Christina Kroeker — on Dignity in Creative Spaces
I - Amanda - have gotten to know Christina over the years through weddings, shoots, and now their membership! She’s the loveliest human and will always give you her honest perspective.
She’ll be joining us on a panel for this years Camp Rover Conference but in the meantime here’s Christina’s take on Dignity in Creative Spaces through our little interview with them.
What is the hardest part about what you do?
The hardest part about my work is that it is very heavily client-facing which means that I’m often masking in my day-to-day and as a result, drained emotionally. I’ve discovered that the pressure of being perceived is quite exhausting and simply unavoidable as a business owner. I’ve learned to prioritize my own peace and joy so that I can show up authentically and fully.
What is the all-time dream part of your job? The thing you still pinch yourself that you get to do? And, tell the people how often you actually get to do it.
The satisfaction of producing something from concept to delivery is gratifying, especially when it includes collaborating with others to bring a shared vision to life. I work pretty hard to ensure that this is a priority in my business, even when it’s not possible to achieve in the day-to-day operations. I set aside resources, energy, and time for creative projects that don’t necessarily produce revenue for me, and I can do so because of the things in my business that do produce revenue.
What does dignity in your work look like?
Dignity in my work is wrapped up inside the level of agency my clients have in the telling of their own stories. Such a large part of my job is the telling of other people’s stories, mostly through photographs. I want to make sure that I do so with integrity and with the full and informed consent of the people in those photos.
What are some simple (or hard) things you did to bring more dignity into your creative space?
One more recent implementation in my business is the decision to give my clients full control of how and where their images is are shared. This means that not every client gallery will become part of my portfolio, which in turn may mean that I need to find other ways of keeping my portfolios up to date (like styled, creative or comped photoshoots with the clear intention of producing imagery for marketing purposes).
I don’t want my clients to shy away from being in front of the camera because they feel uncomfortable with their images being public, and so this is a sacrifice I’m willing to make to give them that agency.
If you could give Creatives one piece - one practice - they could add to their work to bring in more dignity to the people they serve what would it be?
Storytelling is an integral part of the creative process; we share our own stories in our work. We also have the privilege of telling other people stories through our work.
I have found it an important practice before beginning a creative project, especially one that includes stories and perspectives outside of my own, to ask myself a few key questions; Whose story is this project telling? If it is not my own, am I the right person to tell this story? Do I have the permission of the individuals in this story to share it? How can I best honour this story and the people in it?
Do you have a project collaboration you want to share with the Camp Rover Community?
My focus lately has been cultivating a community of queer creatives in Winnipeg, through my community group, Haus of Rough Drafts.
