Steven Traylor is a creative director and multidisciplinary artist working in photography and film. The artist’s work is a captivating, nuanced portrait of his experience growing up in Mid-City, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Los Angeles. Exploring themes of race, sexuality, masculinity, and family, the artist employs a variety of mediums — analog photography, video, text, collage, sound, and sculpture — to tell a story of his community. Informed by music and meditative introspection, Traylor’s work is deeply authentic, intimate, and urgent in its telling. Says the artist, “in these times, things are changing so rapidly...when I feel something, I just want to document it before it disappears and goes unnoticed.”
Traylor began taking photographs at age 16, using a 35mm camera he found and initially tried to sell. The self-taught artist learned by trial and error, often visiting the repair floor of a camera shop in his neighborhood to learn about the technical aspects of film photography. Inquisitive and perceptive from a young age, Traylor channeled his curiosities into his craft, recalling, “I was always curious about why certain people in my community move the way they move.” The artist’s practice harmonizes his distinct anthropological perspective with an intuitive observer’s eye.
Traylor’s debut exhibition, 10 Toes With His Chest Caved In, premiered at HVW8 Gallery in Berlin in 2018 and has been featured at HVW8 Art + Design Gallery in Los Angeles. The artist has worked on commissioned projects for i-D Magazine, A Magazine, Adidas, Clash, Supreme, Burberry, Wales Bonner, Human Race, Heron Preston, and Know Wave alongside ongoing visual collaborations with musicians Earl Sweatshirt and Maxo.
Traylor is also the co-founder of Los Angeles based Protean Practice, a cross disciplinary creative studio with a focus on visual direction, spatial design, and sound.
