INTERVIEW: In The Clouds With Chelsea B, The Dreamer
Chelsea Ballinger is a Chicago native known for her creative expression through mental health advocacy, photography, and writing.
Storytelling has been one of her favorite things to do since being a kid. She received her BA from Kentucky State University - where I had the pleasure of meeting her. She also obtained her masters from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Since graduating, Ballinger has published nine books and has been published in several different publications. We recently had the opportunity to talk to her about her inspirations, current reads and more. Check out the full interview below:
The Storyteller:
Although she grew up loving and reading books, she says she fell in love with storytelling by watching some of her favorite tv shows like Moesha. She says that growing up in the 90s - a variety of black stories on tv inspired her to want to create stories of her own in a way that honored her culture, people, spirit, and soul, and that is what she has been doing with her work. Surprisingly, Chelsea says she didn’t pick up the camera until covid hit. She wanted to experiment with medium format 35. During this period of creative exploration, Chelsea says she was inspired by the work of St. Louis native Adrian Octavius Walker - the contemporary mixed media artist known for his ‘We Matter’ series that explores the beauty of American black culture. She said that her artistic expression was shaped by the iconic works of notable photographers Gordon Parks and Carrie Mae Weems, also known for capturing black culture in its rawest beautiful form.
The Imagemaker:
Her favorite photography series is Paint Me Some Black Angels, inspired by an old Eartha Kitt song.
Chelsea explores the reality of heaven on earth through the lens of a contemporary black woman yearning to see images of people that look like her depicted as angels in churches. In an interview with off-kilter, she stated the following:
"The only time I’ve ever seen a black person as an angel was on a spray-painted t-shirt and that was because they died. I feel like we are so demonized not just in American culture, but all other cultures—the darker the skin, the more of an outcast you are. So, I just wanted to showcase a Black person as an angel in a very golden-like way. I just wanted to showcase the beauty that we are and I thought angel wings would be the perfect thing to put on because you don’t see Black angels in churches."
Chelsea’s supportive mom is another huge influence in her life. Her mom became an ordained pastor during Chelsea’s adult life, but her faith and unwavering support from her close-knit family have always been at the forefront of her artistic expression.
In her most recent ongoing project, A Love Language: HBCU Edition, Chelsea uses her 35mm camera to explore the beautiful, raw, rich culture of what HOMECOMING means to young black college-educated youth. Beyonce’s HOMECOMING Netflix special was one of the most iconic tributes to HBCU culture I have ever seen, but Chelsea dares to take the exploration of the black college experience a step further by examining the sheer unadulterated black joy of what an HBCU Homecoming means to regular everyday black people. Love Language personifies the candid happiness that is the spiritual experience and family reunion of an HBCU Homecoming. So much of HBCU culture is often depicted in tv and film through shallow stereotypes, but the cultivated HBCU experience is so much more than that. Chelsea describes Love Language as a reminder that we matter, we are here, and we are of excellence.
The Therapist:
Chelesa told me that her fascination with human behavior led her to pursue a career as a therapist. She says she was always intrigued by the “why?” behind some of the things humans did instead of focusing on the actual behavior as we tend to do in modern society, especially in underprivileged black and brown neighborhoods. She explained how the trauma she witnessed from the kids she serviced while working in Chicago’s Public Schools in some of the most impoverished towns propelled her to continue to do the work of providing the world with original stories visually and written showcase blackness in ways that we have never showcased before. Chelsea says there’s no limit to what she wants to accomplish in the world of photography but told me that capturing adoring family portraits of Iman and Teyana Taylor’s gorgeous family would be her dream collaboration. She tells me that one of her main goals with her art is to contribute to a culture that changes the narrative, and she is doing exactly that in both her artistry and professional career as a therapist. Chelsea describes her writing as a necessity to live, photography as her connection to people, and her career as a therapist to serve people.
How do you do to overcome intrusive thoughts of self-doubt?
God, humility, faith, writing letter to self or God
Body movement like bike riding jump rope walk in nature
GOAT CHECK: I asked Chelsea to name some of the greatest creations of all time…
Camera: Mamiya RZ/Pentax 67
Goat Song: Nina Simone “Lie Like Wine”
Rap Song: Rhapsody “Nina Eve”
R&B Song: Leon Bridges “River”
Pop Song: M83 “Too Late”
Gospel song: Yolanda Adam’s open my heart
Country: Maren Morris
Music Video: Ashanti “Rain On Me”
Movie: Parasite
Tv show: The Wire/LoveCraft Country/Insecure/Queen Sugar
