INTERVIEW WITH BREONCA TROFORT
What is your full name?:
Breonca Alyssa Trofort...don't tell no one my middle name...
Oh this is going to end up on the transcript!:
I know...(laughs)
Tell me about your home town:
I’m originally from Miami Florida. It’s very different compared to Richmond, Virginia. It’s not as slow passed. It’s hottie populated and very diverse, like the VCU community. We have a lot of Hispanics, Carribeans...The weather is beautiful! It doesn’t get cold, so thats what I like, its always nice and hot! Sometimes humid when it rains, but other than thats its always beautiful. We have the beach which is 45 minutes to an hour away, which everyone thinks I live on, but I actually don't live on the beach. It’s actually a nice place to go and relax.
So what was your family at home like?:
My family is very very close at home. I have a twin sister who also goes to VCU with me. Most of my Dad’s family lives in Miami, he’s one of seven children. My mom is one of eleven, all of her family is in the Bahamas where she is originally from.
Have you ever been to the Bahamas?:
Yes I go every year with family for Christmas.
What is that like?:
It’s amazing! It’s really relaxing! It’s a beautiful island and its just great to be around other cultures, so it’s beautiful.
How did you end up in Virginia?:
I was going to go to an all art school in DC which I had a scholarship to, but I figured after doing a lot of research I found out that VCU is the number one public university for school of the arts, and I wanted to get a real college experience, and I felt that I could get that as well as a great art education here. So I came to VCU.
Had you ever been to Virginia before coming to VCU?:
No, the farthest north I’d been was Georgia. So when I came up here it was a big surprise because I saw brick buildings for the first time, cuz we don't have that in Miami, so I was like “Oh my gosh, brick buildings!” I fell in love with the brick buildings. (laughs)
What is the biggest difference between Virginia and Florida?:
The weather, definitely! My first time seeing snow was my freshman year here, and I thought it was beautiful until I went outside... I was very upset and I wanted to see the heat again! (laughs)
How did you become interested in photography?:
Growing up I always did drawing, painting, and my cousin would make videos of me and my sister, like little movies, and then I asked him how to use a camera. Ever since then I have video cameras and random cameras. I was in a magnet art program in middle school for painting and drawing and in high school for painting and drawing but i branched off into photography, and have just been continuing in it ever since.
What were your photographs like in high school?:
I took a lot of pictures of children. A lot of sad children, but they weren’t really sad I just portrayed them that way. A lot of different... Different places, different locations, like the Bahamas and abandoned buildings. Different things like that.
How has your work changed?:
Um, over time my work has become some what more commercial. I shoot very, very often in the studio now, I never used to do that. I’ve just been exploring advertising photography and commercial photography, but now I’m challenging myself to create more conceptual work that had more deeper meaning behind beautiful images. (laughs)
What do you hope to do after school?:
I want to be a photographer after school. I don’t know... Hopefully I will be an advertising photographer and see my pictures on billboards some day.
What community are you interviewing for this class?:
I’m interviewing families that have suffered with missing children or lost loved ones.
How did you pick that topic?:
Um...Ooh... I picked that topic because of an experience my family and friends are facing back home in Miami where my god-sister is missing.
How long has she been missing for?:
A year now.
Is she back in Miami?:
No she’s in...she was in South Carolina last time they saw her, so...
How is your family dealing with that?:
Um... It’s more of my parents are trying not to include me and my sister in the conversations about it because we’re very sensitive, so... They keep us updated but they try not to go in depth about the different things they are finding or haven't found. So its usually just what we research and find out from her sisters and cousins and everything
So you do research on your own about your cousin?:
Yes.
What is that like?:
It’s depressing, it’s very depressing. It really has a damper on my mood somedays so I try...not to talk about it or I try not to read up about it because it gets me upset or depressed an I don’t want to go to class...different things like that.
What kinds of things have you found for your project?:
I found an organization where a families' daughter was missing and they found her murdered. Her family decided to open up an organization that is a support system for different families that are facing similar circumstances.
Have you spoken to any of those families?:
Yes, I’ve gotten in contact with them. Via telephone and via email I told them my story. So I’m meeting with them on the 13th for their walk that they do every year, which is an annual walk for families that are suffering through the same thing to raise awareness about the issue.
So is this class what you expected when you started taking it?:
No, it isn’t at all! (laughs) I don’t even know what I expected..I actually thought we were going to be walking around taking pictures of random people and trying to make it something, don’t know... It’s not what I expected but it’s better than what I expected actually.
How is it better?:
I feel like we are able to challenge ourselves and we’re able to do individual projects that based on the community that we choose; That we’re able to learn and grow more as artists rather than to being told “you have to focus on this community and portray it this way.” I think it allows us to create our own voice.
Do you feel like it is helping you to deepen your conceptual art?:
Definitely, it really really is. It’s helping me to learn how to create visual images that depict a story, which I haven’t really done quite often.
What do you do outside of school?:
Photography! (laughs) I really do photography like 24/7. I’m also part of a poetry team at VCU. It’s a slam poetry team. We actually went to a national competition last year; We’re tenth out of 72 universities in the united states. So I so poetry very often aside from photography or drawing.
Is that Slam Nahuatl?:
Yes.
What is that like?:
It’s amazing! It’s an amazing group of artists! Surprisingly we have weekly..biweekly events and we’ve had a great turn out, a great audience, and a lot of freshmen that are interested. It’s really nice seeing young people that are interested in poetry, interested in writing, and wanting to voice their stories. It’s just a great experience, a great way for me to express my feelings with out using photography. It’s just a great way to get to know somebody on a deeper level.
Have you ever had your art be displayed before?:
My art? Yes. My art is actually currently in an exhibition in Linden Row. It was for “The New Emerging Faces Of Richmond”.
What kind of things did you have on display?:
It was my athlete portraits that I’ve done. More commercial images.
[Jessica] Why are you guys sitting out here?
Cuz we’re doing our interview?
[Jessica] What?
Our interview for the class. (laughs) Is that gonna be in the transcript?
(laughs) Maybe, we’ll decide! I’ll figure that out... How long is your exhibit going to be up?:
Until December, so the entire semester
Is that the first time your work has been on display?:
Um... I think it’s my first big time in Richmond. The first time it was displayed was in Miami at, um... I forgot what exhibit it was, it was in high school. Can’t remember the exhibit. It was a picture of my cousin.
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