I recently got a chance to make a personal tour of Azani Charles’s Solo Hip-Hop Photography show at Toronto’s City Center Airport. The performance of Charles is the result of a lifetime passion that has turned into a large-scale individual and professional adventure: Project T-Dot. I felt that I was going to visit one straight gallery from one of the cannon Canadian ambassadors, but I went completely too much. Due to its popularity, the exhibition has been extended to July 24, 2025.
Charles has been working to become a project T-Dot since 2007. The images of the project cover a vast era of music and cultural upheaval with Toronto as the focus of Charles Vision. In the project T-Dot at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport, 60 large-scale black-and-white vinyl print on three internal walls (especially, all images are shot specially with canon camera and lens),, There are also a printed information panel and banners as a 55-inch touchscreen, which will be updated during the performance period, which will have detailed supplementary information on the untrustwers who define the diverse hip-hop scene of Toronto.
Our comprehensive conversation included dozens of subjects, some of which I want to share today.
Increasing the work of back and forth: find out who is the artist
Charles are constantly looking for new and unique methods, which enhance the painting work related to the back and forth. From Charles’s point of view, the artist’s stage personality is different from the artist’s personality when they do not exit in front of the crowd. As Charles has said, both artists have real and important parts, but they are different-on-stage personality is more performing, big, perhaps greater than life. Charles’s ability to see both parts of the artist is what separates him as one of the best photographers working in this space.
Being able to find and show all different aspects of each artist’s personality, while they lighten the stage are a gift. It is quite difficult to capture that bright moment when artists are transferring the crowd. Being able to find those moments as well where you can see a glimpse of human artist through armor and stage personality, not only the star, actually separates Charles.
I was curious that what Charles felt was a difficult task: capturing live moments or more scripted portraits. Charles explained that he feels more pressure to get a fly-on-the-wall shots because they are fleeting moment-to-one-a kind of thing. For Charles, planned images are motivated for more thinking, giving more opportunity to develop ideas with the subject. The music world is full of great paintings photographers, but Charles creates its style, even his styled paintings look almost clear images. The key is a comfortable subject. Charles said that being around all these stars for almost two decades has helped them to keep each subject easily. By understanding the double personality of the stage artists, Charles can actually exclude different parts of each artist under different circumstances to create unique images.
Charles images raise a story in the atrium of the airport, dominating the welcome lounge. The shape of images makes an audience feel something bigger than a photography show, almost as you are part of the hip-hop movement.
Charles has also established a dynamic multimedia component for his performance. The 55 -inch touchscreen serves as the center of the exhibition. You can scroll and click on each image to learn more about subjects. Of course, images stand on their own, but Charles also see himself as a teacher – a witness. It has always been Charles’s intention to tell the story of Toronto’s hip-hop scene, and multimedia fits the educational component bill.
Given that Charles’ project is a task on T-Dot progress, multimedia board also allows him to add images as he takes them, without the expenses of recovering the walls on a large scale that performs. This ability displays a living, breathing, dynamic cheese rather than a static show.
More than this, Charles also helps to create the community that he is documenting. Tapping on images includes the audience in the life of the subjects of Charles. Not only can you find more pictures, but you can also find information about donations and philanthropic activities in each subject. Therefore, not only is the physical center of multimedia board performance – more information and a source for new images – but it is also heartbreaking to develop the community of Charles and the network within it.
Looking at the way Charles has used multimedia boards has helped me understand the impact of a multimedia exhibition.
Choosing a project and making it your calling card: finding a way
Charles is a huge photographer working with some of the biggest stars in the hip-hop industry. The ongoing results of Project T-Dott have become a calling card for Charles. After working with the hip-hop industry for so long, it has actually made Charles work easier by becoming familiar with luminaries and rising stars. Even if Charles has not met one of his subjects, in the Toronto hip-hop world they know who he is, and his reputation as a competent photographer easily puts everyone’s reputation.
The involvement with the industry for so long has also helped Charles a comprehensive vision of the development of hip-hop music and underlying culture.
This background allows Charles to form a relationship between the seconds between the moments, which helps them to draw a line through the story of Toronto’s hip-hop scene.
Project T-Dot is going to be a book as well as a documentary, which increases the work and vision of Charles. Charles also wants to establish what he is saying to the T-Dot Foundation. The Foundation will oversee the coverage of Toronto’s hip-hop community, as he steps back from a busy program to participate in so many concerts and programs.
Now, in the industry, it was noted that he himself became a name, I was curious how Charles started. Charles proudly shared that he created a lot of his early contacts through cold calls, even discovered a way to come in contact with the Chairman of Sony Music Canada. Of course, before cold calls, Charles worked – he created a portfolio that could stand for investigation – but he was ready to keep himself out of there.
A large part of my career is coming in contact with strangers and then developing personal relationships.
Before leaving Charles, we also talked about his work Project prefrontal cortexAn organization dedicated to reduce violence in Toronto via Mindfulness. Julian Christian Lutz, professionally known as director X, and his long -time friend Danl Adams established the Operation Prefrontal Cortex after being a victim of gun violence. Together, with Lutz and Adams, serves as Charles art director For the organization, which aims to use mindfulness and meditation power to help reduce the incidents of gun violence, collective violence and police violence in Toronto.
All images provided and shot by Ajani Charles.
