Q&A: How to be an Alien with Anthony Lorenzo
Artist, photographer and architect Anthony Lorenzo is like really creative. Read the Q&A from our interview available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
ZACK:
So I have Anthony here. And Anthony is a mind blowing artist photographer, architect. So I met you because I was looking for a photographer for my album, and I wanted a really, like, dreamy type of photo and something like alien. You did an Alien series where you, did these, like, really gritty, dreamy, portraits where people's necks were elongated and their eyes were enlarged. And I was like, nobody in Memphis is doing that. So I want to do that. I wanted to bring you on here to talk about your creative life. So what does your creative practice look like?
ANTHONY:
My creative practice is very experimental. And it's partly that way because I went to architecture school and most people were artists, and the a lot of people in the city obviously didn't do that. And so I feel like in a lot of ways that set me apart from my peers. And I kind of like leaned into that a lot. I kind of approach everything I do from like a very conceptual, beginning, thinking of, like, I'll think of words and try to create like an atmosphere in my head of what I want, whatever I make, to feel like. And I use that and kind of try my best to weave that into every step of the process, from sketching. I sketch a lot of the photos before I even take photos
I don't know, it's just experimental, I guess. I try to take my time and not take things too seriously. I'll trash something very quickly if I'm not thinking. That is like working in the way that I want to, and then start over. Which is also another thing that I learned in school is to not be married to like a part of the process, because if it's not working, there's no point in stressing yourself out and trying to make it fit when it just doesn't.
And that oftentimes leads you to like a better result, because you see something from a different perspective that you hadn't before. And to go back to the Alien portrait series, that's kind of like exactly what that was and how it started was, really, I think we've talked about this before, how that was actually an accident.
I never planned to, like, actually do that specific series. It just started off with me wanting to play. And that's another thing that I really love doing. Again, not taking things too seriously, but just playing around and sitting in front of my camera
The first photo that I ever did, it was a self-portrait of me.
And that's like how I even got into photography in the first place. Was by doing that. And it was during the pandemic, so I couldn't be around people. So my only subject had been myself. And, I just remember getting up one day and feeling inspired to do something, and I set up my camera in my bedroom.
My cats are like, in between my legs, running and jumping and like, being annoying. Like they always are.
ZACK:
Yeah, just like mine was.
ANTHONY:
And it's it like frustrated me. But I was still was like, okay, I wanted to do this. I'm going to like at least see it through. And if it's not working, then at least I can say I tried and I look through the photos like after I finish and I hated them.
So much. And it was partly because I just didn't feel attractive for some reason. I looked at the photos and I was like, wow, I don't like this person, actually. And I challenged myself to love what I saw. I was like, I don't love this now, but maybe I can love this person eventually.
I printed out so many photos, of like my favorite image of the set that I took. And I just cut it out and I stretched and I crumpled it, put it in water and like that, it looked all, like, disintegrated until a version of it came out to be something that I could enjoy. And then I scanned it back into my computer and then did more edits, and I was like, wow, this is beautiful.
ZACK:
That just gave me chills. I didn't know that was what led to all those images.
ANTHONY:
And then after I kind of figured out like, oh, this is like a formula that I could do over and over again. And then that's when I did the Alien portrait series, because I figured out, like, it's—One: aliens and space.
It's been something I've always been obsessed with. I think everything that I try to make is, like, fantastical and because I have a kind of disconnect with earth, earthly things. So it's like my mind is always elsewhere and I try to tap into that as much as I can, and photography, as for me showing that that's like kind of easy to do. And I just try to have fun with that.
ZACK:
So you were talking about you woke up feeling inspired. What's going on in your head when you're feeling inspired? Like, how does your body feel? Because I know for me, like, I'll go like a few months without having any ideas. And it kind of makes me depressed. I'm like, what's wrong?
ANTHONY:
I have that too. I'm actually going through that right now or I'm coming out with that. Actually. Yeah.
It's been really hard to really get back in groove of things because I know before, but every day my mind is always constantly going and thinking of new ideas, and I just don’t always have the energy to, like, do anything with it.
But I write it down and hope that, like, I can eventually come back to it and do something with it. And I finally feel like I'm close to that point again where I can just really make something because I really want to, it brings me a lot of joy to like, take a photo and it just is like beautiful.
But what it feels like, it's like, just very energized, like I'm just like very, like giddy, high energy, sporadic movements and if I don't harness the energy, it’s going to go away so fast. I like, try my best to like do something as fast as I can. To get whatever it is out, because it would probably take days or weeks for me to get that kind of high again.
ZACK:
So why do you think creatives are like that? You like go through these phases where it's like, periods of inactivity and then all of a sudden we have these inspirations. Do you do anything in your downtime to fuel your creativity?
ANTHONY:
I guess in my downtime, what I do the most of it is listen to music. I get a lot of my inspiration from that for some reason. That or reading, really any kind of escape in idea that I can, like, just really fall into, because it's clues everywhere. Just very small things can inspire really big ideas. So I do a lot of that. Movies, books, music.
ZACK:
We were talking about this earlier, but there's, some queerness in your work. You like to express your queer identity. What is it like expressing that? And, were there any challenges with that?
ANTHONY:
A lot of challenges, actually.
It's like every day I feel that is a challenge in expressing my queerness. But at the same time, it's really freeing. I remember when I first, started to like, do photography and do art and wanted to be seen. It really started, I think in architecture school I came out in an essay to the staff, because I didn't want to like go into the program and kind of have that be something that people just didn't know.
And it was like 2016, I just graduated high school, and I had just come out to my parents as well. So it was a very touchy and scary like subject for me. But I wanted to be honest and open about it and told everybody and they were like, okay, not a big deal. I was like, oh yeah.
ZACK:
That’s a blessing.
ANTHONY:
Yeah. It was really cool to have classmates and my professors welcome me with open arms and just loved the fact that I was me. Yeah. And that really helped me get really comfy in like, my queerness and expressing that through work. Whereas like, first it was like, do buildings and conceptual things that we do in classes to taking that and translating it into the photography work that I was doing and just really trying to show my femininity and embracing other people's femininity and helping them bring that out of them.
It's really cool. And I think it's really important to like, show that people like us exist and be like. it’s cool as fuck.
ZACK:
I just love being part of the queer community because like, you know, being queer isn't a choice. But I would choose it because it's like you said, it’s cool as fuck.
How do you think queer art is special? Apart from other art, what do you think queerness brings to art?
ANTHONY:
I actually think being queer is like a superpower. Because in a lot of ways I feel like we are. We all have this, like shared experience where we just had, like, really difficult childhoods because maybe we were afraid of being made fun of or people just picked on us for like very small, specific things.
And we learned to kind of close ourselves off. And then I would imagine that most of us have kind of at least tried to work through that and in a way helps us realize that showing love and being true to who you are is like one of the most important things, and you have to really live that way in order to get close to being happy for one and close to making, like, really impactful work.
All of that just kind of sets us up to make really magical things in a way.
It's like this idea that, the light that we have inside of us, it's almost like we've had to—at least for me—I've always known I’ve had a light, and I found ways to protect it. And maybe it was, like really dim in certain points. But like, the more that I nurtured it, it has like, shined brighter.
ZACK:
I know what you mean. It's like you have to protect that, that magical quality, because being queer is magic. It's a special culture we have. There's like, you know, so many different subcultures or so much different queer art that has really, hasn't had the limelight as it should. And it's like an act of rebellion. For us to do that. To make queer art.
And you were talking about being a kid. What did creativity look like when you were a kid? Were you a creative kid?
ANTHONY:
I was, but I really didn't lean into it as much as I could have, it was very much like I was afraid to do so.
And my first medium, I guess, was drawing. I really wanted to draw portraits. I'd always been obsessed with portraits, but like specifically portraits of women. Just because they are who inspire me the most.
And I remember, maybe it was like seventh or eighth grade. I drew maybe like 2 or 3 photos. And one was up like a hill, a girl on a dance floor and had like this checkered pattern. And the shoe was like red, I think. And I drew a portrait of a lady who had this, like, curly hair. It was probably like, really shit. But I was really proud of it. Like, really proud. And I took it to school and at the time, you know, it was eighth grade because at the time our school had this bright idea to separate boys and girls. So I had only classes with boys.
ZACK:
Yeah, that sounds awful.
ANTHONY:
It was horrible, but I thought I had a group of friends who, like, you know, were down for me or whatever. So I was like, they probably appreciate this. So I took it to school, the drawings. I showed them,on one of our free periods, and they laughed at me and like, were so, so, so like mean about it.
They're like, why are you drawing this? This is like, gay.
And one of them even took their pencil on, like the whole like the, the drawing and like, ripped it in half and I literally never did anything like that again.
ZACK:
Way to silence somebody.
ANTHONY:
Yeah. It really sucked, that hurt a lot, actually.
I forget who it was, but it was like four guys. And they were like, this is gay as hell. And it was. I mean, I'm not denying it. It was, it's really gay. Yeah. I, I don't know, I just wanted to express that. And I was like, well, maybe I just can't do this. And that was kind of how I spent the rest of my, educational career.
From eighth to twelfth grade, I was kind of in the shadows and not really leaning into who I really was. And it wasn't until I got to college where I just finally accepted and did whatever I wanted to do. Yeah, yeah,
ZACK:
I've definitely had a similar experience. I grew up in a small town in Mississippi and, was very creative. It was hard to suppress it, and I got called gay for that and mocked for being creative. And it took so long for me to come out of that and accept myself as an artist. And that's my true self. You know, when I was five years old, I told my mom I wanted to be an artist. And even though it was so long ago, it didn't take me until my, like, late 20s for me to start putting my art out there more because that stuff is really—it can be really damaging to to go through that.
You were talking about women inspiring you. If you had to: this might be a hard question, but if you had to choose top three women who inspired you the most, who who would it be?
ANTHONY:
Ooo. Ariana Grande. Grace Jones. Tracee Ellis Ross.
ZACK:
Yes, I love that. What about those three women give you inspiration?
ANTHONY:
For Ariana—it’s the fact that, I just simply love her music and I love what she stands for. And pretty much every album that she's dropped, I've kind of felt like I feel like that we've, like, lived the same experience.
ZACK:
Yes, I feel the same way. That's crazy you said that.
ANTHONY:
Because I'm a person, that finds it really difficult to put things into words, especially my emotions. And so like, I can feel like really intensely, but like, I don't know how to share. Or how to even, like, describe what it is. And then I listen to her music and I'm like, oh, that's that's exactly what I feel. And that makes me have this really special, unique and very intense bond that I have with her music.
ZACK:
I feel like Eternal Sunshine, like, I'll listen to that from start to finish, and I just feel so much better. I think—I'm not like trying to exaggerate, but it's like healed a wound in me somehow. I don't know what the hell she put in that, but it was it changed my life.
ANTHONY:
That album really—it made me open my eyes to leave the situation that I was in, I was like, oh, maybe I should not be in this because I understand that this is what I've been feeling this whole time. And it's not healthy for me or for them. Just like small things like that. And it's literally every album cycle.
ZACK:
What about Grace Jones? Grace Jones is just iconicness. Just like her stature and her aura just, like, alienesque. And that's something I'm always appreciated and like seeing a black woman do that and like, doing it years ago, like 80s or 70s. Just being that innovative and that, elegant, really. And I try to really embody that energy whenever I'm in front of and behind the camera. She’s just ethereal and she's gorgeous and experimental, and I just want to push boundaries.
ZACK:
And, Tracee Ellis Ross.
ANTHONY:
Fashions. Like, willingness to put on anything and make it her. It's a really hard thing to do. I feel like I haven't really gotten to that point yet of, like, having my own sense of style, but she inspires me to, like, really take it there and not be afraid to be seen and be afraid to be like this quirky, big, bright red bubble that she sometimes is.
I guess, like tie all three together, they all to me represent like, freedom and love and like peace in a way. Like, it's like something that they promote. And maybe they don't really try to do that, but they just evoke that kind of energy. And it's something that I want to have in my life all the time.
ZACK:
Yeah, they do lead by example. And I totally see—I definitely think you have your own personal fashion style. Like every time I see you out in public, it's always a different outfit. How do you put together your outfits? How does that come together?
ANTHONY:
It's just like vibes actually. Sometimes I look a mess. I'm not gonna lie. I like, go back and look at photos like, oh that didn't that didn't work. But I thrift a lot. And so I just kind of find pieces that are fun. Yeah. Because I love color and I love like baggy clothes. I'm trying to like switch a little bit into like a little more form fitting things because I want to feel chic.
ZACK:
Yeah, as we get older, it's like all the sudden we want to be chic.
ANTHONY:
Yeah. So that's like the wave. But just really find things that like connect. I take my time when I shop and sometimes when I go to, like, thrift stores, I don't see anything. And I try not to leave with things that don't really resonate with me. And when they do, I grab and I buy no matter.
ZACK:
I love that. I want to start doing that more. That inspires me to. Because, like, I've always been like, I just want to be comfortable. And I don't know, sometimes that can get boring and, you know, I want to express myself more. So that's that inspires me.
ANTHONY:
You should.
ZACK:
Last question. If you had all the money in the world, what would be your dream project?
ANTHONY:
My dream project? To make a film. Like feature length or maybe not feature, maybe short film. Yeah, but definitely wanting to bring the worlds in my head to life. And seeing and showing people what that is—it's crazy and it's beautiful.
I just don't have the means to do things like that right now. But I think it would be so cool. I've always wanted to do this movie.
ZACK:
Would aliens be involved?
ANTHONY:
Absolutely.
ZACK:
I figured. Thank you so much for talking to me. I think I got chills, like, four times as we were talking.
You’re a huge inspiration for me. You set the standard. You are on an another level, and I really can't wait to see what you come up with and your feature film.
ANTHONY:
Thank you so much for that, that actually like touched me.
ZACK:
It's true, it's true.
Where to find Anthony Lorenzo
Website: www.byanthonylorenzo.com
Instagram: @byanthonylorenzo