Today we’d like to introduce you to Hamza Hassan.
Hi Hamza, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Born to Somali immigrants in Toronto, I have been a creative since my early childhood and always pursued different creative outlets to express myself. Starting with poetry and rap, I moved to Georgia from Toronto, Canada when I was 13 and immediately fell in love with the culture and history of this city. In the year of my high school graduation, one of my siblings was swept into the criminal justice system, and I made a promise to myself then that I would go to college and open up opportunities to myself so that I may be there for them when they got released. This unfortunately led to me focusing more of my time to my studies and less of my time on creative outlets. After graduating college and my sibling’s release, many of my creative friends kept encouraging me to get back to creating and even spoke about how much I inspired them in our youth. I decided to buy a film camera and utilize my degree in Global Studies focusing on African Cultural Production & Practice to capture the culture that I fell in love with through my lens. Looking at the intersections of play, music, lived experiences and community, I hope to share the love I have for the Black community in Georgia through my photography. Since getting into photography, I’ve worked with many talents and organizations such as NEDLOG, Lotus Rosery, SURF & Ben Reilly on all sorts of things from event photography and behind the scenes shots.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. The incarceration of my sibling had built up a lot of emotions that I needed to express, but in a hyper-capitalist system like ours that doesn’t afford us creativity and security, I had to make a sacrifice. Growing up in poverty, I was forced to prioritize not returning to the trauma of poverty and financial insecurity over using creative outlets to heal from the exact same trauma. If you’re a photographer who shoots on film, you clearly know that film is not a cheap creative outlet either, neither is the price of a good digital camera.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have a degree in Global Studies with a concentration on Africa, Cultural Production & Everyday Practice and use it in both my professional career and my creative process. I have worked some years now as an organizer, working directly within Black communities and building interpersonal relationships with the members within the community. Going into these communities on a daily basis, I like to capture the ways in which Black communities come together. I believe this sets me apart from other photographers because I do not capture narratives that I create but amplify the narratives of people’s real-life experiences. I see a lot of emphasis in marketing spaces around Black faces with little concern for Black voices, and I hope I can continue to be the bridge between these voices and the ears that have not heard their message yet.
What matters most to you? Why?
I believe my community is what matters to me the most. I believe in a South ethnophilosophy known as “Ubuntu,” a Nguni Bantu term that translates to “I am because we are” and in Xhosa translates to “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.” It means that I cannot exist without the community around me because this community shaped me and my existence in this community also shapes it. If someone in my community is happy, I cannot help but feel happy because we live through one another, you are also me and vice versa. I believe that this philosophy is found in all communities around the Black diaspora and that if this philosophy was held as a universal truth, we would see much less pain in the world.
Pricing:
- 2 Hr Shoot with Edited Photos: $250
- 2 Hr Shoot with Unedited Photos: $175
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shotxbuddies.com/
- Instagram: nomadikcam
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamza-hassan-b91140160/
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Joshua Rich (IG: Kalonokanvas)
