SEED Monograph.

VIII. Marianne Bjørnmyr

I first came across the work of Marianne Bjørnmyr some years back, noting almost instantly her love for the peculiar, for adventure and for a more demonstrative approach to her work, still with a distinctly signature style. Her work, widely loved for its displays of mystery and exploring themes such as truth, discovery and the very fabrics of existence itself, created a fan in me; one that was extremely happy to have her be part of the project. Concluding the first volume of interviews with her in conversation, we spoke one Tuesday afternoon in June...

Dorrell Merritt: Hei!

Marianne Bjørnmyr: Hello!

Welcome to Conversation VIII. Time has indeed flown since April. What's the weather like in Norway?

Thank you, excited to have this conversation with you! It has indeed. Arctic Summer so far. Pretty much like April. But - I think the heat is around the corner now.

Still mild? It's been intense here. Was 33 degrees last Friday apparently. So, was your Træna residency? Who was it in conjunction with and what was the overall experience like?

Træna was amazing! Incredible place and incredible people - so much creative energy. I was there with my boyfriend Dan Mariner, who is also a photographer, and we worked on a book together. The residency itself was organised by Tenk Træna and council Træna in Northern Norway. I recommend everybody to go there to make work, we could have stayed all summer. We came back last week, and will continue the work on the book over the Summer/Autumn.

Sounds awesome. Was that the SALT one? I heard you had some great submissions from across the globe?

Yes indeed. We did - it was amazing! The submissions were so varied, and at the same time they have so many similar elements that makes them work together beautifully.

And what was the inspiration for exploring the SALT industry? What angle did you both approach it with (if you're allowed to say before its published!)

Træna as an island inspired us a lot, surrounded by the sea of course, but also with the long history of fishing, it is actually the oldest fishing village in Norway. The islanders have always used salt to preserve the fish, and such a common mineral has become very important in their everyday life. But - of course, as photographers our starting point was very much the use of salt in the photographic development process - no salt, no photograph. So it is somewhat of a circle, photographing the salt, knowing that the photograph hadn’t existed without it.

So its a conjoined approach of both heritage and history; I like that. Looking at your series’ such as Your Penumbra, Shadows/Echoes and Still Moving there are many aesthetical and stylistic similarities with other artists such as Tereza Zelenkova and Emma Bäcklund. I’ve been wondering if it’s me being farfetched, but I mentally categorise this approach to photography as a specifically… European one? Im not sure why, but for some reason it seems particularly endemic. Anyway, I’ve always been fascinated by these approaches to photography. What first inspired such an… almost scientific approach to these series?

What a nice analogy! I think it is exactly that; the approaches to photography itself, that has inspired me - the pseudo documentary and scientific qualities that the photograph holds. And a fascination for it’s shortcomings, I tend to work in environments that are completely unknown and unfamiliar to me. And perhaps bring a bit of a Scandinavian twist to the imagery?

Yeah I definitely agree with the Scandinavian twist, but cant seem to put my finger on it specifically. I think overall it could be an approach to nature that other Western countries don’t have... though Im just speculating. And An Authentic Relation is your most recent series? Where in the world was it shot?

It might very well be, we are brought up in nature and I am always very aware of the quietness of empty land. Like in the series you mention, An Authentic Relation - which was shot in Ascension Island last year. Its a very small island in the Atlantic Ocean, just in between Africa and South America. It is very barren and desolate and I spent hours and hours walking around on my own (together with crabs and mules) photographing day after day.

Wow! That sounds like the perfect getaway; producing work as you're discovering the island. Is it still an ongoing body of work? What does the title refer to?

It was indeed a perfect getaway. And the best way to produce new work; exploring new areas for the first time and being very focused on these experiences. I am still working on the project (I’m a very meticulous worker..) - it will be part of an exhibition, Shifting Focus, this July in Berlin, and it will be published as a book in August. The work is based on a diary found on the island in 1726, written by a dutch soldier that was put as a prisoner on the island the year before as punishment for sodomy. The diary contains detailed descriptions of his life there, from the first day of his arrival, until his death six months later. The diary was brought back to England and published there in several editions over the years. The title of the work is the title of the most dubious version.

Wow; a very expansive story and its interesting that you have explored it in a way devoid of human presence too. Im intrigued to see how it progresses! What series would you say, to date, has been the most enjoyable to work on, and why?

That is a very good question. Shadows/Echoes I spent a few years working on actually, with quite a few trips, and details constantly changing, as I keep discovering new things all the time. Your Penumbra has also been a really nice process for me, as I have worked on a lot of new processes and materials, but also conceptually working in a direction which is quite new to me, with lots of new things to discover all the time.

Slightly random digression… but I’ve been trying to work out what your surname could mean. I have two theories; want to hear them?

Yes please!

Well it could be that Bjørn is a given name; and the Myr part is a reference to something he owned/ an area? Like Edgeware (Ecgi’s Weir) for example. Or the Bjørn part is a reference to bear as it is in Old German, and it’s in reference to an area? Is either close?

Impressive! Bjørn is indeed a bear - and it is a reference to a story about a bear that was residing close to mums family’s smallholding. Myr means marshland - so I guess that is where he was hanging out. In fact, the name is now protected, so only my family can take the name.

Im as equally happy for being nearly right, as I am intrigued by the story behind it. That's awesome that its protected. How far back, time wise, would the name have been chosen?

Excellent detective work  Another good question, it would be just about a 100 years now, the place got the name first, and then not long after it got adopted as a family name. And happily - the house is still in the family too!

Pretty impressive! I have so many more questions, but trying not to turn the interview into an etymology project! While preparing for the interview, I came across a Hans Ulrich Obrist citation of a Felix Gonzales-Torres quote, where he says: “The use of black and white may be the greatest act of resistance available to us”. Although your use of black and white may not be a resistance in a political sense, I guess to some extent there is a resistance to the constraints of reality. Why is working without colour such a big part of your approach to photography and what do you try and communicate through it?

I don’t think I am consciously trying to state anything, perhaps it is more about stripping away the context of history. There is something about taking away the information of the surroundings and transforming it into the selected framework. I use both black and white and colour together, usually not set up against each other but talking different languages.

Interesting... does either come more naturally to you?

Colour does come more naturally to me, black and white is more of a diversion.

As an artist who has dabbled with instillations and non-photographic means of artistic expression, namely in Your Penumbra (with sculpture and video) do you ever feel any element of pressure in maintaining a diverse practice as you have previously explored? Would you ever go as far as doing a wholly non-photographic series?

Yes, in a way. I always feel some sort of pressure of finding new ways to explore my questions and interests, I suppose did is how Your Penumbra came into place, so being curious about the audience's interactions with different mediums. It is a bit about seeing the finished product and its qualities, but very much the process of making it. It is the photographic process that inspires me, and even the other installations have a base in photography: video of course and the sculptures in Your Penumbra started out as photographic glass plates. And, I am getting more and more interested in other forms and mediums, and focusing more on the medium did covers the concept the best, be it photography, text or installation. So it is the development did is coming more and more natural in the process, not for the objects or other medium to replace the photograph, but to challenge its message in a way.

And what’s your earliest memory of (interacting with) photography?

I got a 35mm point and shoot from my uncle as a 10th birthday present. I used to bring the camera for walks and loved photographing the fog. Of course, as a 10 year old, I also used to style my baby sister and make her pose with impromptu studio set ups…

Haha. Interesting also that you loved to photograph Fog, when most kids were snapping away at Cats and Cars etc. Do you think you could be Lena Dunham’s friend?

Haha! Is she a fog enthusiast?

You know, she probably is haha! I really shouldn’t have conjoined those questions. But the question still stands.

Haha! I am sure we would get on well!

I think she'd annoy you eventually. Throughout the series, I’ve done a few hypothetical questions about music tastes or pitched music to interviewees, but I want to do something a bit more conventional here… in a Desert Island Discs situation, what three albums would you bring with you to be marooned with?

Oh dear. It would take me a year to think properly though that. Let’s see. 1. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - Self Titled Album, 2. Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday, 3. Of Monsters and Men - Beneath The Skin.

Very varied. I think you'd have something for every stage of madness that would develop from the sadness of being stranded! How much of a perfectionist are you when it comes to hanging/framing work for exhibitions?

Oh - I am the worst. It takes me forever.

What photographer do you feel has had the largest impact on your practice?

There are so many photographers at different stages of the processes that inspires me. Taryn Simon always comes back - her work really stands out with her surgical research and precise execution.

Do you have a favourite Constellation?

I do. But I have no idea of what it is called. It is like a tiny version of Orion’s Belt.

If you could be an insect for the day, what would you be? 

Even though I am a slow worker I absolutely would love to be a Globe Skimmer. During a season it flies from India to East- and Southern Africa - imagine what you would be able to see in a day.

How would I say farewell in Norsk?

VII. Ilyes Griyeb

With a style shaped predominantly by a fierce attention to emotive detail and an unwavering accuracy and discipline, Moroccan born and Paris based Ilyes Griyeb just had to be a part of the SEED project, if I could help it. His works, created predominantly in the country of his descendants, chronicles subjects both young and old, within an honest panorama of lament, laughter and luxury...

Dorrell Merritt: Hey Ilyes! I’m gonna start with the Q's if that’s cool? I saw recently on your Instagram that you’ve been shooting new work in Senegal. What drew you there, and how long were you working there?

Well, at first it was for a commission but that ended badly; the client really played me. I then I had two choices: either fly back to Paris or simply shoot the story for myself, without any professional constraints. Of course, I picked the second choice. It ended up that the people I met with and shot were absolutely fascinating and my Moroccan origins helped me a lot while I was there. Really good journey. I was there for approximately 12 days, but only shot during 4 of them.

Sounds great, but a real headache about the client! Was it an issue with pay etc? Did your origins help in a more cultural sense?

Well, the hotel wasn’t booked, the client was away all along… everything was completely messed up. I landed at 4am in Dakar, Senegal to learn all that! Yes, culturally for sure; being an African and a Muslim completely changed the way they saw me at first sight and instead of being a ‘babtou’ (white western male), I became an African average guy. They stopped harassing me with buying their artisanal gifts and started talking to me about their lives.

Many labour intensive mining communities have been documented before, but the Salt industry seems to be fairly overlooked. Were many of the men that you met with/interacted with, born into this industry, in the same way that many, say, Englishmen would have been born into mining communities?

I don’t think we can possibly call it an industry, even though this Salt is sold all over the country. It’s more of a community. The Salt Lake is free to anyone who wants to work there; all they ask for is hard work, integrity and honesty. Anyone who has the boat and the muscles can get to work there as his own boss.

So is it a dried Lake that’s harvested for Salt? Do most of the people that travel to this area to work, stay on a short or long term basis?

The lake itself is 3 metres deep with 1.5 metres of salt. People come from several countries to work there. I met people from Mali, who previously worked in Saudi Arabia in the skyscraper constructions; I shared with them a couple of arabic words they learned there. The largest part of workers there comes from the nearest village called Niaga.

And where do you currently live? Is it your hometown?

I currently live in Paris but I come from Meknes, in Morocco. Even though I grew up in south of France, I’d still say that I have two hometowns :)

So is most of your (past) works an exploration of your identity, as a French Moroccan, revisiting the lands of your family/predecessors?

I think we can say that. But my work is more about trying to reconnect two separate generations, and understand the origin of the disconnection between the generation of my parents. It’s also about the Western Dream, I guess, that totally killed a generation in Morocco...

Interesting. I try and avoid asking questions about film/photographic mediums etc, but Im intrigued as to how you fell in love with Medium Format Cameras, as I feel as if they are so inexplicably important to your style.

Medium Format came really naturally to me. All the photographers that I love, or most of them, are shooting Medium Format. There is a kind of, I don’t know, poetry in the image that I don’t find with 24x36. Maybe what I’m saying is total BS but it’s important to me to feel that I can get what I want with what I’m using.

Yeah; I guess it provides a lot of space for subjects to... breathe and exist with added context in the frames, if that makes sense…

They let me go with the flow, easily. When I’m with this huge camera in my hands, being at the right spot at the right moment with the right light… I’m just like a child. I love this feeling.

Invincibility, in knowing that everything has come together perfectly for that moment?

Yes.

I also saw that you recently visited Offprint bookfair in London. I’ve never been yet, but saw lots of hype about it on Twitter. Was it your first time and what did you make of it?

Well, I didn’t have the chance to go there actually…only my book (Moroccan Youth) did the trip. I was at this bachelor party… couldn’t cancel you know…

Ahh haha I see... have you ever been to London before?

Yes, last summer. I have a few friends there.

How do the creative scene and its opportunities of Paris, compare to London for you?

I don’t know much about the art scene in London, but my friends studying at Goldsmiths told me a little about it, and I feel like there is more freedom in London than Paris. London is more open city than Paris.

That’s interesting; you’re not the first French person I’ve met to say that. Changing the subject slightly... If you had to define yourself as an artist using any three of your images, what three would they be?

Hmm. Gimme a sec.

Sure man.

It’s really difficult though. Could they be pictures that I haven’t used yet?

Yeah for sure.

OK then these (1, 2, 3)

I love that BMW one. Im not sure if its the composition, or the lack of number plate or even the dust, but something always draws me to it, on your site. For many people, using Instagram as a means of self promotion is super obvious/a given. Though, many photographers abstain, and many more are undecided, trying to be less caught up in the new age of kudos heavy interactions. How useful is social media for you as a photographer, and how do you feel about its place in 21st century photography?

I had this exact conversations few weeks back with some friends and we ended up thinking that Instagram is still at the beginning of its life. I think that it is going to be our main content provider in years to come (if it’s not already, for a big amount of us). A lot of photographers I think, try to play hard to get, by not posting their personal work on Instagram, but this application is growing into a smart-media, full with very interesting images. It’s a world of emerging photographers ready to be known, and I’m thankful for that. It breaks the natural ways of magazine, galleries etc, and gives the ability to curate ourselves by ourselves and I think this freedom is important.

What would you say is your most visited, non-photographic account on there?

I don’t have a lot of real non photographic accounts on there but I follow some book editors. I love @drawdownbooks.

Your series ‘Moroccan Youth’ was one of the first that I had come across when discovering your work, and the impact of the combination of great scans, edits and exposures, with the informal and familiar approach you took with the subjects, gave it a real immersive and intimate quality. What was it like working with these subjects who were in some ways so Westernised in their lifestyles? Were they accepting of you, sharing things in common with them, or did they treat you like an outsider still?

‘Moroccan Youth’ is a very personal series to me, and about my hometown in Morocco as well as my cousin and his friends. They are all like family to me, so acceptance was not an issue at all; it’s more the contrary, I had to make them forget me for a while and forget that the camera was there. I really tried to give an inner vision of the Moroccan youth, being myself one of them, even though I’m slightly different, having being educated in a Western country. I took a lot of time to shoot it; to think about it, and try to narrate it in the more intimate/real way possible.

So it was a really chilled experience in terms of shooting?

Absolutely chill, and I really wanted it to be.

And of course, Fashion and Vehicle-culture play a big part of what makes the series so intriguing, and relatable in terms of say, British youth culture. How important would you say these things are to the youth in Morocco?

Those designer clothes and cars are the only things that they have to keep up with the Western dream many of them have. Being the ones that haven’t been able to leave their country, or aren’t willing to, they try to re-create this dream in their daily reality. For instance; motorcycles are shared by several people, and be sure that each one of them will claim it’s his in front of the girls etc.

And is it an overall emerging subculture of Western adaption, or has it been there for some decades now?

It’s been there for a while. It comes from the immigrants that made it to Europe and when they’d return in the summer, they’d bring their styles with them; their clothes. They’re also influenced by TV, since many have around 250 channels on their screens.

And is Hip-Hop culture prevalent there do you think?

Yes, Hip-Hop culture is the only western music culture allowed over there.

Allowed?

Yes, in a social sense. Like it’s a code. If you listen to rock’n roll you just look so strange to them. Hip-hop has always been the music of the working class I guess.

How good is your Hip-hop knowledge. I have a quote; I wanna see if you can guess the rapper.

Go on, I have a very good french Hip-Hop knowledge. Not sure I will get it though :)

“Do a donut then I hop out of the Benz; still in the hood like ATM’s that give tens”- a quote by Meyhem Lauren or RZA?

I’d say RZA, but I don’t know the other guy.

Haha incorrect! But in fairness, it’s a pretty cryptic quote. I’ve been missing skateboarding loads recently… I was wondering, can you skateboard?

Not at all. You skateboarders were kind of our enemies growing up haha.

And now look, everyone wants to skateboard! All of the subcultures have met in the middle, and in the middle is skateboarding and skate culture.

Skateboard has a major following nowadays, true.

Tell me a little bit about your upcoming work with Bromance Records.

They contacted me in a hurry asking me to shoot an EP cover for two beatmakers in Paris. Everything happened very quickly. I ended up shooting this thing 2 days later with Myth Syzer and Ikaz Boi. I don’t do a lot of commissioned work though. I try to keep my photography as much as personal as I can.

Fuck. Did you have ideas in mind, or..?

No, absolutely no idea. I gave the shoot location two hours before we started shooting and it ended up being in a drug dealing area in Paris! They threw some beer bottles from the 20th floor to makes us understand that we weren’t really welcome haha.

Haha sounds well sketchy. So as someone who has self published before; done several photography trips and has three well circulated series under their belt, how do you think you want to progress with your practice? Are things like galleries/gallerists on your radar at all? What's the future for you, do you think?

Well yes, I’ve had a few propositions before, but I’m really not in a hurry at all. I want to keep it natural; I wanna still feel like a child when I’m shooting in twenty years time. I don’t want it to seem like a job or something. I’m really emotional regarding work; I can give my best when I feel surrounded by good energies and the worse if the mood or vibe is the contrary. I also had some contact with the fashion world, but I’m not interested. I aim for galleries, for art fairs, etc, for sure but I’m waiting for them to come to me; If they come :)

Do you have a motto/credo?

Not really… but i like some of the 24 rules of Werner Herzog

Oh I remember those. Fuck I needed to read some of those; need that in my life… what’s your favourite breed of Dog?

Hmm Husky.

Last question. What do you think some photographers of our generation, forget about photography?

VI. Sophie Harris-Taylor.

Sophie’s work can be direct and poised, fleeting and distant, or beautifully improvised but what makes her work so special and enjoyable to look at is due not in part to an unfaltering and distinct consistency, and deep understanding of framing & lighting...

Sophie. Are you ready?

Hey yes!

Great! Straight in; Did you ever have a childhood/teenage nickname?

Not really, but I get called Mophs a lot by close friends.

And if I were to ask one of your friends what your signature dance move is, what would they most likely say?

Haha… I was at a wedding this weekend and got told I dance like someones Aunty.

Im not even sure if that's a vague compliment or an insult.

I think it was definitely an insult!

Looking over the your works completely, one theme I noticed in many series’ was that of psychological states, and documenting states of beings. Would it be fair to suggest that some of your series’ are in part, autobiographical at all?

Yes, most of my work is autobiographical; MTWTFSS series is most certainly the most personal to me. Its only really become apparent in recent years that although I’m representing aspects of other people, I’m seeking the aspects which I’m familiar with and which I can relate to the most. So I’m really often using them to express myself…

And what other themes do you think come most naturally (to you), to be drawn out in other people?

Our own relationship with ourselves and our bodies. Also, being comfortable or uncomfortable in our own skin...our ability to be vulnerable. Possibly as a woman, I’m slightly more intrigued to capture women and the aspects of life which goes with being a woman. Themes such as the everyday and mundanity of life occur as well as, relationships...

And how does that link with MTWTFSS? Tell me a little bit about the series; are the subjects all friends, or are some less familiar?

For me it links completely with this series... almost all the subjects are very close friends, the people that I believe to know me the most (with one or two exceptions). Everyone in the series has been in some way significant in my life. When I first started taking these pictures (about 8 years ago), I purely wanted to capture my closest friends (well that’s what I thought), but it became apparent that I was using them to capture myself in some way. Self portraits weren’t for me (and still aren’t!). For the last few years, the shoots have been less frequent, some of them months apart, while others, only days. In the periods where I haven’t been shooting I’ve felt like I lost the ability to express myself. These people give me that ability back and without them this work wouldn’t be here.

So what did you enjoy about shooting so freely in that diaristic style, in comparison to the planning and constraints of say, a studio?

I never really try and constrain myself even when shooting in a studio and only ever shoot with natural or available light. For me the diaristic style, I guess feels inevitably a lot more natural; the shots aren’t a set up, they are real spaces, real people and private moments happening at the time. Im in awe of my friends who are able to let down their guard and ignore the camera; this approach is much more difficult when shooting in a studio, because it becomes about taking a portrait of someone and taking them out of their truth.

And of course the publication for your MTWTFSS series has began funding (really impressively with ¾ raised with 21 days to go) on Kickstarter! What has it been like, having had such a positive reaction?

I know! Its been amazing. I was putting it off for so long because of the fear of failing and the overall fear of having my voice out there, as I’m not someone that finds it easy to put themselves out there. But I’m truly so grateful for the support from everyone and the comments I’ve received. fingers crossed we will make it, because the work is so personal and was never intended to be a series or a book. It happened so organically but at the same time, it wasn’t something I had planned like other series, so it does feel strange to be releasing it.

And it's your first publication?

Yes my first publication, I’ve made a couple of one off craft-like books in the past but nothing that I’ve ever tried to publish really.

I also noticed that between your series based and personal work, that you also shoot some fashion stuff too. How do you find the shift from working with working solely for yourself with a familiar subject, to working with a stranger and with/for a team?

For me, working with a friend and someone I’m familiar with feels completely natural and whether I’ve got my camera on me or not it feels like we are hanging out and not doing a shoot. So I try my best to recreate that with any other subjects I shoot, this includes, models, musicians etc... I would never be able to pick up my camera without having a conversation with someone beforehand (I have actually had to do that before and it didn’t go very well!).  I want people to open up to me, to let their guard down and feel comfortable with the camera there and with me. Shooting for me is very much a collaboration and I don’t ever want to exploit people in my work. I think it helps being quite an open person, and more often than not, subjects have often gone on to become some really good friends.

So how much of a role would you say sexuality plays within your work, overall?

I don’t think it really plays much of a part at all, its never something I’ve thought about when making the work. Obviously I shoot a lot of people without their clothes, but I don’t think these image are sexual per se... Do you?!!

Haha, some of them, to a lesser extent. There are some that come across... in a dynamic, dramatic way as opposed it just being straightforward sexual. Like some of those you shot with Yuka for example. But, I also feel as if Stay, is fairly sexual in one way or another... maybe not in the way of desire, but it explores male sexuality and the idea of tension, but I could be very wrong. Do you feel as a female photographer that it would be easier to convey aspects of sexuality through male or female subjects?

Yeah I guess. Stay, I guess does seem a little sexual, most of these men have quite a sexual energy so I guess that comes across. I never really try and convey sexuality even in the pictures of my partner, this doesn’t come across so I don’t think I find it easier one way or the other.

Have you read John Berger’s Ways of seeing?

Yes, a very long time ago though, so I hope you’re not about to quiz me!

Not at all! I actually nearly didn’t create a question about it; it’s almost too obvious a book to reference! Nethertheless I was flicking through the other day, and stumbled on his famous section on nakedness vs nudity. In regards to your work, you work actively with both the naked (unconscious; un staged) and the nude (the unclothed body, made to seem as an object of art), which when I thought about it was to some extent, uncommon. Do you think either one within the current generation of photographers, has a greater potential to challenge how the female body is perceived?

I guess at the moment candid nakedness is pretty trendy within contemporary photography and the nude as a piece of art is something that we feel we’ve seen time and time again - and almost always becomes a comparison between the likes of Bill Brandt, Helmet Newton etc. I personally like to work with both for different reasons: nakedness for me is more about our own relationship with our bodies and the nudes are more a study of the body - but for instance in Slight Wounds, the images were as much about the body itself as well as the importance our bodies have on our life and as a reflection of our life. So I guess for me, both still have relevance and a place today. I think its easier today to use nakedness to challenge our ideals surrounding female maintenance of beauty though. I guess because its more fashionable, people are more likely to look at that kind of work than a traditional nude.

So out of interest, what draws you to a subject, when looking for those to collaborate with?

Their ability to be completely comfortable in front of the camera where nothing about the camera fazes them, and their ability to show their vulnerability, their insecurities and self doubt. This is what fascinates me and allows me to understand them better and hopefully one day be comfortable with who I am. I’ve photographed before some of the most beautiful people but have found the experience incredibly dull. Having nothing behind the eyes of the sitter isn’t for me.

Do you ever street-cast?

Yes I have done; not as much nowadays but occasionally I’m drawn to someone I see in the street. It might be their mannerisms, their style, their skin and I can’t take my eyes of them and want to get to know them through photographing them.

So, you’re basically a stalker?

Very much so!! Hah.

I hope you don’t find it nosy of me to ask, but do you feel as if being represented by an agency changes the way in which you are perceived, in regards to being emerging?

Its not something I’ve given much thought to having only recently become represented. But ask me the same thing in a few years. For me though, it’s been incredible to have someone who is so supportive of my personal work and someone to openly speak to and encourage me. As an artist it can be pretty solitary and most of the time you feel you’re making your work for yourself and its not something you feel others give a shit about, but having someone who represents you does give you a boost in what you’re doing.

And tell me a little about your upcoming exhibition. What works will be shown and where?

Im really excited as it’s my first major solo show. The work will be taken from MTWTFSS so the really personal diary moments from the last 5 years. It a new gallery, Spencer Murphy will be the first show and I’m the second (so a tough one to follow)! The book will be launched at the same time.

So let’s hypothesise here. You’ve borrowed a mates car to drive to the seaside. Real old thing. On the motorway you open the glove box to look for some music to play. There are only two tapes: King Diamond- Abigail or Grauzone- Grauzone. What, if any, do you decide to play?

Just had to google; would have to say Grauzone, my heavy metal days are over!!!

What Country/City feels the most like home, for you?

London, I was born here and have never felt the need to leave.

Im quite surprised actually; I'd seen you'd done a fair bit of travelling in MTWTFSS so thought it might be elsewhere.

I love spending time away with friends and yeah quite a bit of the work gets made when I’m away but theres nothing like coming home.

A population of feral Hippos reside in Columbia because of Drug Baron Pablo Escobar? True or False?

True! (Im very gullible).

Haha correct. Lastly; better choice- Pizza in bed, or wine in the bath?

V. Eric Ruby.

A vibrant pursuit of the unexpected, the uncanny and the unpretentious, would be the best way to describe the approach of California dweller Eric Ruby, whose series’ and website, both colourful in their own respective ways, had me intrigued from the first time I came across them…

Dorrell Merritt: Eric, you there?

Eric Ruby: Yeah, hey.

Nice one. I’ll try and keep it brief as I know you have work in a bit. I actually wanted to start the interview by getting your opinion on movie reboots. What do you think is going to be worse: Power Rangers, or Ghostbusters?

Hmm. Well technically I don’t think Power Rangers would be a movie reboot. But I imagine they’ll both be pretty bad.

Yeah; basically they’re remaking the 1996 one. I think Melissa McCarthy is going to be in Ghostbusters. Infact, its an all female cast.

Oh, could be alright then?

I like your optimism. So give me a brief history of your photographic life thus far: did you study photography, or progress independently?

I somehow have two degrees in Photography. For Undergrad, I went to Rochester Institute of Technology. Then lived in Minnesota for four years then moved to Boston and got my MFA at Massart. I like to think I still have my own path though.

And what degree do you think shaped you the most as a photographer?

Probably my Undergraduate one.

Was that more due to the course itself, or the lecturers, do you think?

I approached Grad school more as a intensive residency for a practice I had already sustained, so as for my tastes/formation of my style practice it was developed (pun intended) earlier on.

(Haha nicely done). Flattery aside, I think there are a lot of photographers out there that try and do what you do, and fail ultimately. When I first came across your website, I began to notice your penchant for filling the frames of your images, sometimes dramatically, which with their tones and dramatic lighting set you aside from others completely. Infact, many of your fruit compositions, though often taken from unconventional angles, have a real painterly feel to them despite their modern lighting. What do you like the most about working within your style?

Thanks for the compliment; I think it’s maybe hard to talk objectively about what I like about my own style… but I’ve always made pictures just by following my own interests (compositionally) and trying to experiment and push my own limitations of how much/how little can be put in the frame. When it boils down to it, if it’s a boring picture to me, why even bother making it? Im also definitely inspired by other almost all media art and non-art included.

How long would you say that you’ve been working in the more, improvised style, that you’ve become known for? In terms of your other inspirations, what would you say they are?

I’d say since the day I graduated from undergrad. I would say my heaviest influences are Peter Fischli and David Weiss. Their mindset of working was incredible, especially collaboratively.

Im gonna google them. (Googles). Yeah I like it, very surreal…

One of my favourite pieces is “The Green Flash”. It was a slowly spinning little table thing with a plastic cup that would spin as well. There was a flashlight that would shine through the cup and when it was at the right angle, it simulated “The Green Flash”: the phenomena of green light flashing as the Sun sets on the horizon. But the action of passing out this natural phenomena from a planetary scale to some household objects was dumbfounding to me.

Yeah thats pretty intense. The transformational quality and seeing the potential in such an mundane object kinda comes through in your work as well. And for the majority of your works, you document as a spectator; a passer by, friend, neighbour… is this way of working so fleetingly and sporadically parallel with your personality?

More and more my personality as a person has become conflated with my identity as a photographer, since the two are essentially inseparable… although, sometimes when I look at my own pictures I feel like they were taken by some other third party, a fictional story teller. That’s something I’ve been trying to embrace as of late.

And I saw the section on your site dedicated to portraits of yourself, by other people. How does taking photos compare, with you being in front of the camera?

The whole premise for doing the pictures of me series was based on a curiosity about how other people would apply their photographic style to me. I completely let go and let people do what they want. I’ve never really had an issue letting go of control; a lot of my own pictures I don’t look through the camera even. Having faith/trust is important to my practice.

So, in a way, you’re kind of a muse haha? You’ve sat for a lot of great photographers too.

I really kind of like being photographed, it’s usually a collaborative experience. I wouldn’t go as far as muse though, ha. Almost all of the interactions were orchestrated by me. As far as I know, no one has used the pictures for any other purpose either.

Nethertheless its a nice collection of images. I like the progression of them as time goes by. It's a nice panorama. What’s your stance on neo-folk music?

Hmm, what artists?

King Dude

Can’t say I know him.

I was listening to this when working on your Q’s. I want to see what you think. Pretty nice album. Not really summer listening though

(Listens). Kind of sounds like Bill Callahan.

From Smog?

Yeah. At the moment, King Dude is not really my vibe. But it could be the weather.

Yeah, he’s a real Winter artist truth be told. I should check out more Smog actually too. So what are you currently working on, photographically?

I just got back from being in Moscow for a month, shot a ton, so trying to figure out what that will be for. Also trying to print my thesis book from a couple years ago, and I’ve been making some new wall pieces where I mount pictures on fabric that I dye different colours. Juggling.

And will the images that you created by compiled next to ones shot back home, or is it a completely separate series?

Yet to be determined; Most likely they will be grouped together, but if there’s some that fit with something else, then they will fit.

Changing the subject slightly, I was wondering recently about artistic struggle, financially, and how little it comes up in interviews.. I mean apart from the costs of studio rental or film costs, younger artists/media outlets seem less inclined to speak about the realities of being an artist; doing awful jobs for years on end to make ends meet etc. How important do you feel artistic struggle is to the development of an artist?

As they say, it’s a labor of love. It’s kind of fucked up, but that’s the way of the world and I think you just have to navigate the best way you can. For instance, I started self-publishing because it’s something I wanted to do as I enjoy making things and having them be out in the world. If your goal is to make money, pick a different career. That being said, I’ve always tried to work jobs that cater to my life. Jobs where I can take time off, go on trips, with little to no consequences. Also, being able to take advantage of the facilities of the places i’ve worked for making my own work i.e. scanning, printing. I think doing weird jobs also contributes to aesthetics and general experience.

And do you think your own struggle has helped you pace yourself, be patient, optimistic…?

Ha, I don’t think I’m waiting for anything. My goal is to keep myself happy with the work I’m making, if something comes of it great, but if not, that’s fine too.

Where do you work, out of interest?

Right now, I work for Jim Goldberg as his printer/book designer/file management guy. but I also freelance print, design for other people and galleries etc.

Bloody hell! Nice one. Do you think you could pinpoint a specific image that changed the way you saw photography as a whole? If so, what was it and who was it by?

I think maybe that Koudelka dog picture. 

Yeah, I just had a look. Pretty ominous. Why that one in particular? Im intrigued as its very different to the images you make.

I think just because of the incredible mood it creates. All the elements of the picture are simple and I’m sure the Dog wasn’t mean or anything; it just represents photography’s ability to take things completely out of context. Another one would be a John Divola picture from “Zuma“.

So what other emerging photographer would you say has the perfect combination of talent and consistency?

My close friend Dan Boardman. He’s a huge inspiration to me, and his new work is incredible.

If you could get tattooed by one person for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Myself. Stick and pokes are fun. also, can only blame myself if it’s fucked up.

Haha yes for sure; there’s a book worth looking up which talks all about it. Has a lot by a guy called Fergadelic (who designs all the Palace Skateboards stuff). Cant remember the name of the book though**. Jeff Wall or Gregory Crewdson?

Neither. So fucking boring.

Hmm. Ok I’ll put you on the spot. Jim Goldberg or Alec Soth?

Both haha. They both have very different sensibilities…

Haha… Off the top of your head, could you give me a British idiom?

I’m gonna need to search.

Sure.

Don’t know if this is actually british, but according to this website it is, “lose your lunch?”.

___

IV. Dan Mariner.

British born, Norway based Dan Mariner’s work is undoubtably amongst the strongest within the current generation of emerging British practitioners. Walking the line between documentary and fine art practices, his images are direct as they are subtle, honest as they are ruminative; bound to tradition but shaped by the contemporary...

Dan Mariner: Greetings.

Dorrell Merritt: Hey man, right on time.

Dan Mariner: (sunglasses emoji).

Dorrell Merritt: Although this is probably the most anticipated interview for SEED thus far, with us both having clashing schedules, it’s also the one prepared in the least amount of time, so bear with me- it’s been a funny few days, rounded off with a friday spent pressing meat-pies! Anyhow, tell me a little about Norway; how long have you been there and did you relocate for a particular project, or for your photographic practice in general?

Haha pressing meat pies sounds like an interesting job. I have lived in Norway for just over a month now. My girlfriend is Norwegian and I live with her in a small city called Bodø: a port city situated just over 100 km inside the Arctic Circle. The surrounding land/seascapes are breathtaking and I fell in love with the place straight away. We decided to relocate from London as we wanted to focus more on our practice as artists and both felt like the current economic climate in London is not conducive to making art. We both feel as if London is a fantastic place to learn from and grow your network of contacts, however in terms of a long term artistic career, we needed to live in a place were the work/life dynamic is more balanced. We miss the cultural diversity of the city, but we are only a short flight away and as the Norwegian contemporary art scene is so strong, we are delighted to be a part of it.

Right by the sea too, sounds pretty amazing. I can totally relate to the struggles and perils of somewhere so opportunistic and yet, so greedy as London is. How have you found adjusting to the difference in culture and language?

Im adjusting well to the changes, partly because my girlfriend has slowly introduced me to the culture and I’ve been preparing for a while. I really admire the Norwegian culture; they have a beautiful awareness and appreciation of nature, their country and traditional values. Lots of emphasis is placed on work-life balance which creates a really relaxed and calm society. In terms of language, I am currently learning Norwegian and can get by at a basic level. Most Norwegians speak perfect English and are extremely accommodating towards me as I get up to speed with the language.

So how would you greet someone informally in Norsk, for example?

The Norwegian language is like the Norwegian mentality: very straight to the point, so it would usually be just a swift "Heia".

Interesting! How would one say ‘No’? I was thinking the other day that basic Yes' and No's are similar through lots of european countries that aren’t directly linked i.e Scots Gaelic- Nae/Aye, German, Nein/Ja

It is Nei here too. There are many parallels that can be draw with Scandinavian languages and European languages. Structurally they are quite different but some words are very similar.

Yeah for sure; I think more isolated places have language links because of early seafarers. I know Scotland and Liverpool have a few for example... I’ve also seen that you often collaborate with your girlfriend (Marianne Bjørnmyr) quite a lot. Do you work on projects in tandem, as well as publications/exhibitions?

With her being my girlfriend and us both living and breathing visual art, we are alway bouncing ideas and concepts off each other. In terms of serious collaborations, we tend to keep our personal practice separate but collaborate on smaller projects like publications and commissions. We are actually, currently working on a art book project that focuses on the mineral, Salt. As Salt itself is so intrinsic to the photographic process, we’re interested in how the two come together to document history. Once all the submitted material for the project’s open call is gathered, we’ll curate the images into a book which will be published later this year. So far we have had some incredible submissions from as far afield as Argentina! (If anyone is interested in submitting for this you can find more details here).

It’s funny you mention Salt as I was just looking at the works of Ilyes Griyeb who has been documenting the Salt industry in Senegal. It looks/seems like one of the more under-looked mining industries in photography, but with so much potential and amazing landscapes/stories to tell. Not to put you on the spot (not sure she will see this) but what would you say is your most fond series of Marianne’s, and why?

To date is would have to say it would be the series Shadow/Echoes. She perfectly captures the mythical nature to the subject both technically and conceptually.  We met during the time she was producing the show and I had the privilege to see the project in an early stage.

So your series: ‘High Rise Honey’- where abouts in London was the project shot, and what was the overall aim of the project?

The series was shot in collaboration with the London School of Economics at their Central London campus near Covent Garden. I spent some time with them while they collected honey and recorded data from the hives. They were primarily focused on looking at how bees deal with living inside at hostile and chaotic place like Central London.

I also wanted to point out that I reckon ‘High Rise Honey’ could have equally been a 90’s r’nb hit title as well! Joke aside though, how do you find the titling process for series’ and do you ever struggle in naming projects?

(Hahaha) Yeah that would be epic! Naming projects is always a tricky business. I usually start off with a rough title for the piece that would evolve as the series does. ‘High Rise Honey’ was a fairly obvious choice for me as it combines elements of what the series is about. My latest project ‘Drake’s Folly’ was an entirely different beast altogether. I must have had about ten different titles before I settled on the final choice. I think that the titling of a series is a really important process, as it can be used as a vehicle to convey a concept inside the series.

I definitely agree. I liked ‘Drake’s Folly’ as a title. Folly in particular sounds archaic, and almost... like an Old English nickname for a local place of interest. You know like when like a Megalith or Gorge in the middle of nowhere have names like... The Devil’s Punchbowl etc. It sets the scene, with an element of poetic history to it. ‘Drake’s Folly’ as a project seems like your most lengthy and ambitious series to date. I think I first came across the images while they were exhibited at Printspace, but wasn’t fully aware of the project back then. What was the starting point for the series and whose story were you attempting to share through the project?

Nice analogy. I wanted to create a title that, as you said, set the scene for a historical tale. The starting point for the piece was OIL; I am interested in environmental topics that concern society so I felt it was a good starting point, given that it’s one of our most important and controversial commodities. I wanted to make a project on this topic for some time now, but wanted to steer away from the classic (Edward) Burtynsky approach of pretty pictures of OIL production sites and waste facilities. I wanted to focus on the ‘Genesis of Oil’. During my research phase, I came across a Town in Pennsylvania, USA called Titusville. It’s often billed as the town in the ‘Valley that changed the world’ due to the fact that in 1859 a man called Edwin Drake became the first person to commercially extract the crude oil that seeps from the ground in the area. This discovery paved the way for the modern petroleum industry and kickstarted the industrial revolution, thus changing the world forever. I wanted to focus on the struggle that Drake encountered during his efforts of oil extraction while photographing key sites and people of importance left behind today. I also wanted to show the incredible regenerative power of nature and its ability to heal itself over time. As I retraced the steps of the early OIL industry, I found it hard to imagine the massive feat of human endeavour that took place over 150 years ago.

And how did you find the planning process? Did it take several trips to the States to complete it entirely?

As for all of my projects, I like to engage in an intensive period of research prior to taking the idea forward. I really like to check the feasibility of the idea and whether or not it will be relevant and worth investing considerable time and money into it. We all want to make projects that interest us, but it’s always worth considering the practicalities first. Once the research period had finished, I set about contacting the relevant people of the ground in Titusville to set up guides and meetings with historical groups. I then set about the logistical side of the project by booking flights, cars, and accommodation. I spent just under 3 weeks in the area carrying around my Large Format camera and changing dark slides in a small motel.

It was shot on Large Format! Bloody Hell- I know how heavy and troublesome they can be. Is Drake’s legacy still present in such a tiny place as Titusville, even after having changed this epoch of human civilisation so drastically, so long ago?

Yes, primarily Large Format. I also had my Medium Format came on me for more spontaneous moments. I became know as that crazy British guy with a huge camera. The inhabitants of the town are hugely proud of Drake’s legacy. They are proud of how his work has changed civilisation for better or worse.

And do you feel a sense of pride, having completed such an extensive project in such a brief amount of time?

Yeah of course, but its all down to planning at the end of the day. I made it a hell of a lot easier for my self by implementing a rigorous planning strategy from the get-go. However, I was lucky with the weather and the people that helped me during the process both at home and on location. You also have to be technically confident in order to delivery imagery in the knowledge that you only really have one opportunity to do so.

Onto the topic of politics... I sometimes feel as if photography seems so troubled; whimsical articles praising exhausted fads, mundane online arguments, questionable ethics by competitions and sponsors alike. What as an artist frustrates or annoys you, about the photographic world?

Great question; I think, like any segment of society and culture there will be fads, imitators and hype and the photography scene is just another reflection of society. I think the main gripe I have with the photographic scene is regarding paying artists. Photographers are their own worst enemy at times, as they often sacrifice paid work for exposure. We collectively need to stand up to financial inequality and push for standardised pay structures. I think The U.K. has a massive problem with this issue and needs to address it quickly if they want to maintain their stature within the art world. You raise the point about sponsorship and competitions; I personally think long and hard about whether or not to enter fee based competitions because I'm a big advocate of artistic work being judged on merit and not on the ability to be able to pay for an entry. It really is just another form of elitism. Conversely however, I understand that there are going to be costs associated with running a competition but to charge £30, £40, £50 for an entry is a joke in my opinion and really saddens me that once again capitalism is getting in the way of art. Like many sectors nowadays, the photography scene and photographers are struggling to monetise their activities. This comes with the inevitable pitfalls and ethical dilemmas that need to be addressed ethically and fairly. I think if I had any advice for younger photographers thinking of entering competitions that are only going to profit from entries, I’d say to think very carefully before paying insane fees to enter graduate talent competitions. Go and make some engaging and strong imagery instead. Great work will always find its way to the top.

I couldn’t agree more. I got an email from BJP two weeks ago offering me 25% off my next entry but when you break down how much they make  and profit from entries in total, surely the costs should be halved- at very minimum. I guess though, it’s better to aim to be in photography for a long time, and not necessarily a good time i.e. the fame and exposure promised by these competitions actually isn’t going to guarantee smooth sailing thereon (not that I’m in a position to give advice!).

Absolutely. I know a few photographers that have won major prizes at an early age and as a result, many feel a massive pressure to perform better than the last project. This has a really negative effect on their practice as an artist moving forward for the future. My mentality is that the slow and steady approach is best. Photography is a marathon, not a sprint.

Precisely. So, now for some happier questions... Im just going to shoot with a hypothetical. You go to your local bar and you don’t realise it but it’s Cocktail night. Everything except two cocktails are off the menu: ‘Screwdrivers’ or ‘Sidecars’. What one do you choose?

I’d roll with the Screwdriver.

With Norway being the official/un-official home of Black Metal, I feel as if I couldn’t not ask a Black Metal question! Based on the names alone, what would you nominate as your (new) favourite band of said genre: Darkthrone or Gorgoroth.

Darkthrone! It creates a heavy and threatening mood.

Haha yes it does indeed; though Gorgoroth are an intense band themselves. How would you best describe your Modus Operandi in a sentence of less than 10 words?

Impartial insights into society usually left uncovered by commercial media.

Lastly, what are Sundays best spent doing?

III. Emma Bäcklund. Teetering between some of the more obscure photographic genres, is the work of Swedish born, London based photographic artist Emma Bäcklund, whose largely black & white catalogue of works and series' has built a reputation for creating gentle, uncanny and demonstrative images surrounding the human experience and beyond...

Dorrell Merritt: Hey Emma!

Emma Backlund: Hi there!

Are you at the Gallery right now? Is it for the Miniature Worlds exhibition, that you mentioned in our previous emails?

Yes, it’s a group show with AETHER, focusing on artists who are interested in astronomy, or the uncanny.

And what has the preparation process been like for that?

It was quite straightforward as I knew I wanted to include images of otherworldly landscapes and spaces beyond the corporeal.

And will it all be new works?

Yes, but not my most recent... a lot has happened since January. While studying, I feel that ideas and thoughts develop in a fast pace as you are constantly working intensively with your practice and theory each week.

As if the ritual and repetition causes you to renew your perspective in a way that’s too critical?

Not necessarily the repetition itself... you are surrounded by other artists making work all the time and conversations move ideas forward and even though I feel they move forward quickly, I am not necessarily abandoning previous ideas. I think it’s less a static process and more a fluid one.

The majority of your photographic work seems to stem from theoretical approaches; namely the psychological and anatomical... was there a specific starting point for approaching work in this way?

Yes, you’re right, I often take photographs based on a thinking process and I am often inspired by philosophy, behaviour, psychology, contemporary dance and neuroscience; how they all affect our idea of reality and what it means to exist in a physical body. These core ideas I constantly go back to are very much rooted in my background in contemporary dance. I am inspired by artists who work with performance and choreography such as Yvonne Rainer and Anna Teresa De Keersmaker etc. Although I am inspired by movement, it is often the still photograph I work with.

It’s funny you mentioned dance because I picked up on the choreographic aspect of your work, in your series Leka (to play), when preparing my questions. How choreographed/pre-meditated were the images within Leka?

I prefer to work as naturally as possible and don’t want to control the image too much when working with people. I like the idea of keeping it open to let things in not planned and to work with the people I photograph. Leka itself,  was based on games me and my sister used to play when we were children. The people in the images reenact these games and they got into the games which made them more present and less aware of the camera.

So it’s almost like a visualisation or interpretation of your own memories? To what extent did you explain the rules to them?

I gave them all drawings of the games :)

So what does an average day as Emma Bäcklund consist of?

An average day ideally starts with Yoga, and I usually spend the rest of the day at RCA. I try to go to private views and exhibitions as there are plenty but sometimes I feel it’s better to not take too much in specially when you are working with your own project. I also work in a gallery as you know.

And are you a breakfast person?

Yes, would never skip it. I’m really slow in the morning and need that calm to start the day.

Haha; so what is your go-to choice?

Usually... coffee, juice, muesli and yoghurt.

Would you say that you come from a creative family?

Yes, there was always creativity when I was growing up. Everyone was working with art in one way or another.

Your parents...?

Yeah, my Dad is a part-time painter and my Mom works in an opera house with the costumes. Also, my Sister is a sculptor and my Dad’s wife is a photographer and teacher too.

And do you think that these experiences and interactions with such a contrast of artistic entities, consciously affects your practice?

Yes I think it does, inevitably. I talk to my sister a lot and she gives good advice. I think all these parts affect how you see the world and what you are interested in. The ideas are important, without them I would not do photography. Photography is just a medium that I use to communicate these ideas but I’m also working with sculpture, dance, writing and moving image. Often it is what I cannot explain with words or what I find complex, that I want to explore, and the challenge is to find a visual approach to present it in a way that is simple.

I noticed that Leka appears to the first series in which you work directly and 'explicitly' (not in the literal sense) with human subjects, Was that a welcomed transition for you?

Yes.. I always work in the slippage between the absence and presence of the body. A year ago I worked on another series Phantom Limbs, where I placed myself in front of the camera to create a bodily presence which dissolves in the void of the photograph.

But, did it feel as if you were entering new territory in your artistic development, in going from working in an almost abstract way to something that contained things like facial expressions, gazes, human to human contact...?

Yes perhaps one could say that. My series Phantom Limbs was challenging for me, as I let go of the control of making the image but had control of the body that was in it. Now I am working with the reverse, in control of the image but not of the bodies. I think it is a shift and I like it and would like to work with it more, as a collaboration between me and the persons performing the bodily act which may also take form in moving image.

Would you say that working without colour imagery is intrinsic to your practice; and if so, why?

I would say that, but I also don’t want to limit myself. It could always change. At the moment though, I am working with black and white. The reason for this is partly because it takes an image out of context further than it already does. It removes it from what would be ‘real’ for the eye, as we do not experience the world in black and white. Another main reason for this is because l often emphasise on form(s) without context or surrounding and colour does not really have a meaning to exist within that. Colour also symbolises a lot in the image that I would perhaps not want to be communicated. I also like printing black and white and the various choices of paper and techniques one can use. This can change the image completely and it becomes more of an object and a bodily act in the process of making.

And I also noticed that you write poetry. What was the last poem you worked on?

Yes, I started to write in relation to my dissertation that I recently began. I like playing with rhythm in the text and to write almost... fragmented. They are not thought through but mostly written intuitively. The last one I worked on was called “Bread Crumbles and Concrete Floor”.

Oh yeah I saw that one; I liked the "Crumbles" in the title; makes it seem innocent and almost detached at the same time. I have a theoretical question prepared; let’s see how it fares... If you lost consciousness and when you woke up, could only remember the complete works of one poet for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Wow (haha), let me think. I really like Jean-Luc Nancy, but he is more a writer theorist writing poetically. I like his book “The Fall of Sleep” (it’s very short). It’s about presence and absence and how sleep is an absence which reverses itself, and makes us truly present in our own self, so maybe he’d be my choice.

Changing the subject slightly, I was re-reading a conversation between Hans Ulrich Obrist and Wolfgang Tillmans from 2007, and Hans remarked on Tillman’s ability to not only be one of the few of his generation to see himself as an artist, but also to use the magazine and commercial photography as much as an equal medium/path of sharing work, as say, a Gallery. Do you feel that nearly ten years on, as an artist, that there is still the opportunity to make a transition from art to more commercial or editorial worlds in photography?

He pushes established ideas of beauty and revalued the everyday and overlooked. He also bends platforms for where art should exist. Artists are merging art and commercial now as well vice versa, but it has become a norm or trend. I think that there are even more doors open to this way of working now, disciplines are becoming blurred. With internet and virtual platforms new spaces emerge for artists that becomes more accessible to use and to perceive. Sharing art and new technology affects notions of perception and duration. But freedom comes with limitations, a saturation of images and art online almost makes it transparent. When Tillmans first crossed disciplines of fine art and commercial it was not as acceptable as it is now. Why his work is so influential is because he is open to various contexts for it to exist within, from the use of recent poster works in relation to the EU campaign to his installations in National Museums of Art blended with old paintings.

I sometimes feel as if there is a genre that has emerged and has been standardised, of non-commercial, commercial photography, which was born from his era and from his works. So would you lend your style to say... a fashion campaign, if asked?

I think the non-staged look is nice, and like the feel of the everyday within fashion photography. I don’t really work like this though. I think that if I did a fashion campaign I would definitely want to use the forms and shapes of bodies or a body to push the image and the way we are used to seeing clothes on a body in a fashion campaign.

I think it would be an interesting outcome; with the subtly and gentleness of your style. So what would you say is your most accomplished image or series?

Oh I can’t tell! I feel that every project was somehow important, but as all other ideas have influenced where I am now I suppose the project I am working on now is the most interesting for me, although it has not been formed yet. Perhaps that’s what I like about it, still yet to come.

Finding 50p in your pocket is most likely to end up being spent on ____?

Chocolate / Given away.

Will we find intelligent life in the universe, or will it find us first?

(sorry, have a visitor in the gallery... just a sec...)

I can’t imagine any of it. It seems that we are too eager to find ourselves elsewhere, in unexplored yet unvisited places.

What one Swedish dish do you miss the most?

II. Ted Homer.

The works of Landscape photographer Ted Homer possess the longevity and dynamism of someone two or even three times his age. Borrowing from the great’s of the genre, in both paint and photo, he is able to almost steal the scenes he depicts, with a gentle eye and delicate hand. After several failed attempts at the hands of almost simultaneous illnesses, we finally caught up for a transatlantic interview.

Dorrell Merritt: So we finally got there; first with me being ill, and then you! Are you better?

Ted Homer: Yeah! I’m back up and running. How about you?

Yeah all good now. Three weeks worth of flu got me worried. I heard it could have been Swine Flu, but I don’t know how true that is. Anyhow, I’m going to dive right in with the tricky questions. What’s your full name?

Bloody hell! Well I’ve always be called Ted, but on my passport it’s Edward Homer.

And can you tell me a historical fact about Gloucestershire that I wouldn't have known, before now (without googling).

I’ll tell you one that I was told a couple of weeks ago (though I can’t find any evidence that it’s true): The Forest of Dean (district within Gloucestershire) was the last area of the U.K to have a Police force. It fits the place! It’s like the Wild-West over there!

I had a fact ready but it was much more boring- Gloucester Cathedral has the largest stained glass window in Britain. So your most recent series, the eponymously titled Gloucestershire, documents the county unbiasedly, examining the ancient setting of civilisation as it teeters between modernity and history. Were there any anxieties in trying to do it justice photographically as a native dweller?

I’ve found it really hard not to make it look too sublime and beautiful, which I’ve found really strange. Most of the time, the work I create is more cold than it is beautiful, so a couple of times over the last year or so I’ve had to tell myself NO and keep myself shooting what I really want.

And did you discover a side to Gloucestershire that you previously weren’t aware of?

Massively so! When I moved away to go University, I remember my childhood in the area and forget about the poverty in some other areas, alongside the other extreme of wealth. So coming back after 6 years I’ve learnt a lot about the county and how different areas need and have different things. And in a way, forgotten my childhood view of it.

Had you always lived in Gloucestershire before University?

Yep. Born and bred, like my Dad and his Dad and his Dad. I think that’s as far as it goes back!

Being able to trace your lineage back that far makes the project even more personal for sure. So what made you want to turn the camera on your home County and why strictly through Landscapes?

There was a shift for me at some point when producing previous work, where I realised that I had a lot to find out about the place. It happen when I was spending a penny in Cinderford (Forest of Dean) and I saw a sharps bin for needles in this little town in the Forest. You get used to things like that living in a city but it’s the last thing to expect in a sleepy town.  It’s a very personal project for me and I think it’s aided me but also challenged me. Landscapes talk to me better than a Portrait ever would. I always find it very hard to find a place for a Portrait in my work and to try and say what I’m really trying to say. I think a field-image would say it better than a face would.

Have you ever shot Portraits?

In the past, mainly at Uni with mixed success! I think behind the camera I’m much more shy than in real life and that has played as a factor in past. But with this series, when I show people in the scenes it’s because I want to show them relating to the land. Maybe in the future I’ll start with actual Portraits, who knows?

A Self-Portrait series perhaps? (haha). How do you feel about the place of the Landscape image, among our generation of photographers? Do you think it is important to borrow from the painterly, stoic and larger format users of previous generations, or better to embrace more contemporary approaches?

You never know? I’m big on using painters to form my research; mostly 1800s era to get their view a more traditional approach to the land. Their paintings talk; there’s conversations in them that if you could get in a photo you would be laughing at. Landscape photography is still strong in our generation; I think people rush abroad to get the big Landscape when we’re so lucky to have every sort of Landscape that you could dream of, in the UK.

I agree! The Peak District for instance (in my experience) is pretty much several worlds within one. Do you feel like there is an element of elitism in Landscape photography i.e. using larger film formats, editing images a certain way etc.

Definitely, especially on what formats people use. I used a 10x8 and a 5x4 camera in the past because that’s what was pushed my way; you do Landscapes? well use this! But I’ve settled for Medium Format at the moment and it works well with my process of taking images and to be honest I haven’t missed the gap in detail. Use what works for you and don’t apologise!

And of course Medium Format is easier on the shoulders! I noticed so many water-based landscapes in the series; I’m guessing you know where's good for fishing in Gloucester?

Ha I do love a spot of fishing! I think they’ve come about in the series because of what a big part of Gloucestershire the River Severn is. It effectively splits the county in two. And with the Thames starting in Gloucester we have two very important waterways in the county.

I always forget the Thames starts up that way. I saw that huge box of film that you received on Instagram; how did you find the process of applying for a photography grant, for the Gloucestershire series?

I think when people talk about applying for a grant they do it a negative way, saying how hard it is and how much work it is. But English Arts Council makes it easy really; they steer in the right direction and are really approachable. I would say to anyone looking for funding, apply! What’s the the worst that could happen?

So tell me a little more about your Suburbia series. I kinda interpreted it ultimately as an exploration of the seeming peace of public space, against the paranoia of the residents amongst it. Is that an accurate take on it?

I would say you’re pretty damn close, yeah! The project changed massively from my original idea. I originally wanted to photograph people’s homes in this one small close and I did the nice thing, sending each a letter to every resident asking their permission. The emails I showed alongside the images were their answers to my letters. I was so amazed at how fearful they were of a photography student.

Yeah they sounded fairly unimpressed. Did you ever share the final images with those who opposed your original idea?

I emailed the work to each resident being overly polite about it all and heard NOTHING back!

Icy. What was the most challenging thing about creating the Gloucestershire series, and how did the experience of working on it differ to that of your previous series, Little Switzerland?

I think the main difference and the most challenging part was the size of the project. Going from documenting a small town to working with a whole county was very difficult. I had a lot of days planning for Gloucestershire with maps and finding sites of interest. Where with the Little Switzerland series, in a day you could lap the town 5/6 times.

So Gloucestershire was much more strategic? Was it a case of stumbling across a lot of the places that you shot, or were you aware of most of them beforehand?

I’d say 50/50; half the time the site you picked would be great but then once you’ve wandered around a little you would stumble on a lot of other great places too.

And what's the strangest thing you came across during shooting the series?

I'm not sure that there was anything that strange or out of the ordinary, but something I do remember walking deep into the Forest of Dean and spotting a huge female Wild Boar with a long line of little piglets following her. In a split second they disappeared into the forest again; it was just one of those moments where I felt very much a part of nature.

As someone coming to the end of an ongoing series, do you think that the rise in Photobook and Photo-Zine production stunts the significance of the traditional photo-print (in that people are much more likely to pay for a Zine than a print and so photographers are equally less likely to print images)?

I don’t think it necessarily dampens people’s views of the photo-print. I think what Zines and Photobooks do is create a different outlet for the work and also a lot of the time are a much more affordable outlet, unlike prints.

But say you've shot stuff super high-res or Medium Format etc, aren’t the images done more justice being on a wall printed, rather than just being in a book? (Playing Devil’s advocate here).

Well, a lot of people say that some photo-books are for the photographers ego (!) but for me seeing a lovely print framed on the wall in gallery works for my ego. Though in saying that, a Zine to take home and sit and take time with is in some ways better. I think people should take more time looking at images and the Photobooks lets you do that. They let you take it all in.

So what Photographer or Artist do you see the most of within your own work?

Wow; so many crop up, but I have to say I see more traditional painters in my work.

Gainsborough?

Yeah, Turner and then your less well-known local painters that there are millions of but still inform you visually, so well.

What was the last documentary that you saw which had a lasting impact on you?

There’s one on BBC I-player about Evel Knievel and it’s so interesting how this bloke just decided that it was worth the pain to get paid. Crazy!

Mental; do you remember what it was called?

It was in the Storyville documentary series; that one was called ‘Being Evel Knievel’

Nice, I’ll check it out. Lastly, what’s the first latin phrase that comes to mind?

Oh Shit, what was that one that Wilfred Owen come up with? (I’m going to google it haha). Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori - “It is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country”

I. Leah Edelman-Brier.

Body Becoming by American photographer Leah Edelman Brier is unapologetically audacious in its honesty and unashamedly graphic in its delivery. Presenting a conjoined documentation of both her sixty one year old mother and twenty one year old sister, the series examines themes of maternity, sexuality and genetics, focusing on the allure of youth and the impending decay that comes with age. Presenting a panorama of both staged and natural images, Body Becoming is an insight to the unique perspective of Edelman, without the hindrance of censorship.

Dorrell Merritt: So, with today being Easter Sunday, what have you been up to?

Leah Edelman-Brier: (Ha!) Not much really. I baked a cake, spent time with my cats while my boyfriend was at work. We have a little family dinner gathering later but it’s not really my holiday.

Are Easter Eggs much of a thing in the USA? In London we’re overwhelmed with them, but they don’t seem to be so big in Berlin at all.

I think so? I saw lots of Instagram posts about them this year; everybody trying to one-up the other with their painting talents.

And where abouts are you based at the moment?

I am in the state of Minnesota to be exact, sitting in my apartment.

How does it compare to the likes of your hometown of Rhode Island?

Oh gosh, it doesn’t! I have too much love for my home state. Rhode Islanders tend to have a lot of pride since people forget that our state exists. I live in Saint Paul, which reminds me a lot of my roots in Providence. But I miss the ocean and getting everywhere quickly, my friends, the sense of community.

And as an artist, do you feel as if either one works better with your artistic process / development of ideas?

Well, I’m still new to the Midwest and as boisterous as I am I have a hard time finding subjects to photograph. So I am still creating an artist space out here, whereas back home I have my family, who are my favourite subjects and muses…so in that case it is very different for me. I don’t have the built in safety of driving out to my parents house for a weekend of shooting. Everything has to be planned out in advance now that the drive is 20 hours long.

I’ve had to shoot a lot of self portraits because of that. I’m so sick of looking at myself!

I understand the perils of finding people to photograph, especially when you have specifics in mind. I love that even beyond Body Becoming, the majority of your models are curvaceous; fuller figured subjects. Is this a conscious decision?

Well my Body Becoming series uses the same two models throughout (my mother and my sister); their bodies look like mine and I think I’m drawn to that in other people as well.

Your Body Becoming series reminded me of a similar series I had come across a few years back (by a photographer I will never remember), but this one was rawer; told a more poignant narrative. What was the starting point for the series? Had you ever documented your sister/mother prior to this?

Thank you! This series was sort of born out of another project I was working on. My family have been my photo subjects for a while now. I was making work about them transitioning into a new space and dealing with my mother’s illness. It was much more of the documentary style than BB. I didn’t like that. It felt too simple, so I took a break and during that break turned the camera on myself and just my sister because our bodies were so similar. I became enamored with that visual play. Then, the more I photographed my sister the more my mother felt left out. So one day she came outside in the middle of a shoot and demanded to be part of it. I made a photograph that day which is the staple [at least to me] of this work.

And did you feel as a photographer, that you had to actively try and remove any awkwardness between you three at the beginning, or was it natural?

It was fine. My mom is a stereotypical hippie. I had see her nude before, in passing, around the house. I think it was more awkward for her to be photographed because she doesn’t feel the beauty that I see. She’s self conscious, but so am I and so is my sister, and perhaps every woman is, whether they’ve achieved the ideal beauty or not.

I’ve read a few places online of your interest in “disrupting concepts of ideal beauty with that of the grotesque”. Is this a symbolic grotesqueness, or a literal one that your pursue to share?

It’s definitely both.

How so?

Symbolic in that society’s perception of beauty is rigid and applies to a small spectrum of people who are still retouched digitally to reach that ideal. I want to break that. Force people to see beauty differently, more fluid. I want to create beauty where my viewers don’t expect it. And then literally because I do photograph kind of gross things, rotting fruit, gestures that make people feel uneasy.

And I think by consciously choosing Rubenesque women in your work and that of others, is a small way in which the status quo can be challenged. Aside from retouching images, is there an aspect of idealised beauty in society that as an artist frustrates you, and is it hard to avoid being seen as exploitative?

I agree. I guess that you don’t see a lot of women in the media with parts of their body that actually sag. Naturally there are so many types of bodies and they all need to be embraced, not just the one type. And because the media embraces that one type, the rest feel like they’re not good enough. I’ve been asked if I think I’m exploiting my subjects before. That question always stings a little. I feel that that this work is as much about me as it is about my mother and sister. The fact that they are willing to pose for me, in such raw and vulnerable ways speaks to their willingness to be photographed. They know where the images will go. They know it all becomes public. I am beyond honored every time we collaborate.

I like that you refer to it as a collaboration, and I think given the context of the series, it’s a fitting title. The images are as much about you, as they are, them. Did you have any non photographic inspiration for the series, and if so how did you implement them?

The series had a sculptural element that the likes of the internet never really gets to see. I looked at some paintings, Jenny Saville to be specific too. Her renderings of the body is so raw and tactile. I think there's also a lot of references to the way the 'Masters' painted women throughout history (Renaissance & Baroque particularly). The gestures and posing are delicate, and the gaze particularly male. I wanted to mimic some of that in my work while breaking the gaze and and letting the women own their sexuality.

I think when I look closely at your series, it communicates an element of fear. A fear of ageing and to some extent a fear of letting go. But also, a lot of pride both genetic/familial and sexual. When you looked back on the series, was there ever a profound revelation, having seen both who you once were and who you may become?

Oh god yes! I really look at the series as emphasising roles. The mother and the daughter. Even though it’s not my physical self in the photographs that role is one I play and these are my fears, and my sister’s fears. No one wants to become their parent, no matter how wonderful they might be. There’s an image in the series with both the mother and daughter in it where to can see how similar the body types are. The breast hang the same way, the fat develops in the same places. It made my sister cry when she saw it. I don’t think she truly understood the work until we made that picture.

I love that one; they both look so beautiful there. For you personally, seeing both into the past and the future, did it make you feel differently about your own place within the family?

I’m not sure. I think it allowed me to step back and look at our family dynamic differently but it’s hard to explain how or what that meant.

I kind of assumed it would have been a little like Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, except that you can’t change either! (haha)

(Haha) Very much so! And the fact that you can’t change anything, makes it so much more terrifying.

And of course, within the series fertility is displayed in a number of ways. Why was that such an important aspect to implement for you?

Because fertility has a lot to do with desire and beauty. You’re not desirable until you’ve gone through puberty and when you lose the ability to have children you’re no longer desirable. There is an era of sexuality ends and it controls how/if you are perceived as beautiful. Within the work viewers witness the fluctuation a body becoming and unbecoming. It’s like watching a fruit ripen past the point of consumption. When it’s ripe you want it, when it rots you discard it.

Is it that simple?

Nothing is simple or black & white... I think when you're young there's always attention because you are beautiful just by being young, your sexuality is a presence as well as a part of you and there's no way to detach from it, but when you're older (I assume) you can detach from your sexuality because you're not perceived as having one any more. My work plays on that by making the undesirable have that sense of sexuality again. The reality is, it never goes away it just hides deeper within oneself!

I’m guessing the series was shot on Medium Format. I’ll skip asking about the importance of using film, but what I will ask is was there any conscious choice in choosing a format that would give what you wanted to communicate from the series?

Yes, it was mostly shot 6x6, with a little 6x7 thrown in there. Some say a square is harder to compose but there’s something about it that just makes sense for me. It’s tight. It’s a challenge. The waist level viewfinder is what really did it for me. I like looking down and trying to think backwards.

And I think for candid images, like in BB, it helps take a more natural image. What was the hardest part of shooting the series, and do you feel as if it’s completed?

The hardest part was making it cohesive so it could become a series. I shot in a lot of different ways and then had to puzzle piece the work together in a way that made sense. I’m still working on it. I don’t think it’s complete, I don’t know if it ever will be. I started working on it in 2012, so it’s going on 4 years now, though most of the photos were taken 2012-2014.

So the editing process must have been quite a feat! Are you more of a calculative, slow shooter or did you work your way through the films quite fast?

I would edit as I went. Shoot 10 rolls, go through those 10 rolls. I was in grad school when I started this project so there was a high demand to produce and show work. Very good motivation. It helps that I absolutely love editing images too; it’s  the picking and choosing of which image stays and which goes that I’m not very good at.

With the influx of younger female photographers inspired by the Nan Goldin’s and Corrine Day’s of old, creating hyper-personal and explicit photography (i.e. Sandy Kim, Rita Lino etc), have you as an artist ever feared being labelled as just young artist creating shocking images for the sake of shock?

With some of my images I have to stop and think is this too much?. There's a difference between a punch to the gut and having a photograph slap you over the head. The gut punch is raw and meaningful, the slap is for shock value. I want/hope my work has the gut punch; I don't want my images to be about shock, because ultimately that's not what I find intriguing. So to some extent, I have to stop and think to make sure what I want to say with a particularly punchy image is not just for the shock value.

How have your mother and sister reacted to seeing the series as a complete artefact? Was there ever a mental pressure for you to be protective over (the level of honesty shown in) how your shot them? I.e. focusing on stretch-marks, unflattering angles, skin ailments etc.

My sister gets shy at first and then brags about it. My mom says that seeing it makes it all the more real for her. I definitely get defensive sometimes, especially of nay-sayers; the vocal people who lash out instead of trying to understand the work. I think the work starts important conversations so I can’t shut someone down just because they disagree with it.

Typically, what negative reactions have you had from viewers who have seen the series?

Well I had my first internet troll (I was pretty giddy about it) who just kept calling the work disgusting because he didn’t want to look at a naked middle aged woman. And another woman who called me a terrible/disrespectful person for not wanting to be like my mother, though that’s what happens when you only read the headline and not the story. It strikes a nerve because it’s not what people expect. It’s not what they desire. But that’s part of my point.

Do you feel as if the series would have been received differently if your sister/mother had more idealised body shapes?

Yes and no. Yes because part of this series is addressing the beauty myth in the grand scheme of the public sphere and pushing against that to create beauty out of what doesn't reach that stereotype. Being curvy aids in that push because it's not the stick thin model we see a lot in the media. But it's not the curviness of our bodies that's creating tension, it's the overweight aspect, we're not fat but we definitely have some extra cushion, and you can see how that hangs and affects posture. It's not what people want to look at. No because the mother would still be older and have qualities that the daughter wouldn't want to have. The fear of becoming your parent doesn't just pertain to illness and body type, it's personality and lived experiences, how they yelled at you when you were younger.

What would you say you are the most scared of losing with age; sexual desirability or physical desirability?

That’s hard to say because the sexual and the physical are so convoluted. Perhaps the physical because it’s mostly out of my hands (diet exercise blah blah blah, it can only do so much) whereas sexuality is rooted in the mind.

What did you take, as an artist, and sister/daughter from completing the series?

As a sister/daughter we bonded, we learned about our relationships and vulnerabilities. As an artist…I’m not completely sure. I’m still learning. I think I expanded my own view by investigating the theory behind what I was trying to say/show. I opened up a lot more than I thought I’d have to and addressed, again, an array of vulnerabilities.

What’s the best thing about Melons? (I’ve noticed them frequently throughout your works)

Besides being synonymous with breasts, watermelon is the most amazing fruit I have ever put in my mouth. If you hold one just right you look pregnant so obviously perfect symbol for fertility right there.

When do you feel the most grounded, as a person?

When do I feel the most grounded? Probably never. I have a strong support system which helps but I like being a little all over the place. I’m the most at ease when I’m editing images though. It’s peaceful but sitting still has never been my strong suit.

What direction would you like your work to take, post BB?

I am still making work about the female form but I think it’s stepped away from the specifics that rest with the BB series. My new work is more about women as a whole, dare I say feminism.

What song would you say personifies Body Becoming, for you?