrienne Maree Brown

Around February of this year while finishing an assignment, I felt swamped with so many other ideas I wanted to pursue. After remembering we all have finite time and energy, I picked up a composition book and listed out all the things. I sat with them for a moment. On my dry erase board, I wrote these as my “Try It” list. From there I was able to narrow them down, explore, and experiment over the course of the year.

Giving myself permission to make things outside of photography, explore other mediums, and rebuild my relationship to kreativity has been liberating. Photography is just like my favorite hammer in my box of tools. & I’m blessed to be building for my future with it. Trying to take my photography to the next level I envisioned was beginning to feel daunting and I realized it is not necessarily due to kreative block. I was still photographing and doing the "things". 

 It was because sometimes when I'm inspired, I should just write about it. Sometimes, when I see a muse, I should try to sketch them. Every once in a while, I should go sip and paint a sunset with my girls.

Below I’ve shared some scans from my art journal & one of my experiences with the “Try It” list: watercolor (crayon just made a guest appearance)  

When pursuing all the “Try It” interests, it can seem impossible because there’s so many people, places, and things moving as energy vampires in the way. With attention being citied as the most valuable currency at the moment, this is why I like to check in with myself every so often about what I’m doing and why.

Here’s a few things remind myself to do to stay focused: 

1. Get moving: walk,run, lift, jump, dance.

2. Read a book or listen to lecture/talk. 

3. Build routine maps & prioritize tasks. Ask for help, if needed. 

4. Log off: Use social media with intention 1-3 times a week. Practice selective engagement online & in real life.  

5. Reduce distractions.

6. Nurture mind, body, soul. Live life. 

7. Slow down & take breaks, when needed. 

8. Set & communicate clear boundaries. 

Kreative Food-for-Thought 🤔💭📖

some reads I thought were interesting…

On Photography (1977)

A Guide to Nonviolent Language for Lens-Based Work

Art Business Diaries: Can Passion Pay the Bills?

Can you relate at all to anything I discussed? If so, how did you personally deal with it? If not, what do you routinely do to kreate that space and stay on track? Any art journal or sketchbook folks here? I’d love to hear from you all so don’t hesitate to email me back or comment <3 Thanks for reading! 

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Until next time…

Much love,

K

Hey all!

& welcome to all the new subscribers whom I recently got the chance to connect with. I’ve been MIA for a couple months but still working behind the scenes and I want to thank you all for staying in tuned!

Recently, I was notified that my contributions to the Life at Home Report was acquired by IKEA Museum in and will be up until September 1, 2024. From this I got to reminiscing on my trip there last year and came across a photo of the late Virgil Abloh’s collaboration with IKEA. From there I somehow ended up once again but more deeply on FREE GAME and reassessing the direction I want to build in, as well as the answers to my who, what, why, and how. (Highly recommend checking it out, even if you’re not necessarily interested in building anything.) I landed at Kreation Space and will gradually continue to implement the steps shared.

Fortune cookie of the day: “Make room for things that matter by removing everything that doesn't.” - Brian Gardner

The fortune of the day is something I truly resonate with as I enter another time of transition in my life. In all areas, I’ve began the process of letting go of some things. For me, that is what organizing is, coupled with prioritization and rearranging. Returning to the basics, the foundation, the roots… Then reassessing, nurturing, and even repotting, if necessary. I’ve been immersed in gardening lately so I apologize for all the yip yap… 😂

As a kreative person who has a million and one hobbies, I sometimes find myself bombarded with ideas at inconvenient times, loaded with more materials than I truly need, and trying to find balance in my organized chaos. These tools and tips I listed below have helped me a ton over the summer. My kreative process has improved a bit and my perception of what’s actually achievable has expanded. I have been able to make more room for the parts I enjoy the most while still getting less fun things done. Here’s a few of the things I did/am doing:

1) Get organized in real life and digitally. Start small and continue overtime. Declutter quarterly and maintain equipment. Sync your calendar. Track supplies and backup your work. Set better boundaries with screen time.

2) Set a vision and track your progress overtime. Know your reason for wanting to get organized. Think about what you hope to gain or save by doing this. Review periodically and reflect on what’s working and what’s not.

3) Don’t obsess on which tools! Whether AirTable or regular spreadsheets, Google Drive or WeTransfer, Milanote or Notion, pick whatever platforms work best for YOU. These tools should help you to organize your digital files, manage projects, finances, and streamline the less kreative parts of your workflow.

4) Get and use a couple notebooks or journals. Make one purely for your art, sketches, and experimenting to nurture your kreativity and embrace experimentation. Notebooks can also help you track the more tedious bits of your journey and document the little things overtime.

Foto Friday 📷

Kreative Opportunities 🎨📋📷

let me put you on real quick…

Cinematics Pictures (International) Deadline: September 27, 2024

Hambidge Residencies (International) Deadline: September 15, 2024

2024 Atlanta Artadia (Regional) Submission Details: Sept 1 – Oct 1, 2024

ONE School US (Atlanta & Chicago) Deadline: August 30th, 2024

The Boghossian Foundation Prize (International) Deadline: September 15, 2024

Thanks for reading!! If you’re a fellow kreative, I hope this has provided value to you in some shape or form. I’d love to hear from you all so don’t hesitate to email me back or comment <3

Stay tuned for more! You can support me by buying me a roll of film or cup of tea, simply subscribing and sharing this with someone you think would enjoy it, or checking out my links! Until next time…

Much love,

KVOZIA

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Precious Memories by Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Hello, hello!

Welcome to The Artist’s Fortune, a space dedicated to reflection, connection, and inspiration for myself & my network. I am KVOZIA and I’m an artist. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Fortune cookie of the day: “Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future…” - Corrie Ten Boom

As you all may know, I’m passionate about creating images exploring themes of identity, community, fashion, and culture.

However, beyond making in the present, I like to reflect on and dive into images of the past. I was called to start doing this a couple of years ago after realizing I do not much about my family history & origins. So, I began to use my neighborhood library and started the path of tracing my genealogy with my maternal grandmother. I was advised to continue research through records online and any photos I could find. Suddenly, it hit me that there was an abundance of family photo albums around me. The images in this blog and on the archive tab on my site are restored, curated, and digitized archival photos from my family and community.

This is a fairly new part of my studio practice. As a deliberate effort to intentionally collect and preserve BIPOC history with care, I’m grateful for the support on this journey & open to any submissions at kreate@kvozia.com. One aspect of my inspiration is informed by this practice and these photos by those who ironically were never even considered photographers or archivists.

Some of my favorites I’ve had the pleasure to scan and restore so far are the next three photos from the late 50s and early 60s. My maternal grandmother I spoke about earlier, Deborah, and two of her elder sisters can be seen in three different settings here. Growing up I had obviously only seen them as grown women and the past middle age of their lives. However, unveiling these pics of them as little girls stuck a chord in me. That chord is one connected to feelings of grief, homage, and empathy. This series of photos, and others, helped me to realize the strong emotions that are wrapped into archival work and why so often some photos are left untouched, unseen for decades…

Thanks for reading and viewing these archival photos. Stay tuned for more! Subscribe here to get 2–3 emails every month, bringing you along on my journey. You can support me by buying me a roll of film or cup of tea, subscribing and sharing this with someone you think would enjoy it, or checking out my links! Until next time…

Much love,

KVOZIA

Fortune cookie of the day: “Grand adventures await those who are willing to turn the corner…”- unknown

Mentorship with Annie Leibovitz for IKEA Life At Home Report

Hey! How are you? I am feeling quite excited and anxious to share my photography results from a mentorship opportunity I partook in from October 2023 until February 2024. I was selected along with five other young photographers from around the globe after submitting to an open call last summer. The assignment was to capture images based on insights from the Life at Home Report and share home life from our unique perspectives. Our work appeared alongside Annie Leibovitz’s at a special event during Paris Fashion Week in February 2024.

To check out the complete set of work, click here. For a look at my process during the exhibition and event, watch this. When I look at this body of work collectively, I see that so many captivating images were made.

During the past few years, its been beautiful to realize personal values of mine that are beginning to reflect more in my work. My innerstanding of the fortune cookie today is that it’s not only literal and about traveling or trips, its something to be applied to any area in life that feels stagnant.

Reconnecting with my community, intuition, and self has been an uphill battle for me but worth every step. My takeaways during this period of learning were to keep going in my pursuits of being consistently curious and creative, take more risks, and ask people more questions. Thank you the everyone behind the scenes who contributed and helped during this assignment.

Best,

Ka’Vozia

Fortune cookie of the day: “Art is a harmony parallel to nature.” - French painter, Paul Cézanne

During the pandemic in 2020, I became equipped with much more time and tools to think, evolve, and rest. A hint of guilt lingers because I personally enjoyed that time even though the world as we knew it seemed to be getting flipped upside down. I temporarily dropped out of school to better understand who I am outside of school, what I want out of continuing my education, and spend more time developing my vision. For the first time in my life, I began to get more clarity and develop a better sense of self. It felt like I was breathing clearly for the first time since my early childhood…

Looking back, I equate this with two main things. The time I spent creating art and my time immersed in nature. Even recently I got too caught up and had to shimmy myself out of the overbearing reality of this world. And it has been a return back to art and nature that has lifted me again! It’s almost too easy to get overwhelmed nowadays by all the things going on and not make time for these two simple things. “…nature and art are our pathways to healing and finding ourselves,” says Terezinha Fogaça, director of the Now School of São Paulo. “Both nature and art can cause an aesthetic emotion, which is very similar yet has no name…You can talk about enchantment, about wonder but it has no specific name.”

On the 18th of February, which is my born day, I locked in at the studio. This is one way I’m integrating art in my life to build the artful lifestyle I envision. I’ve never been big on having birthday dinners or celebrations so doing this every year feels special to me. Dedicating time to celebrate and enjoy something with myself is priceless! For these annual portraits, I’ve beginning to notice its my intimate and experimental process that is both healing and pivotal to my growth as an artist. To check out more from this shoot, click here!

As far as nature, that’s something that is becoming increasingly hard for me to incorporate due to America’s constant pursuit of profit, development, and, subsequently, gentrification. I will admit, I’m worried for nature and the wildlife of the earth. But the older I get, the more I long to spend more time in those places. Meditating, practicing yoga, or simply walking in nature has been my medicine on days where I feel stressed, anxious, and over it all. Moving forward, through travel and exploration, I will include more of the natural world in my life.

Both art and nature are integral to the person I’m becoming. I’m excited just thinking of the journeys and adventures I’ll be lead on because of that! What are thoughts on the Fortune Cookie of the Day? Don’t be afraid to email me back with any personal stories or connections! If you stayed til to the end & read all of my ramblings, I appreciate you!

Subscribe here to get 2–3 emails every month, bringing you along on my journey. You can support by buying me a roll of film or cup of tea, subscribing and sharing this with someone you think would enjoy it, or checking out my links!