We recently connected with Petra Mason and have shared our conversation below.
Petra , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
From my Mother, artist and intellectual Judith Mason. Despite growing up female in rural South Africa her sister taught her to read and write, both became life long passions. In the 1950s she studied art. Her interest in art and African artifacts led her meeting my father, a young Professor of Archeology at the same University who commissioned her to trace some ancient rock art murals. Together they climbed Kilaminjaro, canoed down the Orange River, travelled in Egypt and the Congo in the 50s and 60s always with her notebook.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I use the title cultural historian because it gives me scope to write, publish, curate and deal in the art and culture worlds. Photography plays a central role throughout all my projects and has done so my entire life. Obscure Studio as a cultural content creator put together by myself and South African photographer Thekiso Mokhele.Obscure Studio aims to amplify, and reflect on the radical transformation taking place in contemporary fashion and art photography today. Based in South Africa, the studio represents young photographers who continue the conversation around the role of the power of the black body in the global marketplace.The cross pollination between art, fashion and culture in constructing an image; while attempting to address the institutional barriers that have historically been an impediment to black African photographers participating more fully in the art and fashion industries. Obscure Studio supports a re-imagined future and actively so. Obscure Studio will soon open as an international artists’ residency focusing on linking my American life and identity with studio and living space near the Cradle of Humankind in Johannesburg, South Africa.
ArtHit is my advisory and media agency connecting contemporary artists, galleries and collectors. Our focus is largely pan-African and again, links my American and African identities, actively seeking American collectors and institutions to connect with African art and artists.
Rizzoli New York published a trilogy of vintage photography books I authored and creative directed. Titles are: Bunny Yeager’s Darkroom, Bettie Page, Queen of Curves and Beefcake (vintage male physique photography). Assouline (also in NY) published photographs of my own work to the NEW YORK book, The Carlyle, The Glass House and In the Spirit of Miami Beach. With our own imprint, we published The Last Train to Paradise, a centennial edition with the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach.
As a cultural critic I contribute to the online and in-print edition of ‘Your Luxury Africa’ and for many years I have written for Whitehot Contemporary Art, a New York based art publication.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Be adventurous and go beyond the obvious.
What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these? Publish or perish. Keep the content in flow.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Art Hit, the media agency (of which I am a co-founder) is actively seeking collaboration with American collectors and institutions to connect with African art and artists on the
continent. We would welcome any collaboration to those ends as well as any funding
opportunities to facilitate those opportunities.
Another project I champion as co-founder is Obscure Studio in Johannesburg, South Africa. Obscure Studio aims to amplify and reflect the radical transformation taking place in contemporary fashion and art photography today. The Joburg based studio represents several young ‘born free’ photographers who continue the conversation around the role of the power of the Black body in the marketplace; the cross-pollination between art, fashion, and culture in constructing an image; while attempting to address the institutional barriers that have historically been an impediment to Black African photographers participating more fully in the fashion (and art) industries. Obscure Studio supports a re-envisioned future.
Stay niche. You will find the others.
Thank you!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://amazon.com/author/petramason and http://www.petramason.com/
- Instagram: @petra_mason
- Twitter: @PetraMason
Image credit:
Thekiso Mokhele
James Sey
