I met
Morgana at a school board election event last year. I knew her the way you first get to know
people nowadays which is obviously through social media. We had a mutual friend so I had the
opportunity to introduce myself and let her know I was a fan of her work. When you first meet her, her appearance is
soft. Her skin is fair, with piercing
eyes, a bright smile, and little freckles that were individually placed in
their own perfect location on her face.
It’s disarming to say the least.
But it was in our first conversation regarding our perspectives on
the Dallas art scene that I really get a glimpse into her personality. It was this hilarious down to earth, matter
of fact, no holds barred dialogue laced in a southern accent that would make
all of us born and bred Dallasites proud. You can tell that she has an old soul
just in how she interacts with people. Bottom line is......she is cool as hell. Needless to say our rapport continued when it
came time to sit down and chat for this feature. The self-professed dreamer-creator is someone
who is very proud of where she came from and how she grew up. “I come from a family of strong women and
it’s been an inspiration for me. I’m
very nonconformist and am about action and moves for women of color” she
says. The strength that she derives from
is very indicative in her demeanor. In
the daytime she is the Director of Education for the Dallas Theater Center
housed at the Wiley Theater. When she’s not doing that you may catch her behind
the lens of a camera capturing life. But
that is just the beginning of Ms. Wilborn.
IT: What led you to do what it is
you do now or how did you get started?
MW:
For me I got
into it through my father. He taught me
how to use my first Minolta camera. He
took beautiful pictures and he made me fall in love with it. I was even his little model from time to time
as he would practice his craft. I
studied a bit in high school and took it with me through college. I love capturing people in their truest,
rawest form. My dad always wanted a
studio and when he passed it inspired me to start my own photography
business. I stepped away from it for a bit
because I was focused on the education of my students but a friend encouraged
me to start focusing on my art for myself.
So I began doing less paid work and more personal projects and PhotoNoire was birthed out of that.
What is your opinion of the art
scene here in Dallas?
Ha! We’ve had this conversation
before. For me or at least my experience
there are two sides to it. It’s almost
elitest. There is a group that have
their own crew and own following and you may not be part of that team. Then there is a more organic group of people who
just love to create and that’s the scene that I like to be apart of. I just like a collective of people who are not shy about what they are creating and who are not selfish in sharing
knowledge. I mean we see the same people
plastered everywhere and that’s great because a lot of them have been working
hard for a very long time. But they are
not the only great people out there.
There are some really talented people out there with great work who get
overlooked. I try not to follow the same
stigma of “booty shots” and “hipster headshots”.
My Dad is one definitely in terms
of photography. I love a lot of
photography from the 20s like James Vanderzee.
Just how he photographed black people was royalty. I want anything I do to look half as good as
that. And my number one is Cindy
Sherman. She is my favorite photographer
of all time! She does self-portraits and
hers are really theatrical. I love
her…she’s pretty magical.
What has been your experience
being a female artist positive or negative?
Well from positive perspective I
feel like I can do a lot of work for myself and my friends and other women who
maybe battling with their own body and self-image issues. They’re comfortable with me and my work
knowing that I’m going to represent them well. There are those moments when
people may not take my work seriously as a woman. I’m ok with my photography not being
perfect. A lot of people do a lot of extra
stuff with their work and I just don’t think that is necessary. You just have to create what’s yours and I
refuse to conform.
What inspires me is the fear of
being stagnant. The fear of being
complacent. The fear of not growing or not experiencing. That is what drives me
What gives you the most joy in
doing what you do?
Just the magic of it and the
beautiful things that I see that are unseen.
When I get to do it and it’s like “man that was a beautiful moment” and all
these different photos that I’ve taken in my life have been powerful moments
that stay with me. That brings me joy.
Photo Cred: Emily McCartney
I think for me I’m just bringing my
perspective and my story. Because
everybody has a different story when they create. No artist is the same. But my stories are my own and I’m blessed
that people trust me to capture their stories too. It may not be perfect but I pride myself on
being perfectly imperfect.
Ok, so what’s next?
I have so many ideas. Now that I’m comfortable in my new
position at work I can get back to creating.
I want to do a series of various women I want to work on and I have this
obsession with I-45 I want to work on.You can check out more of Morgana and her work here
Photo Cred: Emily McCartney
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