MIKAYLAH BOWMAN

Name: Mikaylah Bowman
Age: Nineteen
Country: United States of America
Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikaylahbowman

At which age did you start creating art? And why do you feel compelled to create?
I started to take photographs when I turned Fifteen. I don’t know what it was that made me want to start taking them but I think I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted to have the people around me do in them. Wanted strong blank stares and space. Wanted boredom.

What are you inspired by? And who do you look up to?
Inspired by black or white trash bags, baby powder, St. Vitus’ Dance, Heinrich Fussli, shoulder pads, insoles, when someone’s two front teeth are turned inwards, the Imbunche myth, ‘honey bees swarming on some liver’.

Which influential artist would you like to ask for advice?
Gena Rowlands

If you had to put up one piece of artwork on your wall and stare at it for a year, who would it be by and why?
Herkules und die Lernäische Hydra by Gustave Moreau.

tell us about your creative process. As an artist, are you Technical or passionate?
I don’t know how. Staring off into space or into a corner is the most helpful. I am pretty bad at the creative process. I have no idea how to use a camera, none of that is too technical at all, all play. The only thing I am sure of is how I want people and objects positioned. Studios are usually State Parks in Texas, dirty pools, creeks.

How do you determine when a work is finished? Or is it ever finished?
I don’t think I’ve ever finished anything. It hasn’t looked how I felt it, I have so much learning to do.

Do you think there are boundaries you would never cross in your art making?
I think I haven’t crossed so many boundaries yet. I think I won’t know how I feel about them until I’m faced with them.
But, I do think I won’t take photographs of young children, I think even if the concept/work is tasteful it’s not generally in a child’s best interest to be involved in public art. Especially if it is put in an environment like the internet.


What frightens you most about your art?
What to do with it is the most frightening. I just want someone to find everything I’ve done in a bin at Savers and take it home and look at it, get bored, leave it somewhere. Ultimately, I think that would be the most honest thing I could do. I think it might be where it belongs.

Do you dream about your artwork?
I dream about it all the time, many of my ideas for photographs come directly from my dreams.

Which art mediums and brands do you prefer to use?
I like high speed film, 800 to 3200. I like Matte paper.


What kind of art education do you have? Do you think it is important?
I don’t have any art education. I don’t think I would do very well in an art class.

What kind of career do you ultimately want? And what kind of career do you think you'll end up having (or already have) realistically?
Right now I am working on pre-requisites to enter into a marine biology program. Realistically, I will probably end up studying algae.

Is your family supportive of your art? Who influenced and nurtured your creativity most?
My Grandmother gave me her camera when I was fourteen and it’s the camera I still use, in that way I owe her everything. My friends, who are always the subjects in my photographs, are always ready and willing, I have them covered in powder or dirt or in positions that aren’t always pleasant either, and they are part of lots of failed experiments. My photographs wouldn’t be possible without them.

Which direction do you see your art heading in the future?
More restriction. I want a formula like Melvil Dewey’s for punctuation. Something I can come back to again and again to create cohesion. Real ritual, every session equipped with a natural rulebook. I think right now this isn’t possible, but it’s my goal. I have to learn a lot before I can get there.

Who are some of your heroes outside of the visual art stream?
Rose water, Isaac Newton’s secret alchemy, Helene Cixous, Unica Zurn, Arthur Doyle, Grace Zabriskie’s shrieks, Nietzchka Keene, Dmitri Mendeleev’s beard, Gertrude Stein, Rudolph Grey, the tooth specialist who found out that narwhal tusks are sensory organs.