There was about eight of us and we would go to Patisserie Valerie on Old Compton Street every morning to talk about politics, art, plotting the downfall of Western society or whatever we were doing at the time. It was also very political at the time and we were all into leftie magazines. Basically you’re at college doing anything you want. It was a foundation course that I did there, but it really shaped me. It was just an exciting time because it was very experimental. So in the end, I ended up at Saint Martins. No parent wants their kid to be an artist it’s not the greatest way to make a living, but there really was no stopping me. Going to the beach, I would be sitting there with my uncle and drawing him. And I got a little Brownie camera, and was taking snaps.
I was always drawing at home, cutting pictures out of magazines and making a big pin board in my room. She was also a bit of a painter and I used to go to these classes in Hampstead with her at night and paint. My mom was always interested in art, so we went to museums a lot when I was a kid we visited France and looked at the churches and art there too.
It was very artsy, and that really shaped my trajectory and life. I grew up in North London and went to a kind of a hippie school from the age of 4 to 17. “NO PARENT WANTS THEIR KID TO BE AN ARTIST IT’S NOT THE GREATEST WAY TO MAKE A LIVING, BUT THERE REALLY WAS NO STOPPING ME.”Ĭan you tell me a bit about your upbringing and how that affected you as an artist? Flipping through her four published volumes of work, Rap, Portraits & Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers, Made In The UK: The Music of Attitude 1977-1983, The Breaks, Stylin’ and Profilin’ 1982-1990 and El Hoyo Maravilla, Beckman contemplates her earliest artistic influences, the changing face of photography, and creativity on both sides of the pond. Nowadays she may be photographing her subjects on a Fuji XT1 digital camera instead of her trusted Hasselblad, but her images have the same subversive edge as ever. Slouched back in a chair, her two cats freely prancing around the open loft space, she recounts each experience with the same enthusiasm and excitement as if it had just happened yesterday.
With her wildly curled raven-coloured locks, friendly smile and relaxed attitude, the photographer immediately makes one feel comfortable in her presence. Meeting Beckman at her Lower East Side studio on a hot summer’s day, it’s easy to see how she manages to capture her subjects in such a natural and laid-back manner.
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