A young artist from South Philly makes history in a Vanity Fair photoshoot starring Billie Eilish.
What We Know:
- 23-year-old Quil Lemons has just become the youngest photographer to shoot a cover for the pop culture fashion magazine Vanity Fair. The March 2021 issue of Vanity Fair hit newsstands last week, featuring Lemons’ work.
- Lemons expressed his gratitude on Instagram, writing, “I’m a 23-year-old gay black man who is now the youngest photographer to shoot the cover of Vanity Fair. This cover means so much. Thank you to everyone that took a chance on the little kid from South Philadelphia!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKeBMtyF6IK/
- He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the Los Angeles photoshoot had a very intentional goal for capturing pop sensation Billie Eilish.“I knew Billie wanted to feel more mature to really fit her age,” Lemons said. “We’ve known her since she was 13, and now she’s 19. That’s a very different person.”
- Lemons garnered national attention at age 20 with his photo series titled Glitterboy. The series highlighted men of color wearing shimmering and sparkling makeup to challenge preconceived notions of what it means to be masculine.
- Since then, he’s photographed a number of celebrity clients, including Spike Lee, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Yasiin Bey, Chloe x Halle, Pamela Anderson, and Young M.A. His work has been featured in magazines like Vogue, the New York Times, Variety, Allure, and Highsnobiety. This cover shoot, however, is Lemons’ biggest budgeted project to date.
- Lemons started taking an interest in photography when he would visit his aunt’s house for the holidays and could toy with her digital camera. He went on to attend Charter High School for Architecture and Design, where a friend gifted him a Canon instant film camera. Lemons used the camera to photograph artists at the concerts he attended in Philly.
- Now, Lemons shoots his projects in film exclusively, meaning he can’t see his images until the photographs are developed. His main area of focus is an effort to showcase the Black experience in his work. “I’m conveying my version of Blackness and how I’ve come to understand that,” he says.
Lemons, still in disbelief about his notoriety and success, said, “I think ultimately I’m just trying to show Black kids that we can do anything we put our minds to.”
