About me.
Xeland Van Brackle is a native of Queens and still lives and works in New York. They have a BFA in Photography and Imaging from CUNY Queens College. In 2014 they began their journey in photography. Seeing the lens as a way to express themselves they were rarely seen without a camera in their teen years. They pursued every photo class they could in high school, and when they got to college, continued to refine their skills. Darkroom offered them a new way of experiencing photography that invigorated them. The inability to check their work till the film was developed made them much more intentional and careful with the pictures they capture. They have exhibited their work in studios Flushing and Soho.
As I move forward, I find myself stuck, sewn, struggling to detangle myself from the messiness of the past. The tension of past and present, dark and light, perception and truth guide my eye and drive my art. Through the lens of my camera I can distort, reframe, and recontextualize the world around me. My art has always been a way for me to physically work out my experiences and perception of myself. Sewing, gilding, ripping, and fraying my work becomes a meditation on the experiences that drove me there. The tactile nature of my photography, including my focus on visual texture in my prints, invites the viewer into my psyche.
My godmother Kadija had a large back tattoo, it had bled a long time ago and was hardly legible against her dark skin. I remember asking her why she had it, she couldn't see it, she hadn't done upkeep on it, why did she get it done if she can never enjoy it. She needed to know it was there. That stuck with me, and while she's no longer here I still think about it. I need my art to exist, because I need to know that it's there. That it exists, a piece of me made real.