How has the reception been overall for Black Burner Project?
I was getting a lot of people who reached out to me before just saying how excited they had been to find the Instagram page. They had been curious, and I answered a lot of questions and took a lot of phone calls. I was super happy to get on the phone and I think almost everyone were extremely grateful for the time I had given them. During the week, it was very overwhelming for me. I wasn't used to people coming up to me and expressing such dynamic loving and empowering words about me. So that was crazy and affirming, considering my intentions. It's been even more overwhelming since it ended, kind of like a combination of both. People are just explaining how much the group photo meant and the fact that now people are definitely going to go because they saw the group photo. They saw that there's space for them. Many people who were at the group photo said that was the highlight of their week.
How has the Project impacted your career or future interests?
I was actually unsure if I would continue with my photography career. A lot of my intentions going into Burning Man this year was figuring that out. I am hoping to share this work in larger spaces. That's really my goal for this project, to have exhibits and panel discussions and hopefully get other burners of color on the panel with me to have really cool and in-depth conversations about our experiences and what it means to be a burner of color and the importance of representation. I don't want to be the only one over here talking. I want to bring other people along with me.
For myself and my group that attended, we couldn’t have been felt more energized. Have you received any negative feedback?
I wouldn't say negative. I would just say opinionated, and there's not many of them. I think I had a few people who were unsure about their feelings around the group photo and I got that energy from them and knew right away that they might not really get what it was actually about. One person who decided to come to the group photo anyways, despite his uncertainties around what it was really about and if it was going to be his thing, was super grateful that I kind of nudged him to come anyway. I was so excited that he came. Another person who was also apprehensive about going because he felt like he had never had any negative experiences as a person of color didn't come to the group photo.