Photographer David LaChapelle tells UNCSA grads to 'listen to the voice inside'

Turn off the noise so you can hear your artistic voice. That was the advice David LaChapelle, world renowned photographer, filmmaker and director of music videos and stage productions, offered to UNCSA's high school Class of 2015.

LaChapelle, an alumnus of UNCSA’s high school Visual Arts Program, spoke at the 49th annual commencement celebration at the Stevens Center in downtown Winston-Salem.

“Call it God, call it creative energy. It goes by many names, but whatever you call it, it’s in you,” LaChapelle said. “How do you find it? Be by yourself. Turn off social media, your Twitters and Grindrs and whatever else you all are looking at. You have to turn it off and be alone and be quiet...

Every one of you has a different path, and you have to follow your dream and forge your own path. How do you know what’s right? By listening to your inner voice.

“Sometimes doors are going to be closed. How do you know when to keep banging on that door and when to walk down the hall and find another door? Give yourself the space,” he said. “Get away from the noise of the world and find that solitude so you can hear your voice.”

LaChapelle, who received an honorary doctorate during the ceremony, described his path as an artist for the 120 graduates, their families and friends.

He said people ask him what his big break was. “It was getting into this school,” he said.

“This school changed my life,” he continued. “People here liked me for being different – the reason they hated me in public school.”

At the School of the Arts, LaChapelle said he was taught by “teachers that cared, were invested.” And while he came to be a painter, he “got turned on to dance,” and then discovered photography.

After his senior year, he headed to New York and tried to exhibit his work at galleries. The shows weren’t entirely successful, but they did catch the eye of pop artist Andy Warhol, who offered LaChapelle a job photographing celebrities for Interview magazine.

Over two decades, his photographs graced the pages of top editorial publications such as Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and GQ. After making a name for himself as a visionary in the field of photography, he expanded into the direction of music videos, live theatrical events, and documentary film. His directing credits include music videos for artists including Christina Aquilera, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears, as well as Elton John’s Caesar’s Palace spectacular, "The Red Piano." His documentary film "RIZE", about the rise of the dance form known as krumping, was released theatrically in seven countries, and opened the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival.

Eventually, he “fell out of love” with the work, bought a farm in Maui, and spent some time in solitude. “Then life took another turn and I was invited to show my work in galleries. It was where I began, where the dream started,” he said.

LaChapelle is represented in the world's most prestigious galleries and museums and has had major career retrospectives in France, Italy, Taiwan, Korea, Sweden, Argentina and Peru. His work has been included in numerous important exhibitions globally and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art.

His photographs have been collected into several monographs, including “LaChapelle Land,” “Hotel LaChapelle” and “Heaven to Hell,” which was chosen for a prestigious Taschen 30th Anniversary special edition.  

LaChapelle told the graduates not to worry about what they will get from being artists.

Remember it’s not about what you’re going to get, but what you are going to give. What are you going to say to the world?

He said no matter what the future holds for the graduates, their UNCSA education will serve them well. “Even if you don’t go into the arts, you are going to apply everything you learned here at the School of the Arts. None of it is wasted,” he said.

“Whatever you do, go be great. Shine some light on this world of confusion,” he urged.

“Art is important. It saves lives. It changes lives. It changed mine,” LaChapelle said. “Imagine what the world would be like without art. It would be hell.

“We need art to make the world a better place.”

May 21, 2015