Story by Kelundra Smith | Photos by Imani Khayyam
August 26, 2021
Walking through the streets of Haiti in 2018, Imani Khayyam couldn’t resist the urge to capture images of the colorful houses, majestic beaches, and resilient people. He was in the country to celebrate a friend’s birthday, but on their last day in town, he brought out his camera to take pictures of the landscape and the people who had been through so much in the years following a devastating earthquake and increasingly destructive hurricanes. He saw endless palm trees, children bathing outdoors, and men zooming by on motorbikes, but he said he was most struck by their strength and tenacity.
“I love Haiti,” Khayyam said. “People don’t understand how beautiful that place is. It humbles you.”
Though he was more than 1,400 miles from his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, the spirit of the Haitian people felt close to home. It reminded him of the way people in Mississippi’s capital, which is about 80% Black, have also found joy in turbulent circumstances. Their pride conjured images for him of African masks, busts of Cleopatra, and drums he was surrounded by on visits to his grandfather’s house as a child. In Jackson and in Port-au-Prince, Khayyam wants to take pictures of Black people as they are rarely seen: simply being.
Khayyam, 32, came to photography while studying computer science at Austin Community College in Texas. He saw some students setting up for a photo shoot on campus and thought, “I want to do that.” His parents were skeptical at first, but his father recently gave him a copy of Time magazine’s “The Most Influential Images of All Time,” and now they are his biggest fans.
Imani Khayyam photographed Tevin Demitri in Jackson, Mississippi. He is “an old soul,” Khayyam says,“and I wanted these images to let that shine through.”
The journey to photography has been a winding one. He purchased his first camera — a Canon 40D — and moved back to Mississippi to study art at Tougaloo College. His professors at Tougaloo were incredibly supportive, he recalled, and one even funded his first art show. Still, Khayyam had his eyes set on fashion photography.
“Fashion has always been an influence in my life,” Khayyam said. “My mom always made sure I looked nice, and she had style. I love seeing Black people, how confident we look, whether it’s in a vintage outfit or something designer. We make the clothes. That’s why big fashion brands have to have us.”
Khayyam shared his dream of being a photographer with an uncle, who introduced him to Will Sterling, now an Atlanta-based fashion and lifestyle photographer who is from Mississippi. Sterling mentored Khayyam and taught him everything — from how to operate a camera to the business of being a freelance artist. It was under Sterling’s tutelage that Khayyam also started to find his voice as a photographer.
He started with friends and local artists, entrepreneurs and models, depicting the urban South — offering a contrast with people’s stereotypes of Mississippi as a place devoid of culture. He’s been collaborating with Destiney Williams, a friend, fellow artist, and model, for four years. Using Jackson’s landscape as their playground, they’ve helped each other build their artistic portfolios and imaginations.
“He’s able to make someone who has never been in front of a lens before open up and comfortably be themselves,” Williams said. “He’s able to capture that essence of every part of what makes someone them.
Khayyam is especially interested in showing a contrast between people and their environments. Sometimes it’s women wearing couture in a junkyard; other times it’s rapper Drake in a Jackson nightclub.
“I’m always trying to get what’s inside of you and let that speak,” Khayyam said. “It’s not about the clothes. You can have on the dopest outfit, but it has to have some kind of soul. I’m looking for some kind of emotion. That’s what I like about film.”
Nowadays, Khayyam is mostly shooting on film with a Mamiya RZ67. He said he likes the clarity and accuracy of film photography. In some ways, it’s a throwback to the glory days of ’90s hip-hop and R&B that inspire him, as well as the artists whose work he admires, such as Eudora Welty, Jamel Shabazz, and Hype Williams.
Glamour comes easily to twins Te’Mira and Te’Miya Ruffin in this photo shoot in Jackson. Through these images, Khayyam explores the unique bond that twin sisters share.
Khayyam is the photographer for the city of Jackson, and his photos have appeared in the Jackson Free Press, The New York Times, and The Bitter Southerner, where he photographed Emmy-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis in her hometown of McComb, Mississippi. As an environmental photographer, after almost a year of staying inside, Khayyam said the shoot was the highlight of 2020. Ellis enjoyed the journey as well.
“There is a sense in great photography that the person behind the lens has lost something to bring us the photo: a limb, good graces, their very freedom,” Ellis said. “Imani is this kind of photographer. I was on a cliff-diving, Black Bonnie and Clyde adventure with him with the first click.”
Khayyam photographed Aunjanue Ellis, an award-winning actress and activist, in her hometown of McComb, Mississippi. Working with Khayyam was a “Black Bonnie and Clyde adventure,” she says, from “the first click.”
Khayyam’s photos have a way of capturing a person’s essence. His calm energy and bright smile are like butter and syrup, disarming Southern comforts. The rapport he builds with the people he photographs is easy to see in his photos of another daughter of Mississippi, author Angie Thomas. He took photos of Thomas after the release of her debut novel, The Hate U Give.
“Imani is a joy to work with — one of my favorite photographers for sure,” Thomas said. “I always feel awkward taking pictures, but Imani puts me at such ease and makes it a memorable experience every time. Plus, his photos always go above and beyond my expectations.”
Khayyam hopes photography takes him around the world, especially to Africa. He also wants to see his photos in galleries and museums, but there’s no ego in it. He sees his work as documentation of Black people’s existence during this time, a strident effort for brown skin not to be erased from America’s historical narrative.
“I think my work is geared toward liberating Black people, and it’s that simple,” Khayyam said. “It’s nothing against any other race — I love everyone, seriously. There’s just something so special about us as a people that’s captivating. I don’t like seeing us underserved or undervalued. I want people to see us in a different light. I don’t want people to pity us. I want people to see us, respect us, value us, and appreciate us.”
Kelundra Smith is a theater critic and arts journalist whose mission is to connect people to cultural experiences and each other. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Oxford American, Food & Wine, American Theatre, and elsewhere. She is the co-chair of the American Theatre Critics Association EDI Committee, and she also teaches workshops about addressing cultural identity in cultural criticism at theaters and universities across the country. Follow her on Instagram @anotherpieceofkay for musings on life, art and everything else.
