About me, the Interviewer:
My name is Saria Smith, and I am a BFA Student currently working as the Curatorial Assistant at Stove Works Gallery. I am an artist and find joy in expressing myself through various mediums, especially music, printmaking, and painting. I decided to start these artist interviews as a way for the public to connect more with the residents who flow through Stove Works perhaps unseen, especially during this pandemic.
Each week, I will be conducting an interview with one of Stove Works’ Artists-in-Residence. This week I am in conversation with Le’Andra LeSeur, who has been a Resident since November of last year. Check back next Friday afternoon for my discussion with io.
About Le’Andra:
Le’Andra LeSeur is an artist who was raised in the Bronx and Atlanta, both of which she calls her home. She is a visual artist who deals with themes of queer, femme, and black identity. Working mostly through video and installation art she presents her viewers with an opportunity to behold the slow steady movements of life and to contemplate the importance of being seen and accepted.
Le’Andra in her studio at Stove Works. Photo by @wolfrancis
The Interview:
S: Where were you before you came to Stove Works?
Le’Andra: I was in Jersey City and working between Jersey City, NJ, and Brooklyn, New York.
My really close friend, Josiah Golson, was telling me about Stove Works and in late 2018 i had just won an award for my project Brown, Carmine, and Blue and he invited me to do a talk here in Chattanooga. That’s when I met Charlotte and I got the invite to apply for the residency and it was perfect.
S: What made you gravitate towards video art?
Le’Andra: There’s something really beautiful about video in that it's not something that has been given a real standard besides technology getting better. How you utilize video in the context of art there are so many ways to experiment with it. I’ve been able to push a lot of different things with video which for me is very fulfilling and that is why I keep gravitating back to it.
S: Most of your video work uses a technique where one moment is extended for a long period of time, what causes you to gravitate to that certain style?
Le’Andra: I started out in photography and with that background, I’m always thinking about this theme of stillness. That specific moment was always beautiful to me but I’ve always been pushing the question of what happens after that moment. With the video works, I'm pushing that question and that idea but also still trying to relate to the foundations. When I do the video work most of them are like self-portraits and in that moment of me being in front of the camera is actually me going through this meditative process.
S: This idea of validation comes up again in your work, in reference to your live performance “Subject to Your Approval” where strobes are pointed at you and are triggered by the viewer choosing to come into your space. Again, where does the thought come from with that?
Le’Andra: I’m thinking of this process of validation. I’m standing there nude; these strobes are in front of me. When someone is not in the space you can’t see me. It’s completely dark, but when you walk in, that's when the strobes accentuate my figure, so you have to make the decision if you continue to stand there and expose me or if you leave and allow me to go disregarded. It’s interesting because we don't really need validation in life, in that moment you don't have to be seen because even in the dark you understand your body and form. Just by being you are validated.
Subject to your Approval, 2018, Durational Performance
S: You wrote on your page a quote from Maybe Rainbows Do Exist At Night, “Beauty in blackness had to be projected in order to be accepted.” What does that mean to you?
Le’Andra: Rainbows are this thing that happens in light and not necessarily in darkness but why does it have to only happen in light? I was thinking of this idea how as black people we have to forcefully project who we are and our beauty. We have to prove ourselves to some degree. I should just exist, and you should be able to see it and that’s that. I'm trying to transcend into the existence of ‘just be.’
Maybe rainbows do exist at night, Microscope Gallery, 2019
S: You do deal a lot also with the themes of queer, femme, and black identity. How do you see your role since you have a voice that pertains to these marginalized categories?
Le’Andra: I feel like my role personally is to be sure that I'm challenging systems, structures, and the ways that we’re thinking about things and doing things; the way that we’re even seeing things. That’s why I insert myself into a lot of the work and I speak specifically about my identity as a black, queer woman. There has to be a way for us to freely exist without any feeling of being looked at a certain way or misrepresented in any type of way, for me that's very important.
S: What is your relationship with your art?
Le’Andra: My art is an extension of myself and my art is a way for me to process my emotions. When I first started creating I was always asking the question, who is this for and I could never fully answer it and I always felt like this kind of imposter. I had to start telling myself that when I make work I need to make it for me cause that’s when I know it's going to be genuine and true to everything I want it to be. My relationship is profound for me because it is an extension of myself.
S: What does community and specifically the community at Stove Works mean to you?
Le’Andra: Community for me has always been people that just show up. You show up for them, they show up for you. Even if it's five people in your community as long as there’s care and mutual aid given to one another, that to me is important and that’s been a part of my community and part of my life. Here at Stove Works, even simple things like passing by and saying hi or making sure we’re cleaning up after each other, little things like that, that type of intention and making sure everyone feels comfortable is really important. It's been very nice to just have this nice collective care happening in this space.
S: How do you see your role in the art world as a whole?
Le’Andra: I don't ever want to be an artist that gives into the ways of being an artist. There's a book I was reading called Tell Them I Said No and it's about an artist who said no to the system in place. I want to create art and reach the people that look like me, feel like me, that they can connect with it even if they know nothing about art.
S: What have you seen Stove Works do well since you've been here?
Le’Andra: It's beautiful to be in a space and there not be any requirements of you and you are free to do what's needed. As an artist, it's nice to have the freedom to be in a space and process things. I think the team at Stove Works has been really positive in that regard, they've been good about reinforcing this idea that they want you to be here to experience Chattanooga and create friendships and build an artist network and community.
S: What are you working on after you leave Stove works? What can we expect?
Le’Andra: Right now, I'm working on two large pieces, one is right after I leave stove work and I'll be in Atlanta for a month. I'll be a part of the Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary and I'll be doing a large 7 channel piece there. It opens on the 18th of February and is open till the end of May. I also have a show coming up in New York at The Shed. I'll be doing a 5 channel collaborative performance. That's what’s on the list for this year and then next year will be a whole other thing.
brown, carmine, and blue.
Public Space 415, SiTE:LAB
ArtPrize 10 Juried Grand Prize Winner, 2018
Thanks so much to Le’Andra for sitting and talking with me :)
If you, the viewer, want to learn more about Le’Andra and see her work you can visit her website Lleseur.com and satisfy your curious desires.