August 26, 2022

Photo: Charlie Fine

FANNING OUT WITH GEORGE ANNAN

George Annan (Kool Aid George) is a working photographer from Worcester, Massachusetts. He does a lot of commission ad work for brands like Puma and Converse and we’re both from the outskirts of cities so I relate to the images he captures while wandering around lesser known areas. You’ll see all of this on his Instagram page. We have a mutual respect and tend to fan out on each other whenever we talk. He has always been a really inspiring and positive personality to me - a type of positivity that isn’t naive or destructive. I want to shoot underground wrestling the same way I would shoot a Vogue cover. I’m under the impression that anyone could learn a lot from him.

George took the train from Worcester to Boston, when I was there in 2020 and we drove around looking for Spongebob popsicles. Photo: Casey Doran

INTRODUCTION

Your family came from Ghana to Worcester, MA?

They came over to the states around the eighties. At first, they were living in Houston. They came to Worcester because we already had a lot of family friends and a close knit community here. Worcester has one of the largest Ghanaian communities in the states. As soon as my family realized we had a lot of community over in Worcester, it made the transition from Houston that much easier. They moved here before they had me. It was wild growing up where it’s all my family, mom and dad’s side. They had so many friends and mutuals already based here. It was fun having so many kids close in age being all semi-connected through different families all coming from the same community in Ghana.

You had bills to pay but you bought a Yashica T5 for $400 anyways. Is that a camera you use now?

Yeah! The exact same one. I remember when I bought it from my homie, I only had like $500-$600 in my account. At that time, I was super big into Tumblr and everything so I felt like every cool photographer in or around our age group always had a T5 at some point so I thought, I wanna feel like the cool “it” photographer. I went to the closest ATM. That $400, he didn’t really need it. He had access to any camera good that he wanted so I think he just saw my happiness and joy and was just like, “yo, take it.” That was my primary for the longest. I wanna say it was up until 2018 that I started shooting more manual cameras and dabbling into medium format. For a good chunk of my early work, it was solely that or whatever disposable I could get my hands on. The manual is fun but the point and shoots feel so much more instinctual. I’m not hesitating. I’m just shooting freely. It’s the best type of camera.

I guess we were all like this. We would be the person in the family to shoot the family events. Do you have a funny family photo job you can think of?

I remember I had to do a birthday. My aunt turned fifty and she had me take photos for it and it was even before I had a digital camera so I think I pulled up with three of the Fuji disposable cameras. When I sent the photos, I don’t think she liked it. At the time, that’s all I was shooting, so I didn’t know any better. I think she went in expecting one thing and when I sent the Google Drive, she was like, “oh… these are nice photos…” I know she didn’t want to hurt my feelings back then.

That’s funny because when I was thinking about asking you that - A while ago, I did the same thing for my aunt with a disposable and my finger was in half of them.

That would happen to me all the time! I think about 40% of the birthday photos had either my finger in it or another relative would take a photo and it would cover like 3/4 of the frame. They would always bring up stories about me not wanting to take photos as a kid. I would have the biggest temper tantrum when we would go to take big family photos. “I don’t like photos! Cameras are dumb!” 10+ years later, this is what I do as an occupation.

Funniest or most tragic busboy story?

The most out of pocket would just be - I didn’t realize how much drug use was in the restaurant industry. That was my first ever job so I didn’t know anything about it. Being offered drugs from random 30-40 year olds, I was like, “I don’t know who you are. I don’t do this.” As I got older, I realized they needed this to do the job. A lot of coke and other stuff. “What do you mean you don’t have energy to work this twelve hour shift"?” That was me just being dumb and eighteen, not knowing any better.

Just that and creepy managers trying to hit on the waitresses and the hostesses. I used to work as a fry cook and that was awkward. One day, it was Mother’s Day. There were two combos of mother and daughter that worked the same shift as me that day. The manager had the day off and when we confronted him, he said he had to be with his wife because it was Mother’s Day. It felt mad uncomfortable. We have these two pairs of mothers/daughters working Mother’s Day and you’d think they would have it off but the manager, who’s a male, gets to take it off. There was super hostile tension as I was doing breakfast duties.

Photo: George Annan

Photo: George Annan

Photo: George Annan

ART-RELATED

I loved the Serving The People piece. It reminded me how much I enjoy shooting in the outskirts of cities and random nowhere towns. You also like doing this?

It always feels cool any time I get to do stuff in my hometown. I feel like it’s more impressive for people to highlight and make their hometown look cool rather than going to the big cities. The big cities are cool in their own right but it feels more impressive to (document) a random part of town that people outside your general community don’t really know about.

When I first saw your work, it gave me so much excitement. All I really knew about Georgia was Savannah and Atlanta. When you started tagging the smaller rural areas and just hidden gems, it got me so excited. I think that’s what pushed me to make some of those earlier works from the STP page. I would see you just go anywhere - random spots - and I went, “yo! I’m going to do the same thing in Massachusetts.”

How have you tried to consciously progress as an artist?

I feel like, now when I’m on set for gigs, I always have epiphany moments where I feel good about stuff I’m doing even if it’s ad work or commercial work. I get goosebumps because I feel like I had such a late start to art in general, and photos, where I haven’t had moments where I felt jaded. I’m always like, “I can’t believe people want to give me money to take photos.” It feels more recent being a busboy or applying to be a janitor and getting rejected from janitor jobs. Anytime I have a gig where they give me assistance or I’m working with a big production team, I’m always in awe because that’s all new experiences for me.

I feel like you helped me learn more about my artwork in practice just from the stuff that you do. I’ve never been to Georgia but when you post stuff, it makes me want to uplift my hometown and make stuff that’s as cool. Even now, I’m trying to be in the process of moving to a bigger city and I’m looking at all that and it’s mad cool seeing homies lift their hometown. The summer of 2022 has been a super cool transformation with growing pains and me learning about life and myself along the way.

Art can help you do that. That’s the whole thing. People have this obsession with only wanting to work within the city. They think it’s lame to go outside of it. I know the outskirts can be stifling and scary for so many reasons so I can definitely understand people not wanting to leave the city and that’s fine.

I feel like even outskirts stuff - I never want to be someone that doesn’t acknowledge the past or upbringings. I’m from Worcester, Massachusetts. That’s my home, that’s where I’m from. Worcester is never going to be out of me even if I do move. I hope if people see the ad work, they still see nuances of joy and enthusiasm, and it doesn’t feel sterile and they can’t believe someone from a smaller city town is doing this type of stuff. I hope people feel the passion and energy, like “he cares.”

You did some sort of vaccine initiative?

I had a friend work at the Worcester Human Health & Services. We were always having random convos about life and what I was working on in general. I remember she pitched the idea to me. Even though I like doing brand stuff like Converse and other stuff, I never wanted to feel like I’m boxed into only that realm. I very much see myself as a person who can shoot a vast array of things. I want to do like, The New York Times and Vogue, and Time Magazine. I looked at this, like, I’m getting to do stuff in my home town, so if I can make this look cool, I hope people will see my artwork in a different type of light. I had a good family friend pass away from Covid so I was even more inclined to work on this project more than anything else.

They gave us full autonomy to make the project into our own and it was cool because we were shooting all brown and black kids and we were shooting in areas that aren’t predominantly shown in Worcester commercial stuff. The people we were photographing, I was like, any place in Worcester that’s your safe space- it doesn’t matter where it is in the city, nothing is off limits. I want to photograph you in your natural element. All different types of walks of people were really happy we did this. “I never saw this area of Worcester in this type of light before.” That was the most gratifying feeling. I’m making stuff in my hometown but also, you don’t usually see this from the City of Worcester type campaigns.

I know everyone asks you about the Converse thing, so maybe we can twist it. I always hear people saying they think some of these job offer emails or calls from some notable people or companies are spam or a prank so they ignore them just to find out later it was an authentic offer.

It was the height of pandemic, lock down. I was doing a lot of soul searching because I’ve never been in a pandemic before so I don’t know how to operate in it. They sent that email early May of 2020. I thought it was spam or a cruel type of joke because to my knowledge nobody is doing photo jobs. I didn’t think any commercial work or anything in that nature was even in the pipelines. I think I spent a good day and a half not looking at it. I was getting close to deleting it. It was 2:30AM and I was like, “I’m just going to open it.” “Oh shit, it’s a real email.” I remember jumping up and down in my room, just dancing. “Wait, I can’t even respond. It’s 3AM. I’ll look like a lunatic.” I had to force myself to go to sleep. Everyone was doing the virtual shoots on Zoom and I’m like, “what am I going to do for a Converse shoot?”

I wonder how many people have missed work because they thought the emails were fake. So, what was the “Converse thing” specifically?

So, the very first Converse shoot was Create At Home where they were getting artists from all over to document their living space and what they’re doing to combat the pandemic from physical. and mental aspects. I got to shoot in my childhood house which was amazing and a dream come true.

I think that whole time, it felt so pure. I wasn’t reading the full contracts and emails. “I’m shooting for Converse. I’m mad happy.” I didn’t really understand the full magnitude of everything. Even if it was just stuff that went on a blog, I would have been super grateful. For those photos to be on i-D and other magazines and to be in stores all over the globe, I was beyond myself. I didn’t have those kind of expectations for myself. For them to still work with me up until this point, I’m always grateful.

Kool Aid in the wild sporting the Converse. Photo on wall: Dalena Le

George on the Converse site, 2020.

HYPOTHETICALS & other

Let’s talk about those keys to the city.

So, even with that, I had no clue I was supposed to get a key to the city when it first happened. I had a friend who was doing an initiation for the key. He called me from his personal cell number and we were just having regular small talk. The day I got it, I knew two other people who got it who are more notable figures in Worcester as far as culture is concerned, Joyner Lucas and Frank the Butcher. So, they’re older and more established figures so it made sense why they were getting the keys. I never saw myself as someone who would get a key for anything. I didn’t even know that was still a thing at the time. So, when they called me, I remember just being speechless for like five to ten minutes. I was in shock. That’s not something I would seek out while making artwork. For the city to see all the stuff I’m doing and appreciate it, it felt super gratifying. The keys - that was the first moment where my parents were like, “oh, he’s actually an artist. That’s what he’s going to do for the rest of his life.”

You know how people talk about “toxic positivity”? I don’t see that in you. Everyone says you have a good vibe. I think people can learn a lot from you and it’s something to be inspired by.

Man… I’ve been trying, you know? I feel like photos have gotten me out of so much trouble. It’s just been my release of coping with life. I generally like talking to all different types of people so usually if I meet somebody, I’ll be smiling and shit. If I’m just by myself at the crib, I’ll get mad restless and bored. Every time I talk to people, I’ll be mad hyped, especially if it’s about art stuff because I still feel childhood joy like if you were a kid and you were stoked on something.

I’m still learning. When I’m talking to people, people will tell me stuff I’m not even conscious of. Sometimes I’ll talk to people just so they can tell me stuff about myself. So, maybe I can try this or maybe I should hold back on doing this. Even artwork, I always try to get feedback from people whether it’s my friends or people outside my friend group. I’m always curious about what they think.

I like honesty especially if people are able to give feedback on it. Sometimes you’ll show somebody something and they’ll be like, “ah this sucks.” I don’t even care that you say this sucks. I just wanna know why you think that. Or, if people just tell me my shits fire, I wanna know why it’s fire. I want to be able to make tweaks and improvements and experiment. I get fixated on bad reception. Sometimes I’ll have a sports element to artwork. I’m not necessarily competing against other artists but I’m competing against my brain and my thoughts. So, if somebody hits me with something mad out of pocket, sometimes I’ll get so fixated on that where I’m thinking how I can prove them wrong or prove myself wrong.

I feel like when people see me happy-go-lucky all the time, they think I’m playing with house money, like I don’t have a reason to feel bad or resentful, especially from past upbringings, whether it’s from personal loss with friends or family passing away. I feel like I’m playing the lottery the way all the photo stuff has been coming out. So, it’s like, I don’t have any reason to project bad energy.

How would you respond if you were on the train and someone came up to you asking if you wanted to do a door-to-door Paypal scam?

Honestly, sometimes I’m on the train and I have headphones in so I might not even acknowledge the person or I just tell them I have headphones in, “not now.”

So they probably couldn’t even get to the point of asking about that door-to-door scam?

Nah, sometimes I’ll do something like, “my grandma’s calling me. My bad, bro, I can’t talk. My mom’s on the phone.” I would do one of those just to avoid conversation, especially if it’s strangers.

You had to take a minute earlier because your house phone was ringing. What would you do if your homie Casket told you it was inappropriate that you had a house phone?

Honestly, he’d probably flame me right now for having a house phone. I would just tell him to fuck off. I guarantee if he saw me on the house phone, all my homies back home in the group chat would be roasting me right now. Like, “come on bro, you still on the house phone in 2022?”

This legend has f—-ing keys to the city in Worcester.

What’s your favorite way to express laughter on text?

CONCLUSION

Being hyped on your friends accomplishments versus being jealous of them. I feel like you’re really big into being hyped for the team. I always appreciate this.

If I see my friends doing something, especially if I call them my friends, why wouldn’t I be hyped and stoked on what my friends are doing? Whether or not if I see them all the time, the people I’ve formed bonds and connections with, it’s always good to see people you respect and like do something that they like doing. I think with the jealously, I try to channel it in a friendly way. If I see my friends do something cool, my instinct now is to be like, I’m mad happy for them. How can I do something either similar or something that makes me feel that type of joy that my friends felt doing that project? I never want to hate on my homies because especially in 2022, there’s so many opportunities for people to get their work seen and get a bag off art. I always tell myself as long as I work on stuff that’s fulfilling to me with good intentions, I know I’ll reap some of those benefits too. You want to grow side by side with your friends and watch each other all grow and progress.

You wouldn’t be authentic friends with somebody if you got mad every time they did something cool. That’s not the way it works. I feel like a lot of people do this and it’s corny.

It’s so corny. It’s almost like they’re projecting. Instead of being secure in their abilities and what they’re capable of, it’s almost like a form of projection. I take pity on people that feel that way about their friends especially people that support you and share secrets with you and bond with you. Even if I was hating on a stranger, what good would that do me? If I really felt a type of way about a photographer doing this type of job, what I should do is work on myself, take better pictures and work on different perspectives so I can get to that point. I feel like all that energy gets misplaced. I can feel some type of way but why would I project that onto the person? If I can redirect all that misguided hate and tension into my own art, I feel like everybody wins.

Is there anything that you’re uncomfortable capturing?

I can’t photograph homeless. I started off with street photography, portraits came way later in my photo journey. My first entry into photography was walking around different neighborhoods, whether it’s Worcester or going out to Boston, floating aimlessly just taking pictures. At the time, I would have a group of friends and they would take pictures of homeless people or the less fortunate but it was in a stealth way. I remember seeing it and remembering how it made me feel. I just feel like it was exploitation. I can’t personally photograph a homeless person. It doesn’t make me feel right. It made me feel like I was surveillance, like big brother, like I have authority over you. It’s not my thing. If I see it, nine times out of ten, I always feel uncomfortable.

That’s a good example because I think that’s a sorry ass way to practice street photography. Especially doing it “stealth” because they have no consent to that.

I think almost anything else I could see myself photographing. I feel like the moment just has to present itself. Especially if it’s people, as long as all parties are consenting, that’s my rule of thumb. If I feel like I gotta do weird shit, my heart is not in it.

Sometimes overthinking ramps up and that can destroy shit. Sometimes it helps.

I try to remove any rigidness in making work. The older people get, the more they feel like, “you know better. Don’t do this.” I’m trying to have that element of fearlessness and as long as it feels good to my gut, I’m going to do it. You know how first graders have this “the world is your oyster” and as long as they can think it, they can do it? I want to have that element but enough common sense to not get myself or anybody hurt, arrested, or offend a certain group. If it’s a hate group and it offends them, word. As long as it’s not hurting good groups of people, I want to have that type of openness… I like the way you challenge all those structures of social construct. It feels like psychology.

This could be a funny question to end it on. So, you don’t fuck with that Kool Aid anymore?

Alright, hear me out, hear me out. I don’t drink it every day but I’ve had Kool Aid a couple times this summer because it’s been so hot. Now I’m fucking with water with fresh cut fruit into it. That shit is mad refreshing.