It was always in the moments of confusion and bewilderment that I felt an urge to reach for my camera as a lifeline. The physical barrier it created between me and the world gave me a layer of protection and safety that I’d never been afforded as a Black person in St. Louis. I’d never felt untouchable in my life. Yet when I held a camera I felt like my feet poured into the concrete beneath me and I melted into the city, becoming as much invisible as I was a crucial element of it. From this perspective I could observe - see my environment for the opalescent, baffling, Wonderland of a delusion that it is.
I want to know that my creations through a camera lens did something to advance the quality of life for people who have never felt the advantage of safety.
— Cami Cruz Thomas
The process of creation helped me to realize that my perspective, voice, and story mattered and had the power to shift things. I want to hug my friends tightly because I love them, rather than from fear of the city taking them away at any moment. I want for my neighbors to exhale and untense their shoulders, because they feel safe. I want to create art that generates tangible change and that moves the needle. I want to know that my creations through a camera lens did something to advance the quality of life for people who have never felt the advantage of safety. I know that creating art is the only thing that’s ever made me feel like I can be my own guardian angel and I feel a sense of responsibility to deliver artistic work that makes my peers feel untouchable too.
Beyond The City
Vie et Jeu is Cami’s visual journal of experiences of blackness during her visit to Paris, and how the diaspora connects through the shared experience of seemingly mundane moments. The project explores the thin line that exists between the worlds of life and play; the purgatory between bright colors and black and white, or city bustle versus stillness.
Hear from the Artist
About the Artist
Câmara Ashanti (Câmi) Thomas is a documentary filmmaker, photojournalist, professional marketer, and writer. She's served as a marketing professional, having worked with national and international brands, while navigating life behind the lens as a content creator. A St. Louis native and resident, Câmi speaks on race relations in America, the importance of digital storytelling as a catalyst for change, art as activism, and how brands can utilize storytelling techniques to better connect with their audience.
In 2016, Câmi formed FTCTV, a multimedia blog which showcases the multifaceted world of underground St. Louis artists, both sharing their work and individual stories for a wider audience. In 2017, Câmi directed and edited the website's first original documentary video series titled "Smoke City". The project looped in over 20 passionate St. Louisians, in a collaborate series of interviews and visual storytelling that received local and national acclaim from the film community, including from NPR, Teen Vogue and St. Louis Magazine.
Within the photography medium, Câmi has branched into capturing the stories of communities, through still images. Her first documentary photo project "Saint Scrimmage" dives into the world of Chicago’s underground soccer scene and how the game impacts the Pilsen community. Through an interview with the Pilsen F.C. team captain, the series explores gentrification in the historically Hispanic Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, the challenges of being undocumented in the city, and the story of how each of the young men fell in love with soccer. Other photo projects include the Vie et Jeu photo project, a dive into the lives of Black Parisians, and portraits and journalistic shoots throughout St. Louis.
As a full-time creative, Câmi aims to advocate for connection through visual storytelling through a camera lens and push for tangible and measurable change in St. Louis.
