Meet Amira Shady and her ‘unusual’ photography

“I want to be someone, I don’t want to live an ordinary life, it’s kind of boring!”

Born and raised in Italy, photographer Amira Shady is 22 years old and and has always been passionate about art and everything that surrounds her. If you ever get lucky to travel to northern Italy, go to Turin and you will see her walking around the skate park in vintage clothes and with her canon ae1 analog camera in her hands, taking pictures.

She is also a huge fan of the rap scene and she has been writing songs and rapping since the age of 12. Although she went though some difficult issues during her childhood, it helped her developing a strong personality and she is very determinate and open to every experience that life can give her.

“I like to put myself In so many different creative fields and I usually learn fast, and that is what basically identifies me and what I do, so I have to say it,  I’m pretty proud of myself, of who I am now and happy of where all this brought me”.

The name Amira Shady dervies from her being a huge fan of Eminem and also because it was her first and only username she got on Instagram and because it is also part of her surname, so it was kind of meant to be that one.

“When I started sharing interesting contents on Instagram, such as American’s rap covers and pictures I had been taking over the years, people I didn’t know started identifying me as Amira Shady and that gave me the strength to keep doing what I was doing, because that meant I was doing it right, so I just had go ahead and work on it by putting all my efforts and my soul into it with the idea to reach my aims and my dream life”.

She was always obsessed with the idea to buy a reflex camera one day. “At the time, it was like the Facebook profile picture thing , where everyone wanted to have cool and high-quality photos of themselves to post and I was really curious of that object, the way you could capture things and moments that could last, it was like love at first sight.”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford one at the beginning, so she started taking pictures with the only thing she had, her phone. “Then, while looking at pictures around the internet, my attention got captured by some Polaroid photos by Andy Warhol and I straight fell in love with them, so I think that was exactly the moment I realised I wanted to try an instant camera. The colours, the fact that you could take a picture and after few seconds have it in your hands … it’s just so crazy!”

For her 17th birthday she asked one and she got her first Fuji Instax Wide camera, but sadly it was too expensive to handle because of the films.

“One year later while I was walking around a flea market, I saw some film cameras, the analog ones, super low priced so I thought ‘why not?’.  That’s when my ‘Anal Logic’ collection started”.

She decided to use only analog cameras because the resolution of the photo is not comparable to any other types of photos, she said, and also because she likes the idea that she doesn’t need to post product anything. “Digital photography it’s just not for me and my style.”

Warhol was the artist who most inspired her to pursue her photography career. Amira is also very interested in fashion photography and it is becoming her favourite style. Her favourite photographers are Filthy Mouth Creative, Xavier Luggage, Jamie Noise, Carlijn Jacobs and Amber Asaly. “I think their photography is something never seen before, different from others and I think that’s the key that makes you a great photographer.”

Although she grew up in Turin, she does not feel particularly connected to the city’s scene. She did some exhibitions at Rough Dive bar in 2019 and at Bunker, a very popular place in Turin, and at Imbarco Perosino in 2020. “They asked me to, and I basically selected and printed a lot of pictures. It was cool but nothing outstanding you know, but everyone has to start somewhere.”

She said it is quite difficult to be famous as a photographer in Turin, “Milan is the best option In Italy, but I’m planning to travel, and I hope to succeed! Moreover, Italy is beautiful but it’s not too related to my personal taste in photography as we talk about locations, I’d rather be in the USA.”

In one word, she defines her photography style as “unusual”.

Her style has changed over the years. “I’m constantly evolving, I am improving day by day. From everyday life actions I begin to travel with my imagination and it is then I can clearly see in my mind a specific person, in a specific place, dressed in a specific way, doing specific things and the next day all of that is in a picture.”

She’s always planning everything, from the model, to makeup, clothing, location and to the scene. “It’s funny because most of the outfits and makeups are made up with things I personally own and most of the models are friends, or they become friends after the shoot. It is cool because usually most of them are not fashion models, but many times happened that after I took pictures of them, some of them started working professionally, so I’m really proud of it because we grew up together.”

Her favourite picture that she took is the one called “OG”, the “Original Gangsta” from the collection “Anal Logic”, because it represents the aesthetic that she loves the most and the old school lifestyle which represents her in the best way. “I’m so interested and in love with old school rap music and 2pac, the American ghetto history and black people history.”  

In addition to her fashion aspect in her pictures, she said she is always trying to put some things to recall the youth, especially hers, such as alcohol, which is recurrent in her pictures since it is a problem for many teenagers but at the same time express the desire to have fun and don’t think about anything until we can. She also likes to upset the “normality” like doing things considered “weird” in everyday life action to go against some kinds of stereotypes.

She is really willing to achieve her dreams, concerning music or photography. In her free time, she likes to write down rap music in English because she doesn’t really enjoy Italian music and she hopes to be successful in one or both fields someday.

“One thing I know for sure, I want to travel, I want to be someone, I don’t want to live an ordinary life, it’s kind of boring, I would like to move constantly, and I don’t want to be stuck here. As I said, I would like to be in the USA, visit it all. I know there are many messed up political things, but every country has its own pros and cons”.

She is dreaming of be wherever she wants artistically, and she is interested in expressing herself and finding the right audience for her “unusual” work and she is working to make that happen.

“In 10 years, I want to see myself there. Devotion to passion. Follow your dreams if you really want to. Stay focused”.

Photos courtesy of Amira Shady.