Today we’d like to introduce you to Cori Carter.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started shooting around the age of 15 but really began honing in on what I wanted to do in 2014 when I transferred to Kennesaw State to do my undergraduate degree in photography. I’ve always had this sort of obsessive personality, which can seem negative at times, but I feel like it really has worked out for me. Like for example, I became really obsessed for a few months with eating fried eggs.
It sounds weird, but then I started thinking about eggs all the time and doing a bunch of projects involving eggs. It was probably one of my main tipping points for creating work just because it interested me. I would go fabric shopping and find pieces with bright colored shapes on them and I’m like, “hey, let me make a project using color blocked shapes”. It really is as simple for me as noticing my personal patterns and repeating them.
So I’ve always had this very open mindset when it comes to creating my work that it can really take whatever form it likes. Because I feel like most of the time my works come to me, I don’t have to go out trying to find them. So really I’m just relaying the messages in my work that I already live with on a daily basis.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think it’s pretty much impossible to say it’s been a smooth road. There’s always some risk or sacrifice involved in the process of creating, and I think that’s why it’s so rewarding to take part in. Of course, there are bumps in the road we can’t always help or control (jobs, finances, etc).
But I think a lot of the rockiness is something we create ourselves by putting this pressure on what we’re doing, that whatever we create has to reach some unattainable standard. And I really feel that all the meaning we need can be found in the creating just as much as the final product. And so much of art is just making the work and getting it out there and fulfilling these thoughts and ideas we have that would otherwise escape us.
Cori Carter – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My artwork is currently focusing on color and geometric shape. I’m really interested in clothing, the human form, and our interaction with shapes and symbols. My work incorporates a lot of elements, sometimes video, instant film, large format, and digital photography. I think it’s important to me to work in different mediums to really tease out the fine details of what I’m trying to communicate and do not limit myself creatively. I’ve found so much interest and insight into why mediums speak to and shape a lot of what the work is about and that’s led me to create my most recent project, ad hominem, completely in Instax film.
This tangible, handheld quality gives the work an intimacy that it would not receive in other mediums. So I’ve realized that there’s definitely something to the digital creative process and the film creative process that varies greatly. And I believe by expanding my work to flow in both directions I’m deepening that process and giving myself the freedom to play that is so necessary in developing satisfying work.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I think success would just be creating work that is both satisfying conceptually and creatively indulgent. I think that artists tend to be already driven by beautiful aesthetics, and sometimes that can be the dictator for where and how we’re willing to proceed with our art, but I think it’s such an important practice to humor yourself when you have an idea.
This is how new movements and ideas are born. I feel like as long as I’m following my instincts, making my work, and feeling happy while doing it, that’s my idea of success.
Contact Info:
- Website: justinandcori.com
- Email: coricarterr@yahoo.com
- Instagram: coricarterr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cori.carter.37
- Twitter: coricarterr
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