Though he has no recollection of the incident, I credit Christopher Sams with a visionary idea that has seemed to unfold since our last run in a couple of years ago while introducing SAMS ART to the Asheville fashion apparel and photography community. We were visiting his mountain home in Max Patch and we were shooting the shit on the future of social networks and its direct implications on defining new styles for the up-and-coming and the still-unforeseeable counter cultures. The way I remember it, he summarized his vision as, “we are all returning back to nature. We are all taking hikes into the woods but this time with our iPhones or tablets.” Sounds like one of the tenants of 2013 is an essence for craft, resuse and mediums that contain the spirits of materiality – made digital.
Trap Craft Fashion Photography
It was an idea that had extraordinary possibilities for the modern world. However, it was not a gray-glossed or faired-skin world like most dystopic novels with flying cars and state of the art narcotics. The notion of dense citizens as the new mankind with incredibly uniformed slicked-out hair cuts and women dressed in screaming neon Victorian-era mashups was not what this photographer and art director had in mind. Nor was it the tea dance 20’s and the turn-of-the-century novelties acquired by the hipster movement in the shape of funny moustaches or vintage ware from the aluminum siding-riddled post-war Americana. Nor was it an AHA moment with Ferris Bueller at the head of the parade. It wasn’t a decade like we have seen.
“This story is about “time streams” and remixing: Appalachian culture, craft, & fashion. I was going back to the time in North Carolina in the mid 90s when the rave scene was just developing and everything was so new. As a counter point, I was inspired by the new Trap Music movement.” Almost with a hint of nostalgia, Chris was inspired by photography from the 80’s by the likes of Tim Barnwell and Rob Amberg.
A graduate of The New School University Parson School of Design, Chris has implemented his New York experience to the southern culture and yielded, I feel, a major milestone to boot. A visionaire with an eye for detail that reveals the hidden genius of contemporary crafts, upcycled fashion, an a music revolution within the photo portfolio.
