Meet Emmanuel Terrell | Photographer, Director, Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emmanuel Terrell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emmanuel, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
I believe the end goal is to look back at my body of work and see a couple things; that humans are inherently good, the world around us is beautiful because we are there to appreciate it and that delight is only fully materialized when we choose to share.

All of those things are not mutually exclusive and are also not that far from their opposite. I think sorrow and pain are often side effects of true joy and delight. Ross Gay, the author of “The Book of Delights,” puts it this way (I am paraphrasing so go read the book, it’s beautiful) “We are able to delight in one another because we are all on the same journey towards death.”

I believe when I think of the impact I want my art (photography, film, writing, anything else I happen to try) to have, is an honesty of life that moves people to enjoy one another and move closer to the stranger and what is beyond them.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I don’t know if anything sets me apart from any other artists, I don’t even think the work I make is completely original. I am making work because I don’t think I can live life without doing it. I am trying to wrap my head around being an artist is a way of living and appreciating what is around you. Poetry is a way of living, said by the great Director Andrei Tarkovsky. My life is the work, even if I never make another thing. My artistic identity is not defined by what I make, it just is. I don’t know if thats pretentious, probably is.

I guess what I am trying to say is I’m just excited to live my life, to love my wife, to eat good food, to love my friends, to breathe and sleep. I know that making is a part of it all because I desire to do it. There are days where I do not want to make, but artistry is not defined by making its defined by being.

Im most proud of that realization to be completely honest and I don’t think I have made career defining work at all, I’m just making and living and when I look back at my work I want to be grateful.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In Chicago, there are a ton of places to do things and tons of food. I would take them everywhere I grew up going to. I grew up on the west side of Chicago in the West Humboldt Park/Austin neighborhood. I would take them to Jimmy’s a hotdog stand where they kick you out if you ask for ketchup, or come in on your phone.

I would walk around Humboldt Park, have a picnic (my dad is a chef so most of my experiences are surrounded by food) We would go to the Museum of Contemporary Art, my grammar school went there every year and it has rotating exhibits so theres always something new.

We would go to Lake Michigan, no matter what season, its an incredible force of nature that can be appreciated no matter what.

I would also take them to have Puerto Rican food, if my great grandma were still alive I would bring them to her house, but the closest restaurant to her food is Jibaritos y mas, Jibaritos are a Chicagorican staple, they were invented here.

I also would take them to Myopic Books in Wicker Park, great selection of books in the neighborhood my grammar school was in, A.N. Pritzker school.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Everyone, I am absolutely nothing without my surrounding friendships and collaborators. All that I have made has come to fruition because of grace.

I was in the right place at the right time.

My University experience was an interesting one. I went to school in the middle of Indiana. A town called Upland, I met so many incredible artists there and a couple in particular I met that decided to give me a part of themselves in a way I cannot understand. The first being my friend Jake Vriezelaar. He is the one that pushed me into the world of film, Pushing me to direct my first project while he was the cinematographer, we have built an incredible friendship along the way and he was my best man in my wedding. We have since collaborated on many projects and a lot of them, if not all, would not have reached their fullest potential without him.

Another is Jon Meharg, he is now studying poetry in Scotland. His appreciation for the world around him is something I aspire to accomplish. He is a brilliant writer and director as well. Often laying aside any creative ambition to care for those around him. He is a kind soul that without prompting will give you all that he has to uplift you. I’m sure beyond the shadow of a doubt he will go on to be a notable poet and writer in our lifetime.

Another is Julie Moore, a professor of mine who read one of my poems for a class and marked it up. absolutely tore it to shreds, similar to the movie “Finding Forrester.” She read it and saw its potential and helped me workshop it and did not stop there she then took it to a Journal on our campus and got it published. There is a gratitude I cannot express to her, she did not give me worth (that which is inherent in all of us) she showed me my worth without any reason or prompting except that was her desire as a teacher and professor, to show every soul she encountered their inherent worth.

I am definitely leaving out a lot of people, but I am forever grateful for the love and care people have met me with and I am nothing without them.

Website: https://www.emmanuel-terrell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmanuelmoterrell/