Heart Strings, 2018

McKayla Chandler is a multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis, MN living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Her parent’s diligent documentation of Chandler’s childhood has played a vital part in the artist picking up her camera for the first time, leading to her desire to use the medium of photography to document the world around her in the same way her parents did, exploring themes of identity and home. Her photographs are rooted in self-exploration and reflect the artist’s curiosity and the way she witnesses growth in herself and her community. Combining portraiture, editorial, and archival imagery, Chandler’s goal is to continue to unveil the importance of documenting in real time, exploring what it means to have tangible photographs or artifacts passed down through generations, while adding to the contextualized history of image-making in the Black community.

Madison and Aurora was taken in Chicago and captures the artist’s younger cousins for an ongoing series titled MOBETTA. Named after her mother Monshari, this series expands on her braid book while also creating spaces to carry storytelling traditions. The artist shares “this work emphasizes the importance of archiving intricate braiding styles in real time, while seeking to streamline the past to present occurrence of these designs.”

Chandler was a part of the most recent cohort of For Freedoms Fellowships including Converse’s Hear Her Here, promoting the work of Black femme creatives, and Google's Image Equity Fellowship supporting early-career image-based creators of color in the US and the expansion of a more equitable field of fine art. 

The artist notes “For Freedoms is about connectivity and at its core has an ethos that deeply resonates with a community approach to broaden that connection. Much like my continued exploration of self and the eagerness I have to tell stories, we both want to uplift voices and provide a platform/space for new ideas and worlds to grow. Working with them for the past couple of years has only furthered my belief in their importance in the art community. Every encounter feels like a family gathering to cultivate something beautiful and new. ”

For Freedoms is excited to support our fellows through sales and community-building opportunities; artists will receive 50% of the net proceeds of sales of their artwork. 

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