interview with Nazir Wayman
Meet Nazir Wayman, Halide Darkroom Member & Documentarian
Nazir Wayman is a Philadelphia-based artist who captures the heart of the city and its skateboarding culture through stunning black and white street photography. He shares more about his background in photography, inspiration, and his current projects. You can see Nazir’s work on display at the atmos store on September 22 from 5 - 8 pm.
1. Where did your journey with photography begin?
This is a long long story but I’m gonna try to make it short and sweet. I started photographing because of my father. He did not teach me photography, but I remember being a kid and he was showing me all of his prints and Polaroids he’s taken throughout his life (he was the documentarian of the family but not so much when I was born). He passed away in 2016 and I wanted to go back and look through his photographs but they were all destroyed in a flood. That anger and sadness I felt just made me realize how precious memories are, so I wanted to document my life to show my future kids the same way my dad showed me. First I needed a camera. I wanted a Polaroid camera at the time and just my luck, my art teacher in high school (Lauren Fields) gave me her old one because she was extremely happy to hear that one of her students wanted to pick up an art form on their own. I owe her a lot and I’m mad at her because of the amount of money I waste on film haha. I also owe a lot to my two buddies I had in high school, Kris and Nasim, for being my first friends around me pushing me and inspiring me to shoot. They both are completely separated from each other in my life but had the same impact in hindsight.
2. How did you get involved in Halide and what does it mean to you to have access to the community space?
I remember when Halide first announced that they were getting a community darkroom together, I was excited because it has always been on my radar to join one especially because they’ve become extremely popular over in places like New York. I thought it would be awesome to just have some place to go and get some prints done for a bit without having to convert your closet or bathroom into a bank of toxins (no shame, I literally do this now as well haha). I love the community darkroom. I love just being able to nerd out about something and be so passionate about it with people who are also nerding out about the same thing. A bunch of homies I’ve met around the city and people I’ve only met through the internet just be waltzing through the door sometimes and it’s the best feeling.
3. Can you tell us about the work you've been working on most recently in the darkroom?
I am currently working on a project documenting the life and death of one of the world’s most famous skateboarding plazas which happens to reside right here in Philadelphia. I have an archive of photographs spanning eight or so years. I had no clue that the place would be gone so soon. My only intention was to photograph my friends and when the gates went up I went into full documentary mode. There was no more time to walk around and shoot when everything I needed was right where I needed it to be. My goal was to print the entire project but that could take me years to get where I wanna be. I believe a scan of a negative would do just fine, but it’s good to have that bulk archive ready in case of a potential showing of the work.
4. Do you have any upcoming shows?
I have a show coming up at the Atmos Store on Friday, September 22, on 15th and Walnut in Philadelphia. They have a gallery space on their 2nd floor in which I will be displaying a bunch of prints I have made at Halide and in my darkroom at home. It will be an incredible one. RSVP here.
If you are a Halide darkroom member and interested in being featured on our website and in our newsletter, please email jessi@thehalideproject.org.
