MIGUEL THE COLORED COWBOY

In this interview, we delve into the world of MIGUEL THE COLORED COWBOY, who share his inspirations and unique perspectives.

Miguel the Colored Cowboy

1. Introduce Yourself to the Casawi Community: What drives you? What's your artistic vision, and what sets you apart from the crowd?

CASAWI crowd I’m Miguel McSongwe. I’m a photographer and director!

What drives me? If I had to pick, I would say it’s myself. I constantly like to challenge my limits; “How good am I right now?”, “how can I get that shot?”, “what’s even better than this?” Just a couple questions that are running through my brain when I create and that lead me to continue to push myself. I think the biggest thing that sets me apart from the crowd is my ability to transport people, you always get the “vibe” or you can feel the picture/moment. I try very hard not to just draw people in with one specific focal point of the shot I want them engrossed in the picture as a whole and take in every aspect of the shot.

2. City Inspirations: How has your city influenced your artistic path? Share how its streets, culture, and energy have molded your work.

Well I was born in Bowie, Maryland and moved out at 8 years old to Nairobi Kenya where I lived for 8 years. After that I came to NY at the age of 16 and I’ve been here for the past 9 years now; which kinda makes me feel like it's time for a new adventure! Because of that I can’t give any one city the credit for molding my artistic work. I can say that I took my baseline creativity from Nairobi in a city where at the time so many of my friends and I were trying to create something that was authentic to each of us while drawing inspiration from the states and the UK. I think the time I was in Kenya we were all trying something like I tried to make a rap group with my friends and a comic book and a band (kinda). But all of that came from the country being so young at that time I believe Kenya had only been independent for around 40 something years so there was space for everyone to try something. I can also say that running around NY with my friends sparked my style. There are so many amazing and interesting people living on top of one another in this city. That kinda vibrance and energy had a big stamp in how I want my work to be translated.

3. Creative Process: What fuels your creativity? Whether it's a ritual, a muse, or a moment of clarity, we're keen to learn.

I would say my inner child. My first allegiance is to what I think looks cool. As simple as that sounds, that’s how I build my shots, I start off with what I think would look really cool, then I work backwards in how I can build that and translate my ideas to the real world. Obviously not everything is possible but as I get to those bridges crossing them creates a whole new image that’s either on par or better than what I had. So if I had to say my process is the continuous construction and deconstruction of whatever 9 yr old me would’ve thought was cool.

4. City Lifestyle and Art: How the places you lived influenced your career and work?

Like I said I’m in NY right now and I think that’s had the biggest influence on my career. I always knew that whatever I did I wanted to be active and have an ever changing schedule that also forces me to be creative. No better place to look for a job like that than New York! I used to work in the film/tv industry in the locations department but that wasn’t hands-on enough for me and with the help of the pandemic I took the jump into turning photography into my full time gig.

5. Latest or Upcoming Projects: Give us a glimpse into your current endeavors and what lies ahead on your creative journey.

Just shot my first magazine cover for Time Out NY so look out for that! I‘ve been sitting on a photo book idea for about 3 years now and I think this is the year it finally makes its way into the real world so I’m really excited about that.