In keeping with our theme of transparency—in art practice, media, politics, and our emotional lives—and our ongoing collaborative, participatory approach to featuring artists, we invited actor Laura Harrier (best known for her performance in Spike Lee’s BlackkKlansman) to decide how she wanted to be profiled. She flipped the script on a traditional interview, and asked her close friend Bria Vinaite (The Florida Project, The OA) over to her house for a candid, authentic, and thought-provoking conversation—where they asked each other the questions. I sat down with the pair, who co-star in the forthcoming film, Balance, Not Symmetry, on an overcast April day in Los Angeles. The two up-and-comers consider their private and public lives as artists, how creativity can affect social change, the pitfalls of celebrity activism, and how transparency manifests in social media, life, and work.

BRIA VINAITE INTERVIEWS LAURA HARRIER

Bria: How has your life and previous experiences cultivated you into the artist you are now?

Laura: I was a really shy kid. I couldn’t talk to people. My mom put me in acting class, because she was like, break out of your shell! So…being able to explore emotions and experiences and different walks of life through other people is something that I was drawn to about being an artist and being an actor, because I was scared to do that on my own for a long time I think. And I’m definitely less so now, but growing up that felt really scary. And I’m really grateful to get to do what I do.

“I’m really grateful to get to do what I do.”

Bria: What has been the hardest adjustment in your life since it became more public?

Laura: Well, people thinking they know you from one tiny image of yourself. Tabloid culture is very weird. You think that you can know somebody and have an opinion on people and their connections with people and what they’re doing, and you have literally no idea. So, that part is strange. I grew up a very normal girl in Chicago. This is so far from the reality of the vast majority of my life, so it’s been an adjustment.

Bria: Do you need a platform to express your creativity or are you happy creating just to create?

Laura: I think our job [as actors] is funny because it is intrinsically for other people. It’s not like you’re a painter and you’re alone and you can just make this beautiful thing and no one needs to see it. I guess what we do is a public medium. That’s why I also like doing ceramics because then you can just make something to make it and to have that creative outlet, instead of it being so public.

Bria: Do you think it’s possible to open and honestly create while still maintaining who you are privately?

Laura: Yeah, that’s why I like acting! Because I can have all those expressions and emotions and feelings but it’s not me. I can do all this crazy shit, but it doesn’t have to be myself…it’s scary putting your emotions and thoughts and stuff out there. It’s important, but it’s freeing to be able to do it through a character, and not just as myself…it’s also nice because you don’t know how what you’re making is going to affect other people. That’s what’s so cool about film….you don’t know how that’s going to affect someone else or open their minds, or change their minds. It expands people.

Bria: How do you feel your public social media represents your private life?

Laura: Honestly, I don’t feel it’s an actual representation of myself and who I am as a person. I think it’s this constructed image. I guess everyone’s is like that…I think it’s important to have that separation between who you are and what you give to the world.

Bria: What do you think people think about your public persona and do you think it’s accurate?

Laura: You look at someone and see one side of their life and assume that’s the whole thing. And, obviously what we’re showing the world is a very manicured image.

Bria: I would say like, 2 percent.

Laura: Literally 2 percent. You didn’t see me with cramps crying this morning, but I was…This is such a small percentage of people’s lives, and I feel like people think, oh they’re doing all this stuff, or they get to wear these outfits and go to these parties and be in these movies, but that’s such a tiny part of my job that then becomes this focus of my life, but really it’s such a small part of who we are as people.

Bria: What is your opinion on celebrity activism?

Laura: I think it’s so important to stand for something and to have opinions and to be politically aware and I think we are super fortunate to have some of platform that you can use for good…I do think it’s become this thing… where people are required to say something, or to be political…I feel like there should almost be another word for celebrity activists or whatever you want to call it, because to me activists are on the front lines of Ferguson, not people posting about Trump on their Instagram…It just has to come from a place of authenticity.

If we can raise awareness about a cause or bring people’s attention to something that they might not know about that’s incredible and we should definitely be doing that.  I get a bad taste in my mouth when it feels like people are doing this for branding or their image or to be seen in a certain light, as opposed to having a genuine concern for the things they’re talking about. I don’t think that the powers at be have people’s best interests at heart, but that being said…there is a good side to all of this…brands are being held more accountable…and doing some good in the world. I think that fashion can stand for something larger than itself.

“I think fashion can stand for something larger than itself.”

LAURA INTERVIEWS BRIA

Laura: How do you feel that your public persona and social media represents your private life?

Bria: I think that it’s definitely cultivated, and it’s what you want people to see…I never used social media for business, and then once I started acting I just became much more aware of all the stuff I was putting out there. I sort of just tamed it down a little, but it was a personal decision…I felt like it was time, and I was sort of growing into myself, so I fell into it…

Laura: But I feel like you do share more of yourself.

Bria: I do, but I also feel like I haven’t as much lately…there’s a balance…it’s about learning what things to keep to yourself. It doesn’t change who I am. But I definitely have a finsta for all my fun…The world is a very sensitive place right now. I would never purposefully or accidentally want to offend somebody…so I have my own place to put my things. It’s helpful to have that stuff.

Laura: How has your life and previous experiences cultivated you into the artist you are today?

Bria: Growing up in Brooklyn and New York in general just made me so much more open to the otherness of the world, and different cultures, different kinds of people. And as I grow, every job I have I utilize all my past experiences and the people I know… If I didn’t grow up where I did, I don’t think I would be able to understand so many different kinds of people and use my past to benefit my future.

Laura: What do you think people think of your public persona, and is it accurate?

Bria: I think people think that I am totally nuts. Which is kind of true, but only 25 percent of the time, not 100… I don’t think anyone realizes that we’re just so normal, and that it was just so simple. I definitely agree with you on people thinking they know you, and inserting their opinion into your life. That’s so crazy to me.

Laura: Do you think it’s possible to openly and honestly create while still maintaining your private life?

Bria: Yes, and I think it’s really interesting because 99 percent of this industry is a facade. The private me is who I was on your couch this morning…I think those are the moments you never share, so they will always be a part of you, and they’ll be your safe space to let go of all that extra stuff that doesn’t really make a person…I think that you can’t create without being transparent. Art and the craft of making has to come from an honest place.

You can very much see the difference when someone is not being authentic to their creativity.  And I feel like anything that’s touched with authentic hands is so different, and you can tell that it has soul behind it. Things that are just oversaturated craziness, you can just tell when it’s been done over and over again, and it loses the magic that is art, or that is film, or any medium that’s creative. When you give it your full self and you’re transparent and it’s raw and it’s scary, that’s what art is. Those things are always so much more special, and you can always feel the feeling behind them.

Laura: What is your opinion on celebrity activism?

Bria: When it’s real, I support it 100 percent. When it feels curated then it’s almost like, people are doing it just to do it, people are doing it to say something nice about themselves. And it’s not necessarily about the actual cause. I really respect people who authentically use their platform to make a difference, and I always say that when you are in a space of privilege you have to use your privilege for a purpose. You have to do something with it. But I definitely hate people who just jump on a bandwagon to say that they’re helping something. It’s really important to wait until you have a cause that you’re actually super passionate about…Like yesterday, when we were talking about helping homeless women get feminine hygiene products, because that’s something nobody talks about…it’s things like that where you actually, genuinely, want to help.

I’m very thankful, especially in politics, for when people are actually transparent. It’s not the time and place to hype things and not be open about what you’re doing and who you’re taking money from…I think that the only way to make change is so be authentic. Art…touches people in a way that just sitting there and telling people something does not. If you’re able to translate how you feel authentically into art, and be able to change other people’s minds, and show them a piece of something that they might not be able to be aware of in such a special way…that’s the way we will change the whole world.

Thea: What does the power of the femme mean to you?

Laura: Power of the femme means living your most authentic life, and doing that for yourself and for the people you love and the things you hold dear. Transparency is all about your relationships with people.  And just being a powerful femme.

Bria: Power of the femme means owning your power. And knowing that it’s all right there, nobody can take it out of you, and it’s yours. You’re all super powerful.

“Power of the femme means living your most authentic life, and doing that for yourself and for the people you love and the things you hold dear. Transparency is all about your relationships with people. And just being a powerful femme.”