This is a new weekly series where we feature our incredibly talented Adolescent members and their work! Sign up here to join the Adolescent Membership and be part of the @ family!

This week’s Adolescent Member Crush is Edolia Stroud, a creative director and mixed-media artist living in Brooklyn. She’s a student at the New York Film Academy and a killer collage-maker. Her work focuses on female identity, her photos often taking on a cinematic darkness reminiscent of Jordan Peele. Read below to learn more about Edolia’s creative process and what it was like to be featured in Vogue Italia!

Adolescent Content: You’re from Brooklyn but were based in Los Angeles for a while. How did that shift in location affect your work or even your drive to create?

Edolia Stroud: Moving to Los Angeles has really helped me grow when it comes to networking. I didn’t know anyone when I moved there so it was challenging at first to create new contacts, but Instagram [really helped] me create most of my work while living there as well as my campus at New York Film Academy. The transformation was discouraging at first, but I started to become more inspirided and soon learned I have a passion to creative direct. I recently just moved back to Brooklyn after living in LA for two years.

Adolescent: How do you determine whether a concept should be executed as a mixed-media collage or a photo series?

Edolia: Depending on the topic, I usually visualize fine art ideas as mixed media. Fine art gives me more freedom to create when I’m not shooting fashion, so I try to take the opportunity to experiment with other mediums of art. I’m still new to the idea of working in collage, but most of the time I start with an idea and I try to visualize it as mixed media or a photo series and then choose whatever I feel can execute my idea in the strongest way possible.

Adolescent: What was it like being featured in Vogue Italia?

Edolia: Being featured in Vogue Italia was such a crazy thought for me to process! After I submitted my image, I completely got wrapped up in school and forgot all about it. A month or so went by and I decided to check on it and that’s when I saw my image, and I just couldn't believe it. It was one of my biggest accomplishments of 2018.

Adolescent: What drew you to portraiture?

Edolia: Portraiture is a special kind of photography because it’s usually a picture of someone’s face. Looking someone in the face is a form of intimacy and it’s a vulnerable position to be in, so when shooting I feel it’s important to include a portrait in any kind of photograph because it can be very moving or just simply beautiful. You can never go wrong with a taking portrait.

Adolescent: Who would you cite as the main inspirations behind your work?

Edolia: My favorite photographers are William Eggleston, Irving Penn, and Saul Lauter. I love the use of color in their work and the composition. They have definitely influenced the way that I shoot and how I create, because I've always been drawn to color.

Adolescent: I love this series of yours—it feels very reminiscent of Jordan Peele’s work. What was the driving force behind this project?

Edolia: Searching for Oxygen was based on a childhood fire that occurred in 2001 when my family was living in Colorado at the time. I created the images from my mom’s point of view because I was so young at the time, I couldn’t really remember. I wanted to create work that was about something personal that happened in my life, and that fire [is] one of my earliest memories.