Meet Ola Shabazz Quadri | Creative Director, Photographer, Model, & Quality Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ola Shabazz Quadri and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ola Shabazz, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
Being present in my creativity is a big joy. Endeavoring in many different forms of art allowed me to experience time in differ ways: freezing time with a photo of that’ll eventually become nostalgia, slowing time when sewing a garment and utilizing patience, or feeling time when writing a script/storyboard. Also I love collaborating with different with different artists/creatives, typically a creative bomb goes off and now we got something that wouldn’t had been an idea with just one head.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work is manipulation of something that has already been done, something that the people already knows and relates to. I push or change or break or shift the perspective of that expectation. Its never just one meaning to my work, it’s up for interpretation and an invitation to my mind and what I see. In my visual art, I look at my work as an excerpt or a screenshot from a movie, so if it doesn’t have a certain look I won’t accept it. I believe this make my work standout because of my attention to detail and angles catches the eye at first sight. I studied Engineering in college so i took some of my lessons from there and applied them to my work, I emphasize quality and continuous improvement in everything I do; that is my brand.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Honestly I am a homebody, I don’t go outside much i prefer to stay in the comforts of my home, drink wine, and have creative or insightful conversations. In a case as such, I would take them to cool neighborhoods like Wicker Park, Hyde Park, Bronzeville, and Beverly Hills. Would hit up a few cool night spot for drink and entertainment like Emporium, Punch social, or Federales. For food, got to go to Carbón live grille, Chicago’s chicken and waffles, and my mom’s kitchen, be for real! Probably go to my favorite hide outs can’t disclose that information, the people don’t need to know all of that!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Anyone who truly believe in me and enjoys my craft, because it is a big motivation and reminder that what I got is something special, don’t waste it! Inspiration for my work comes from a lot of movies and Martin Scorsese is a big influence on storytelling in a subtle way without words. God has been doing things in my life that many people would say it’s just luck, no, God has been pulling through so ultimately shoutout there. Without God where would I be. Not but not least my parents, they did well grooming a legend.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/badmon_ola/

Image Credits
Olatunji Quadri Ayo Sama Gracie Hammond