Week 5: Interdisciplinary Practice
This week’s topic, the Interdisciplinary Practice, reminded me of how I got into photography and how I actually use it myself. Nevertheless, the questions raised were not easy to answer.
Other than photography, what art forms and creative media do you take inspiration from?
The ability to communicate without having to use words led me to photography. The distance through the camera and the pretended concentration on individual things enabled me not to have to engage in active conversations in a wide variety of situations. When I got my first camera and had nobody to explain anything to me, many films were used up until I understood the rules of aperture, light, time, and so on. After arriving in a country at the age of 15 without understanding the local language, discovering photography helped me communicate in a certain way. Without language one has to rely on gestures, careful observation, and sensitivity.
Besides photography, I discovered Modern Ballet by attending a performance in Frankfurt choreographed by William Forsythe in the nineties. His performances had a great influence on me. His dancers spoke with their bodies as if they were vocabulary, his stories told emotions accompanied by unusual electronic sounds and I began to understand how art can transcend.
How have you drawn directly from non-photographic disciplines to develop your practice?
Movement is what fascinates me. Freezing movement or letting it flow, both to capture a sense of place or of what is happening.
The second is poetry. Specifically, haiku, the shortest form of poetry, which I often use to accompany images.
How would you describe the distinctive, essential qualities of photography? Are any of these characteristics the reason for you choosing it as your means of expression?
For me, photography is the bank of my experiences, of identity. It is the map of my feelings, captured memories and something like a timeline of life. It's important for me to actually hold pictures in my hands, even though I recently lost all my pictures and negatives in the salty tropical climate I resided in. Probably because of that. Browsing through the photo boxes and remembering a feeling without words is the reason for my photography.