How do you describe your own art practice?
My practice is primarily photographic and also includes site-specific interventions, publications, curation and collaborations. Since 2009, my main focus has consisted of an ongoing series, Constructed Landscapes, which involves collaging and reconfiguring medium format colour negatives from a personal archive of landscapes shot across different locations.
From the Constructed Landscapes (Volume II) series
C-type handprint made from 6 collaged negatives
Which question or theme is central in your work?
There isn’t one central theme or question I’m interested in but rather a range of ideas that evolve over time and inform and shape my work. Notions of home and (non)belonging, transient, hybrid and imagined spaces, utopias, representations of landscape and related pictorial conventions, constructed realities and the medium of photography (and its limitations) are some examples of frameworks my work grapples with.
What was your first experience with art?
I remember repeatedly making a (very basic) drawing, as a young child, which consisted of an abstract sea with flowers growing out of it. In terms of art that I would’ve seen, it’s hard to pinpoint a first experience.
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
Initially, my work tends to be informed by some sort of personal experience, one that drives the work but isn’t overtly obvious, and instead strives to refer to a space of greater universality. I am also inspired and driven by limitations, failure and contradictions. Rather than perceiving it as something negative, I see it as an opportunity and impetus to make work, something to work against in a productive way. Constructed Landscapes stemmed from an archive of disappointing images, that weren’t doing anything interesting in themselves.
24 x 28 cm / 210 pages (10 gatefolds) / colour/ softcover / Texts by Olga Smith, Shoair Mavlian, Cherry Smyth and an interview by Gemma Padley with Dafna Talmor
Design Hans Gremmen
What do you need in order to create your work?
Time and headspace are essential, but in a practical sense, it varies depending on what I’m working on. My medium format camera and access to a colour darkroom have been intrinsic to the work I’ve been making for over ten years.
What work or artist has most recently surprised you?
A Meditation on the History of Violence, a live performance by Carrie Mae Weems. I’ve admired her photographic work for many years but seeing the live performance at the Serpentine Gallery last year took me by surprise in the best possible way.
From the Constructed Landscapes (Volume II) series
C-type handprint made from 5 collaged negatives
