Check out Amani Arrington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amani Arrington.

Amani, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My story begins with seeing models, including my beautiful mother, as a child and realizing how much power the held inside not only with their beauty but with their demure and the influence they held. I progressively wanted to begin modeling growing up but my grandmother, who I lived with after the passing of my mother, did not allow it. I remember watching Diana Ross as an inspiring model in Mahogany, and realized how similar our body structure was as well as our hair lol. Growing up thin I always was questioned if I was at a healthy weight and received comments of how boney I was, naturally, which consistently made me self conscious. Seeing Diana Ross in Mahogany was the turning point of my life where I knew I wanted to be a model and feel a confident and free as she did. Beginning college, I started walking in fashion shows for my school, the University of Arizona and began doing photo shoots to increase my experience and knowledge of the fashion industry. Eventually, I began walking for designers in my area, networking and building relationships for the future. This experience and practice led to me walking in Tucson Fashion Week, winning an award for best in runway in Tucson Model Magazine’s competition, as well as walking in the first Arizona Fashion Week this past fall. I hope to increase my knowledge and relationships as I go on to more significant opportunities, hopefully soon auditioning for opportunities in bigger cities such as LA and New York. Modeling is my life, and if I don’t try, then I never will know what was meant to be.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My Art is modeling. I love creating a feeling inside those who look at my photos as well as creating a narrative. Fashion and modeling hold a lifelong place in my heart, mainly due to my mother’s influence on my decisions in fashion and makeup choices. She always had a positive view of things and would push me to do things I might’ve been afraid to do. Now, being without her, I constantly remind myself of what my mother would say about the situation. Modeling creates confidence I have not experienced in any other domain, and I understand being the child looking at models and becoming more confident knowing I could be like them. Especially for African American girls, it is necessary to have women to look up to those who look like us and not only those with features we could never have because of our ethnicity. My artwork is a representation of confidence everyone is able to possess even if they’ve been consistently self-conscious for most of their life.

Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
The biggest challenge today facing artists I believe is putting yourself out there as a professional model due to social media bringing about so many “Instagram models” who don’t take the industry as serious as one who wants to be involved in high fashion. Another challenge I believe is constantly comparing yourself to other models due to so much access on social media, which can lower one’s self-esteem and make one prefer not to attempt trying due to the fear of failing and being compared to other beautiful models.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your work?
People can see my work on Instagram under @amani.arrington. A website is soon to come, and I will have a link on my Instagram page when it comes about. People can support my work by spreading the word of me as a model to collaborate with as well as liking my posts.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 5203432523
• Email: amaniarrington@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amani_arrington/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009348548249
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/luvlie1_247

Image Credit:
Instagram:
-polo.gibson
-civitatestres
-bunnievision
-seanloui
-ohyeahitsidy

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