Daily Inspiration: Meet Camilo Parody

Today we’d like to introduce you to Camilo Parody.

Hi Camilo, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Camilo Parody, I was born in Bogota, Colombia. My family immigrated to the U.S. in 2000 when I was 4 years old to Miami, Florida. In Florida the beach, ocean, and swimming became a huge part of my life. I did however spend my formative years in Houston, Texas, where we move to after Hurricane Katrina. Texas was a struggle for many different reasons. Moving to a new school in the fifth grade meant that I was the new kid and the sub-cultural differences between people in Miami and Houston were massive. I was a loner for a lot of that time, spending my time drawing my own pokemon cards and playing runescape with my friends back in Miami. We moved around a lot within Houston until highschool and that’s where I had the biggest issues. I got in trouble a lot. I spent most of my Saturday mornings in detention because I never did my homework. The “friends” I did make and I would look to anything to be degenerates and would put ourselves in situations we should not have. I did make one friend that cared enough to show concern and she’s still one of my best friends to this day, she was even in my wedding party. I remember a day where I was high at school and was nodding off in class. Watching her not laugh and be disappointed made me rethink why I was doing the things I was doing. This pattern never really ceased until after graduation (where I barely made it with like a 2.0 after the administration worked with my mom and I to get me through). After watching all of my peers get into their dream schools I applied to Houston Community College. Something else I quickly quit. I dropped out after 1 month. Slowly dropping classes until I dropped my Intro to College class with a 47%. After my mom found out she said that I wasn’t going to just sit in her house. As she was lecturing me I was fed up with who I was and where my life was going and said I needed to stop by the mall to see about a job opportunity. This is the moment that changed my life.

I walked into the Marine recruiters office and met with Staff Sergeant Zapata, and infantry Marine who told me about the sense of pride, belonging, and brotherhood he felt. That was everything I thought I needed so I talked to him for a while and by the end of the meeting I was signing papers to go to MEPS that Friday. The next chapter was a long one as my habits led me to be overweight and unable to to pull-ups, so I couldn’t leave for bootcamp until I met the standards. It took me a year to get to where I needed to in order to leave for bootcamp. In that year I almost gave up on being a Marine and even sought to start up at the community college again since I had become more disciplined while trying to get to bootcamp.

However, in November of of 2015 I was on a plane to San Diego to step on the yellow footprints and become a Marine. Those 13 weeks were a mixture of emotions, from joy and laughter, to being the most tired of ever felt, to being so homesick I would stay up writing letters in the bathroom. I made it though and in February of 2016 my parents saw the new me, Marine PVT Camilo Parody.

My time in the Marines shaped and informed everything that I am. I was lucky enough to be stationed in Hawaii, and although the beginning of that experience was challenging, There were some ups and downs for sure, one of which being when I did not make it through a water survival school because I started panicking in the water. I had trained for long to even get into that school and that is a personal failure that still haunts me, I am eternally grateful for my time in Hawaii. I loved the pace of island life, I loved the repetition and rhythm of being on island, and most of all I still loved the water. I met some of my closest friends there, friends who have been my brothers and sisters even 10 years later. Through one of those friends I met my wife. Who is the sister of one of my best friends, Megan. My now wife went to visit for the Marine Corps ball in November and I ‘ll never forget the moment I saw her walking around the ballroom and I thought “I’m gonna marry that girl one day” so I made it my mission that weekend to talk to her as much as possible and the rest was history.

She has supported me through so much, including moving to Atlanta to pursue my dream of being an artist. My time at SCAD has had it’s ups and downs as well, and she’s been there for me through all of it. Last year was especially challenging because I had a major shift in how I see myself in context to my work. I’m making a hard pivot from being a graphic designer into pursuing my dream of being a multidisciplinary artist. I work with alternative process photography to create image based objects. Right now I’m exploring concepts of place, belonging, identity, and nationality. I work in books, sculptural objects, and large format prints on textiles and Japanese paper. The darkroom has become a sanctuary.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of the biggest obstacles have been me getting in my own way. The self-doubt and imposter syndrome creep in a lot for me. Despite evidence to disprove my doubts, I still feel like I need to fight to not be who I used to be.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work primarily with image-based objects such as a variety of artist books: kinetic flip books, inkjet photo books, and alternative process print books. The themes of my work center on identity, using the printed image and object to communicate the feeling of what I call “ni de aquí/ni de allá” which means “neither from here or from there” in Spanish. This concept is the through line of my work as my experiences in life have led me to feel as though I exist in an in-between space. The main way I explore these themes is from the lens of being an immigrant and veteran and how the imposed identity of both of those often contradicts with the reality. My practice combines documentary photography with alternative processes like cyanotype and Vandyke brown printing. For instance, in my series exploring military brotherhood, I print images on fabric using historic processes, creating a tension between the permanence of military bonds and the fragile nature of the materials. I am passionate about the material conversation between the images that get created in context to the material they are printed on and how they are displayed. I work with a lot of wood, textiles, and various types of Japanese papers. I am most proud of how cohesive my body of work is becoming. What sets me apart from others is how I lean more toward the craft parts of art instead of focusing on what can be shown on screen. I also embrace a multidisciplinary approach, allowing each project to dictate its own needs.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Who else deserves credit in your story?
My wife deserves a massive amount of credit for always believing in my work even when I don’t. She was willing to move down to Atlanta just so I could go to school because she believes in my dream and having that in my corner really keeps me going.

Another person would be my printmaking professor Robert Brown who has taught me a lot. The class that changed everything was Off The Wall. A printmaking class where we focused on creating prints that aren’t just works on paper. Focusing a lot on image as object or how prints can interact with space beyond the walls they’re being displayed on. Him pushing me in that class allowed me to explore working with different types of materials and alternative process printmaking.

Pricing:

• Ni de aquí/Ni de allá diptych: $2,200
• Duality (Maria): $1,100
• Ni de aquí/Ni de allá Book: $3,200

Contact Info:

• Website: https://camiloparody.myportfolio.com/highlights
• Instagram: Sleepyguy.studio
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camilo-parody-394263332