Meet Kennady Schneider

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kennady Schneider.

Kennady, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started gymnastics when I was less than a year old. It became work–my job if you will. It was my duty so much so that it lead me to become a Divison 1 scholarship athlete at the University of Arizona by the time I was 17 years old. It dictated who I am today, and it made me compromise much of who I was in order to be a true and fierce competitor.

One thing that it couldn’t take away from me was my camera. I got my first camera when I was ten years old, and I knew from that moment I was going to be an artist. I went from taking pictures of flowers to taking pictures of my family, and eventually to making photographs that criticize the world around me.

I used my camera to cope with the harsh realities of being the only Black gymnast on my team for a majority of my career. I used my lens to photograph, video, and perform acts inflicted onto me through institutionalized racism and the institution of the sports industry.

I used my artistic ability to say something that I felt like couldn’t physically say in person. I used my passion to bring out a part of me that would have been otherwise stumped by the conformity required by a sport where whiteness has traditionally been the ideal.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think that being an artist is never a smooth road. There is never a straight path that someone can draw out for you, and there aren’t steps that you can ever follow in. That’s because it’s unconventional, and it’s driven by passion. For me, I am so connected to what I am trying to say with my art that it is an emotionally draining process for me.

Everything I do, I do it because I feel like it is a service to my community. I have a voice. I have a Black voice… and I have to use it–even if it’s hard at times. My artwork has also lead to a lot of self-discovery that has been instrumental to me as a Black woman. I grew up with a single white mom in a white neighborhood. I identified as a white girl because I had no strong Black influences in my young life.

But the world doesn’t see me as mixed race–it sees me as Black. By examining the microaggresssions that I could not articulate clearly through words, I was able to understand my role as a Black being on this earth; I was able to come to the fact that I cannot go a day without trying to make this world a little bit better (and if not better, at least I can criticize and analyze what was happening around me).

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am currently a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts major with an emphasis in photography at the University of Arizona. I work in all lens-based mediums–including video. My work mainly speaks about the Black experience and the Black Body in the sports industry.

Other strains of my work take a satirical approach to contemporary Black stereotypes. I photograph people who take on “roles” that I give them; often speaking to historical tropes that encompass Minstrelsy and Blackface. Some examples of these characterizations include the “Mammy,” the “Babymama,” and the “Gangster.”

I have a very directorial approach when I’m creating new work; I plan everything from location, to nail polish color. I never want my subjects to feel out of place or uncomfortable, so I choreograph them like I’m a sports coach or dance teacher.

Contact Info:

• Website: kennadyschneider.com
• Email: kennadyschneider@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kennschneider/

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