We recently had the chance to connect with Samer Ghani and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Samer, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
Actually producing, in the past I’ve been a producer on projects simply because it needed to be done. However recently I’ve had the opportunity to be *the* producer on a few projects, and I’m not sure that I would have been ready for that in the past. A lot of the growth throughout my career has been tiny stepping stones, so I’m definitely grateful to have been thrown to the wolves early on in my journey. Having bits of producing experience on a small scale really gave me the tools now to be able to grab the bull by the horns.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Samer Ghani, a first-generation Palestinian-American artist, born, raised, and working out of Milwaukee, WI. As a working artist it’s been my mission to help create a more sustainable economic culture for all working artists, with a focus on talent from Milwaukee. The passion for this work led me to helping build the foundational building blocks for arts non-profit Cactus+, as well as my work with other (Milwaukee) community based organizations. (as well as working directly with artists themselves). At the start of my journey much of my work was donated to artists in an effort of immediate-direct support; and as my journey grew over time, I’ve been given the opportunity to help tell the stories of amazing artists and people doing incredible work in Milwaukee and beyond.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
There are many people in the Milwaukee community that saw me before I could see myself, it’s tough to name everyone (my greatest fear of leaving someone out), but the few that come to mind are Josh Evert, Kelsey Kaufmann, Danielle Simone my mentor and dear friend, and of course my partner Anna, of whom I met at the start of my crazy journey. There are many others, and I think I could easily say most of the Milwaukee creative community saw me before I saw myself. When I first started documenting shows, I didn’t really consider the impact I could make as an artist, however I think the aforementioned people, as well as the artists on the receiving end of my impact saw me for who I was. I think a lot of artists can relate to the perspective that when you’re doing something really good, cool, special, when you’re in it, you’re in it. Your blinders are on and you’re simply focused on creating your best work. The entire era of me shooting artists and bands for free night after night just to cut my teeth are a complete blur, and I wish I would’ve slowed down and taken more stock in that moment.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Like all of the time haha, but I think a couple of months before my ability to actually stabilize the ship of being a full-time artist, I almost gave up a lot. And a few times sprinkled throughout the last 6 years, yeah I’ve almost gave up a lot of times. It’s hard not to consider, that. Especially in a market like Milwaukee. Milwaukee’s creative economy is fickle, starved, and lord of the flies driven. It’s incredibly hard to specialize in one thing here and if you’re not a jack of all trades, and a master of all of them, it’s so easy to fall between the cracks. As an an artist, to survive, I’ve taught myself to shoot everything, from nature to city, weddings to shows, senior photos to ad spreads. From photo to video, editing to color grade, lighting to sound design, I’ve juggled the jobs of multiple people at once simply to try and navigate this ever-changing, grey scaled arts economy in Milwaukee.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
I would say with complete confidence everything I am in the tiny public eye I am apart of, is realistically me. The only thing that’s really left out is that I’ve almost maxed my old school runescape account.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
I would literally stop working.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.samerghani.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samerghani/
Image Credits
Dylan Mazurkiewicz
Anna Rardin
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
