feature: king texas

King Texas is a photographer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.  He grew up in the astringent realities of East New York while regularly traveling with his father who worked for the United Nations. Texas’ current project, BLA CK NESS, highlights the spectrum within masculinity, gender, sexuality, and diasporic heritage through the formal glamorization of people of color. 

by Khalid Livingston

What inspired you to get into photography? 
I feel like the answer to what inspired me and continues to inspire me within photography changes quite often, because I, myself, am growing and changing frequently.  What has pushed me even more has been the importance of telling my story and the narratives of others through my work. 

Is there a specific narrative in your photos? 
There are multiple narratives that are unified within my work.  As of late, I’ve been reflecting deeply on the spectrums of blackness, masculinity, and gender.  The representation and meaning of ‘home’ when it comes to our own bodies and how we navigate the world every single day.  The endless curiosity of love and the many ways it exists.  These narratives are all related.  

In what way does your identity reflect itself in your work? 
I believe the work will always be a reflection of your identity and they will always connect in the middle in some way or another.  It is up to you on how open you want to be.  There is always a part of me within every spirit that I capture and a part of home with every landscape that I photograph. I find myself everywhere. 

To see more of his work, visit kingtexas.net