At 23 years old, the Danish-American cinematographer Azariah Bjørvig has wasted no time racking up accomplishments. He’s been to all seven continents (in part thanks to his mother’s work as a concert tour manager, in addition to being a photographer) and is the youngest ever graduate of the acclaimed American Film Institute, in Los Angeles.
Last year, Bjørvig worked on his first project with Ralph Lauren—A Portrait of the American Dream, a 27-minute film which anchored a campaign celebrating the rich history and sartorial traditions of historically Black colleges and universities through the lens of Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in Atlanta, Georgia.
This year he shot his second campaign for Polo Ralph Lauren, A Heritage Preserved. To celebrate Black History Month, Bjørvig captured photographers Chester Higgins and Danny Kasirye, along with Kiyanna Stewart and Jannah Handy of Brooklyn vintage shop BLK MKT, at the historic Akwaaba Mansion, a Black-owned brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, that dates back to the 1860s (and happens to be near where members of Bjørvig’s family have long resided).
Below, we spoke with Bjørvig about the assignment, his travels, and what it was like to revisit the old neighborhood.
When did you know this is what you want to do for a living?
My mom was a still photographer, so I kind of grew up around photographers. I grew up around cameras, and I used to just love taking pictures.
Then, when I was 8 years old, I slept over at my best friend’s house, and I asked him, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And he said that he wanted to be a movie director. He always had these different phases of very intense interest. And I just said that I’d be his camera guy, not knowing anything about it. But I was like, I think that’s what I could help with, and then we just started doing short films on his dad’s Sony handycam.
And it just went from there?
I think literally from the first one we ever did, I was like, This is what I want. This is it.
And now here we are.
I’m maybe a little stubborn. I was very fortunate to be raised with the mentality that you can do whatever you want. The more I did it, the more I just fell in love with it. I think that’s still the case today.
Why was working on this project important to you?
My mom is Danish and my dad is American, from New York. I grew up in Denmark, which is obviously pretty much predominantly white. I didn’t really grow up with much Black culture except for when I would go to America to visit that side of the family. Doing projects like this, that are Black-driven both behind and in front of the camera, and telling stories through the community and talking about the Black community, is very important to me. Also because I get to experience some of my own heritage, and be surrounded by people that have lived in these communities their whole lives. Having the opportunity to get so in-depth with it, and tell these stories, it matters a lot to me.
Did you get to spend much time talking with Chester, Danny, or Kiyanna Stewart and Jannah Handy from BLK MKT?
You don’t have that much time to sit around and talk, sadly, but I did try to talk as much as I could between setups. I’m a huge fan of Chester’s work and just getting to work with him was a very big honor. They were all such amazing people, and they’re so incredibly talented, so it was really just an honor getting to spend the day and to hang out with them.
What was it like working in the Akwaaba Mansion?
Getting to shoot in such a historic location, you can just feel it in every detail. It gives so much on camera. It looks stunning no matter where you point the camera.
The neighborhood is special, too.
The location in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York, is literally like a four-minute walk from where my family is from. My family’s home is around the corner. It’s where I would go and listen and travel and see all my family and my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. They still live there. Right around the corner. Being in that place during a project like this felt like a very full-circle moment.
I’d imagine so. Did you get to visit them, or at least walk by the old place?
Yeah, I walked by. I haven’t seen them for a long time. I haven’t been to New York for quite a while. I think it must have been almost 6 years. So I got a chance to walk by my dad’s old apartment. It was a really fun trip, definitely.
It must have been emotional, too.
It was.
You mentioned the word “heritage” earlier, and that’s the title of this campaign. What does that word mean to you?
Heritage to me is everything that has gotten us to where we are now. All the lives that came before you are the very reason that you’re where you are. All the things that people have fought for, for you to be able to do the small mundane things that you do—from having a comfortable bed to having running water, and all of these things that we maybe sometimes take for granted. But they weren’t always there.
What about community?
Community is the strength and the bonds between people—what we can do when we come together, and what change can happen when we’re all aware of each other and present with each other. When we all give a little bit of our own time to each other to make big changes.
For this project, the whole set felt like a community. The whole team—everyone that was in front or behind the camera—was a community of people who live that life of wanting to change things for the better.
How would you describe your personal approach to style.
It’s very much the Scandinavian side of me. I’m a big fan of very thoroughly well-executed simple things. Most of my wardrobe is pretty much black and white. And that’s one of the things that I do love about Ralph Lauren is that incredibly well-executed craftsmanship.
Do you have any favorite Polo pieces in your wardrobe?
Yeah. It would definitely have to be a trench coat from the Morehouse HBCU collection. For one, I love the jacket by itself. But also getting to do that project was amazing, and then getting to go to the premiere in New York. And seeing the collection in person in the store, seeing the film play in the store. That was a pretty big moment for me.
- Courtesy of Azariah BJØRVIG
- Courtesy of Joshua Renfroe
- Courtesy of Rachel Truehart
