Interview with artist Don Byram
Photographer Don Byam is a sixth-generation Arkansan living in Conway. His photographic storytelling is clever, humorous, and always relatable. More of Don’s work can be found at Ciao Baci restaurant in Little Rock and Gallery 26 in Little Rock.
AAS: Don are you an Arkansas native?
DB: Yes, I am a native and was raised across the northern half of the state. My father was a Methodist minister, so we rarely stayed in one place for more than 3–4 years. Gravette, Huntsville, Conway (now four times!), Jonesboro, Danville, Decatur, and North Little Rock were all stops before I graduated from the now-defunct NLR Northeast High School. I attended both Hendrix and UCA before chasing a woman to Saint Louis. Luckily, I never caught her—so we're still great friends!
My “real” career, which funded a wonderful family, was 25 years in store management with Walmart. That journey included a couple of stores here in Arkansas, and several more in both Saint Louis and New England. After leaving Walmart, I landed in Georgia and owned a frame shop/gallery in Commerce before returning to Conway to care for my 88-year-old mother during the last 2½ years of her life. My mother was the foundation of my lifelong appreciation for the storytelling power of photography.
AAS: So, you credit your mother with cultivating your love of photography?
DB: Definitely. I still have three very large totes filled mostly with black-and-white photos she took from the late ’40s until she passed away. Her camera of choice during those early years was a Hawkeye Brownie, which I still have—and it's featured with me in my profile picture.
She had a natural eye for composition, a love of exploration, and a deeply curious mind. Like all of us, she was a product of her generation and environment, but I’ve always wondered how she might have turned out if she’d been born in a large city instead of Izard County, Arkansas. While I’m a totally self-taught photographer and artist, I was educated from birth in visualizing life in the terms both my parents taught me.
AAS: Before we get into specific pieces, tell me about the Galaxy Girl series.
Brandie Maldonado
DB: I moved back to the Conway area, for the fourth time, in 2016. I discovered Brandie Maldonado through a Facebook photo she posted of an abandoned building. My initial reaction was, “Hey, I don’t remember posting that picture!” Then I looked closer and realized it wasn’t mine—but it sure looked like something I would’ve taken!
I stalked her on Facebook, discovering she was both an excellent photog and model. I reached out and we quickly discovered a mutual love of abandoned spaces, mid-century modern, campiness, and the power of photographic storytelling. She is equal parts photographer, model, and storyteller—and one of the most incredible humans I’ve met since returning to Arkansas.
Together, we developed a very natural persona for us: “Galaxy Girl.” GG is an intriguing mix of empowerment, silliness, and slightly STFU abandonment. She doesn’t need you in her life, but you discover you need her in yours. I’m not sure whether Galaxy Girl would exist without me, but she certainly wouldn’t exist without Brandie!
AAS: The first pieces from that series that I saw were hanging on the wall in a home and the owner told me they reminded her of family members. I bet you get that a lot. They really do show best when seen in home setting, I think. The owner can create their own back story.
DB: True. The best stories are open ended ones we discover and complete with our own endings. I personally never care as much as what a viewer sees in my work as that they actually “see”. My role is to set the stage. Their role is to write the story.
AAS: The first one I want to ask about is C is for Cooking. It is so fun! With all respect to your mom, do you think family memories way back in your head inspired it?
C is for Cooking, 20” x 16”, digital photograph
DB: No. The setting is my real, ancient kitchen—but my own mom would have been horrified (and hopefully secretly amused) that I threw two smoke bombs into her secondhand 1960s GE oven.
The real power lies in GG Brandie proudly showing off her freshly baked cookies while the world burns down around her! We spent 45 minutes setting up the scene, and the actual shoot lasted about 30 seconds before we had to bail out of the house because of the smoke!
By the way, my mom was a great cook!
AAS: Many of your photos have settings that are incongruent with the main image, which I think is marvelous. One of those is Abandoned Rockwell. Tell me about that photograph.
Abandoned Rockwell, 32” x 24, digital photograph
DB: This is our best-selling Galaxy Girl image. The photo is from the very first time Brandie and I met in person and shot together! Up until then, we had only texted and talked on the phone. I personally think this is one of the best shoots either of us has ever done. The setting was a four-story abandoned office building, which still had remnants of businesses dating back to the ’60s. It was an incredible space and an unforgettable shoot—we ran around like our hair was on fire for about four hours!
What story is it telling? That depends on the viewer. I sold a copy to a man who said it reminded him of his mother, who owned a hair salon in a small town—and this is what she did: sat around and smoked cigarettes all day. Several salons have purchased it. Interestingly—at least to me—most of the Galaxy Girl images are bought by women. I’m not sure I would’ve predicted that when we started.
Once again, a successful image is one the viewer completes with their own story. I personally like it because I’m a Norman Rockwell fan. I think the colors lend themselves to a Rockwellian painting. Rockwell was a very driven artist, and his life wasn’t quite as tidy as his paintings. I like to think this is what Rockwell might have seen before he sanitized it for the rest of us. A larger copy of this image is now part of CAL’s permanent collection.
AAS: Your photographs are often framed in quite elaborate vintage frames, which complement the photographs so well. I think Rehab is a great example of that. Tell me about that photo and your frames.
Rehab, 56” x 42”, digital photograph
DB: I’ll tell you about the frames first. When I owned my frame shop, people would often come in wanting to update their antique family paintings or photos to match their current homes. When I asked what they wanted me to do with the old frames, the response was often, “I don’t care. Throw them away.”
Obviously, as a framer, I couldn’t do that! I would keep them and use them for my own photography. Over time, I developed a style centered around vintage and antique frames that I still use whenever possible. Not only do I think it complements my somewhat vintage artistic view of the world, but it also upcycles materials that were literally on their way to the burn pile.
The metal frame used for Rehab was actually in pretty good shape when I first got it. I left it outside for a few months to let it “patina” naturally. :) As for the Rehab image, I was on a flight back from Spain and watched the biopic of Amy Winehouse. It struck me how much she resembled my model friend Rhianne. We got together and created the image with the specific intent of framing it in this somewhat oversized and outrageous frame—it felt like a perfect match for Amy Winehouse’s over-the-top artistic personality. For me, the frame is as much a part of the image and story as the image itself.
“Telling people’s stories sometimes takes more than a flat, 2D photo. Like life itself, it’s okay for art to be a little bumpy, uneven, and brutally honest.”
St. Annie of Domestic Violence, 56” x 42”, collage
AAS: Texture and mixed media are also sometimes important elements in your work. St. Annie of Domestic Violence is one of those pieces. Did you have an idea of how it would or should look before you took the photograph?
St. Annie of Domestic Violence, detail
DB: I was invited to create a piece focused on domestic violence—a terrible legacy everywhere, and certainly here in Arkansas. My friend and model, Annie, gave me permission to use a photo from an earlier shoot we had done together. She is a survivor herself, so this piece is deeply personal for both of us.
The work includes locket photos of her son and dog, meaningful crystals, and physical clock faces that question whether time truly heals all wounds. It features a Photoshopped aura topped with real purple crystals—the color symbolizing domestic violence. Everything is covered with a splattering of resin, sealing in the physical elements and adding even more texture and reflection. Telling people’s stories sometimes takes more than a flat, 2D photo. Like life itself, it’s okay for art to be a little bumpy, uneven, and brutally honest.
AAS: I think my favorite photograph of yours is Seven Deadly Sins Walk Into A Bar. Of course, it is beautifully staged and photographed, but it is brilliantly funny and irreverent, like most of your work.
Seven Deadly Sins Walk into a Bar, 38” x 30”, digital photograph
DB: Once again, Galaxy Girl Brandie set us up for a pre-opening shoot at Four Quarter Bar in Argenta. And once again, it was a fabulous shoot—creative sparks were flying between the two of us. Several wonderful images came out of it, with Seven Deadly Sins being the most notable. I have a big piece of shiny cloth I call “The Big Drapey Thing.” I use it quite often as the only covering—more or less (!)—for a figure. I like its simplicity and lack of pretense. It takes the shape—both physically and emotionally—of the individual wearing it.
I went upstairs and looked out over the bar from the upper level and immediately knew what I wanted to do. I didn’t have the name or even a clear concept yet—I just knew I needed Brandie to sit in all the seats, and I’d hopefully figure out the story later. She moved from barstool to barstool while I took a photo of her in each one, then I composited them all together in post. During that process, the concept and humor began to take shape—what would the Seven Deadly Sins look like if they were hanging out in your neighborhood pub? Outside of the concept and Brandie’s spot-on, patient modeling, I think the piece also works because of the almost Rockwellian setting and color palette.
AAS: You have another series titled Everyday A Warrior. Tread Carefully is a stunningly beautiful and haunting photograph. Tell me about it and that series.
Tread Carefully, 50” x 43”, digital photograph
DB: Tread Carefully was the inspiration and centerpiece for a series called Everyday a Warrior. I had met up with my friend Stephanie at Beaverfork Lake early one morning for a jog. I had just bought a metal Spartan helmet and was excited to show it to her. Before we had a chance to run, she told me she had decided to check herself into a rehab program the following week. Instead of running, we jumped into the lake and did a celebratory photo shoot.
One thing led to another, and we eventually created 25 portraits of people who had their own battles—with addiction, abuse, or trauma—that they had overcome, were working to overcome, or hoped to overcome. The series was exhibited in several locations in 2019, with Stephanie and others sharing their stories alongside the images. Since then, I’m happy to report that several of the individuals have moved forward strongly in life. Some are still fighting the fight, and a couple are still simply surviving. The Spartan helmet served as the common visual thread connecting all the pieces.
AAS: Congratulations on being accepted into the Elder show at Fenix Art Gallery at Mt. Sequoyah. Eye, See is a fascinating photograph and quite different from the others we have talked about. Tell me about Eye, See.
Eye, See, 29” x 29”, digital photograph
DB: Thank you. To quote from the call for entries, Elder “is an exhibit that features artworks exploring the enduring nature of queer existence—living, loving, and longing across time.” My cousin Jim grew up in a conservative religious family. He came out after High School. While he found his place in the wider world, I never felt he ever found "his place" with all of his family. He committed suicide at 50. He left no note to explain why. That was 12 years ago. His partner, Tom, still is very active in his community's suicide prevention programs.
This photo is of my friend Byron Thomas, Jr. He also was born and raised in Arkansas. He left the state, in part to find his place in the wider world, which he has, and is living his best life in California! His childhood story involves his father, Byron Thomas, Sr. who never accepted his namesake for the wonderful person he is. Eye, See is for my cousin, my friend, for anyone who hasn't been and isn't loved completely and totally for who they are.
AAS: Don, I get the sense that you are really having fun these days with your photography. Are you at all surprised at yourself or did you always know you had this creativity hiding inside?
DB: Life—and for me, art—is all about storytelling. It’s also about how and by whom you were raised. It’s about what you choose to do with the events of and in your life. I am extremely fortunate to have been raised by two wonderful and loving parents. In fact, I didn’t truly realize how well I was raised until later in life, when I began to hear the stories of so many others whose experiences weren’t even close to mine.
Was it “meant to be” that I was born to the people I was born to? I don’t think so. I was simply lucky. It just happened. Now, at 66, like many people, I’ve begun to look back and recognize that I’ve been many things in my life. Some of those things I’m very proud of—like my children and my art. Other things and times, I’m not very proud of. What I hope is that my photography and art help people tell their own stories—and in doing so, help them better understand who they are and, more importantly, who they can become.
