Sam Taylor-Wood

re-visit the work of artist/photographer Sam Taylor-Wood in this video by WVIZ/PBS titled "Brief Applause: Artist Sam Taylor Wood":



courtesy WVIZ/PBS

The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women

The Female Gaze: Women Look at Women

Cheim & Read
547 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001
June 25- September 19, 2009

works by:
Berenice Abbott, Marina Abramovic, Ghada Amer, Diane Arbus, Vanessa Beecroft, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Kathe Burkhart, Julia Margaret Cameron, Victoria Civera, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Anh Duong, Judith Eisler, Tracey Emin, Ellen Gallagher, Nan Goldin, Katy Grannan, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Chantal Joffe, Deborah Kass, Maria Lassnig, Zoe Leonard, Sally Mann, Marilyn Minter, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Shirin Neshat, Collier Schorr, Joan Semmel, Cindy Sherman, Mickalene Thomas, Hannah van Bart, Hellen van Meene, Kara Walker, Francesca Woodman and Lisa Yuskavage.

-- and extraordinary line-up of talent!

Find the press release here.

Photographs by Stefania Gurdowa

Photographs from the series Negatives Are To Be Stored by Stefania Gurdowa, © Fundacja Imago Mundi

Stefania Gurdowa was born in Bochnia, Poland in 1888. Some of the oldest glass negatives of local portraits of anonymouse people of the 20s and 30s, were found eleven years ago in an old attic of a tenement house in Debica, Poland.

At first sight, we could guess hardly anything about the author of the plates, although her name appeared on them. But our deepening research shed light upon someone extraordinary for her time: an independent, gifted woman of consequence whose workshops existed far away from the grand cultural capitals, and whose art lay in taking orderly portraits of her neighbors: shopkeepers, craftsmen, peasants, priests and Jews.

...

Gurdowa, the distinguished artist, died in 1968. Her apartment was cleaned after she passed away, and her immense photographic archive was disposed of and lost. Only a fragment of her art endures, together with a question without an answer: who hid a collection of glass plates behind a wall in the attic of her workshop in Debica? Perhaps it was her own decision to preserve them this way. As a responsible professional, she must have been aware of the rule that “negatives are to be stored”.

It's a great addition to the history of photography, especially in a genre dominated by men in the early 20th century. Thanks to the wonderful Lens Culture for exposing the public to such a great and amazing find.

Photo-Eye is currently selling Stefania Gurdowa's monograph.

Klisze przechowuje sie
(Negatives are to be stored)
Photographs by Stefania Gurdowa
Text by Jerzy Lewczynski
and Dariusz Czaja
Hardcover: 218 pages
22 x 28.5 cm
Publisher: Fundacja Imago Mundi / Muzeum Etnograficzne w Krakowie
ISBN 978-83-925914-4-3
Available from photo-eye

Facebook status sparks discussion.

"MoMA's Fourth and Fifth floor Lack Women"

Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City combed through a lengthy discussion on art critic, Jerry Saltz's status update on Facebook about the lack of women artists on display in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art. According to Saltz, “Of the 383 works on the 4th & 5th flrs. of MoMA’s perm. coll., only 19 are by women (4%).”

Read more here.

A Conversation with Cristina Fraire

from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

Cristina Fraire's photography is other worldly, focusing on the rural and segregated communities in the hillsides of Argentina. Like many of the artists I have interviewed for the Nymphoto conversation series, I met Cristina during her residency at Light Work. Even though we had some language barriers to cross, we still bonded through photographs and some of her home-cooked food. Her work is incredibly thoughtful, showing the landscape, the the people, and the emotion. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1997 and I'm incredibly honored to share this conversation with you. She does not have a website yet so I hope you can enjoy the images and words here.


from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Cristina Fraire: I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eldest daughter of a home full of contradictions. From my parents I absorbed the more transgressive and romantic aspects: an openness of spirit and a sense of self criticism, dreams of liberty and authenticity, thirst for research.

My mother took care of passing on her love for the visual arts, my father a certain exaltation of the senses and a love for nature. Both, an artistic insight.



from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: How did you discover photography?

CF: Up to the age of thirty three, I went through several universities, fighting a battle between the powerful necessity of finding my own identity and that of answering the paternal mandate of the "professional daughter". My father's death and at the same time my encounter with photography put an end to my studies in psychology, placing me at the very door of my own desires.

Driven by this newly discovered passion I decided to look for a job as a photographer. Then came an unexpected battle for work: I was surprised to find so much discrimination and prejudice. I had never imagined such irrationality towards the feminine condition existed, and far less so in the field of journalism. I worked in all kinds of publications.



from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

CF: Together with my own professional development grew the urge for self-expression and creating my own photographic stories. At the beginning of 1989, I participated in a workshop coordinated by influential national and foreign photographers and editors. It was a one week intensive workshop with Marc Bussell, Fred Ritchin, Sebastiao Salgado, Susan Meiselas, Abbas, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Robert Pledge. The experience from the workshop was a landmark for many who participated. It allowed one to produce work with the pleasure of research with a community. The desire of a personal path in photography was reaffirmed and confirmed as possible. I completed a photographic essay on "Medecins Du Monde" and the sanitary conditions of marginal people in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.


from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: How do your projects come about?

CF: At the end of 1989, I came across another landmark; a place appealing to my obsessions of isolated communities. An isolated and desolate landscape of the Pampa of Achala was a traditional community where people live and transform their landscape. From this space, I felt a mandate to go back and make photographs. The following year I would start there my photographic essay: An Austere Life, Shepherds at the End of the Millennium, which is based on the life of a shepherd's community that live on the Altas Cumbres in the province of Córdoba (Argentina).

I have developed four documentary photography series about various social groups who are victims of exclusion policies. My concern about social exclusion, prejudice, and identity has encouraged my choice and approach to topics. One of my aims in developing these essays has been trespassing the prejudice barrier, bringing light to the identities of the outcast, rescuing their humanity, culture, skills, art, and showing the “delicate balances” and extreme conditions under which they survive and struggle.


from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

1989: My first documentary story, Atención Primaria [Primary Care] about the sanitary conditions in the neighborhoods on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and the task developed by Medecins du Monde.

1990: I start to work on La vida austera (An Austere Life), which is based on the life of a shepherd's community that live on the Altas Cumbres [heights] in the province of Córdoba (Argentina).

2001: Donde la ciudad se interrumpe [Where the City is Interrupted] deals with the housing conditions in shantytowns in Buenos Aires.

2002: Pequeños equilibrios [Delicate Balances] about the life of La Boca dwellers. This neighborhood is very close to the Casa Rosada (government house) and the financial and banking district of Buenos Aires. This neighborhood has the highest percentage of homes with unsatisfied basic needs. I was hired by the Escuela de Capacitación Docente (CePA), sort of teacher training school, and developed the chapter called Niños que habitan las escuelas [Children Inhabiting Schools], a story made up of 30 photos about the lives of the children that live in La Boca to be used in training teachers of state-owned schools in Buenos Aires.

These essays have been exhibited in Argentina and abroad. Besides, they have been awarded prizes by the Guggenheim Foundation and the Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Argentina).



from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: What's next?

CF: Nowadays I am returning to the highlands, I began the second part of An Austere Life, trying to mix between the past and the present in new pictures, looking for the present of those that I photographed in the past and shooting them again beside their images taken in the past.

My jobs: I am working in the National Library as Photography curator and in a cultural center related to human rights which is located in a place where - during the last dictatorship- a concentration camp of the army was located.

from An Austere Life, © Cristina Fraire

NP: Thank you very much, Cristina!

A Conversation with Jennifer Loeber

You probably have see Jennifer Loeber's nudes before. These refreshing unpretentious portraits are at once casual and deliberate. Jennifer's work is unapologetic and asks the viewer to reflect on their own experiences and perceptions.Her work reflects an artist observing life fully.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: Tell us a little about yourself.

JL: I was born and raised in New York City and thought for sure I was going to be a nurse when I grew up. Then I found out you may have to touch naked strangers and rethought that plan.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: How did you discover photography?

JL: My high school homeroom class was held in the school's darkroom. My first real experience with photography was as a very unwilling model for the senior photography class. I was promised it would be fun but wearing pink sequined gypsy pants and posing with a tambourine is never fun, under any circumstance. I could clearly see the appeal of being on the other side of the lens. I was introduced to Nan Goldin’s work that year and fell headlong into a deep love affair with photography. I moved to Boston after high school and attended the Massachusetts College of Art, studying under Nick Nixon. I used an old Crown Graphic and a junkie Rolleiflex and photographed my then very punk rock centric life.

Post college I moved back to New York City and started working as a photo editor at magazines. I put aside my own work during this time for the 9-5 grind until 2004 when I co-directed a documentary film with my husband and a friend. I also shot a series of still photographs during the course of our year and a half of filming and really found my photographic voice again. So I took a leap of faith, quit my full time job and started shooting like crazy.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

JL: Most of my inspiration in the past few years seems to come from film- this is likely a side effect of being married to a film critic! I seem to always have one I associate with a project in some way. Right before I shot "Zeig Mal" I watched bits and pieces of one of my favorite Kubrick films, The Shining. You can hit pause on that film in almost any scene and have a complex and beautiful, stand-alone photograph. I'm a huge fan of natural light and Kubrick's use of light is just totally inspiring.

Before I left to shoot my new series, "Cruel Story of Youth", I re-watched one of my favorite teen angst films, Ladies and Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains. Iwas headed off to live in the woods for a few weeks with a gaggle of teenagers and wanted to re-acquaint myself with disaffected youth feeling that seems to start surfacing as soon as you enter ninth grade and realize that you have the ability to dye your hair primary colors. While I was there shooting I became totally enraptured by a film my husband tucked into my luggage before I headed off- Lucile Hadzihalilovi's "Innocence". I would huddle up in 20 blankets and watch it on my laptop late at night while record-breaking monsoon style rains were pounding the area. It's set in an all girls school tucked away in what can only be described as a very magical looking forest and really echoed my own surroundings and feelings at the time. I have a major crush on that film.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: How did your "Zeig Mal" Project come about?

JL:I had been exploring portrait photography more and more in my work when I was faced with a situation not that unfamiliar to female New Yorkers- being flashed on the subway. It got me thinking about the give and take involved in have a successful flashing (at least on part of the flasher…) and that same sort of give and take you engage in when photographing portraits. The idea of photographing nudes had never seemed in the slightest bit interesting to me until I realized the inherent challenge in finding something different within it.

NP:. Where did the title "Zeig Mal" come from?

JL: In 2006 I got married and went to Berlin for our honeymoon. I fell in love with Germany and began googling everything and anything related to it upon our return. Through the magic of the internet I somehow stumbled upon the controversial 1974 sex education book, "Zeig Mal". The English translation is "Show Me".

The book included photographs of children and pre-adolescents in the nude, rather than the more accepted use of illustration in most sex ed books. Ultimately it was deemed subversive and obscenity charges were filed against it. I became really interested in the idea that nudity is almost exclusively viewed in a sexual manner- even when used as a children's primer about their own biology! The title stuck with me and when I started working on the nude portraits I immediately thought it would be a good fit for the series.

© Jennifer Loeber

NP: What's next?

JL: In the immediate future I'll be taking a dose of cold medicine and going to bed. Further on from that is the ongoing continuation of "Zeig Mal" as well as getting "Cruel Story of Youth" out into the world. It's a series I'm really excited about not only because it’s so close to me personally but because it was a real challenge. Photographs of teenagers seem to be the trend du jour so similarly to "Zeig Mal" my goal was to find a way to rethink that concept a bit more interestingly.

NP: Thank you so much! To see more of Jennifer's work please visit: www.jenniferloeber.com.

A Conversation with Brea Souders

Once you see a Brea Souders image it will stay with you and linger. Her work functions on many levels and you can feel the care that she takes in creating each image. We are greatly pleased to present a conversation with this talented artist today.


©Brea Souders


Nymphoto: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Brea Souders: I was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland and studied photography at the University of Maryland Baltimore County before moving to New York City in 2005. I grew up as an only child in a house surrounded by woods, and I always had plenty of time to myself to daydream and breathe in my surroundings. My mom is a painter and my dad a physicist, and they have both influenced me in many ways. I was interested in psychology for most of my life growing up and started out in college as a psychology major, but quickly learned that I was not so interested in rigid text book theories, but instead in the vast potential and diversity of the human mind. I began to look to people who were pushing those boundaries rather than defining them. It was at this time that my interest in art became my primary interest. I wanted a better way to understand and engage life, and photography provided a perfect outlet.


©Brea Souders


NP: How did you discover photography?

BS: There were several little used cameras that were given to me in childhood – a polaroid, a 110, and point and shoot 35mm’s – I remember being vaguely interested in them and snapping photos in the woods, of people’s hands, or of my two cats. But unfortunately, I can’t claim to be one of the romantics that fell in love with photography instantly. It’s been a slow process, with spurts of growth and a lot of confusion in between. I’ve experimented a lot with the medium and feel I am just now finding my voice. When I was 17, I discovered a book of surrealist photographs by Man Ray in my mom’s bookcase. This book shocked me and sparked an enormous interest in the medium. That same year I began to take photography classes and fell in love with antiquarian and alternative processes. Artists like Dan Estabrook and Susan Fenton were major influences at that time (and still are). It took years for me to appreciate color photography, but after I graduated from college I saw some photographs by Bernard Faucon and thought the color was just astonishing. I’ve been hooked on color ever since, and study it everywhere I go.




NP: Where do you find inspiration?

BS: All kinds of things – the changes of seasons, shifts in light, bicycling at a fast clip, overhearing snippets of conversations when I’m out having coffee somewhere. All the usual things like that. The fabric and flower districts in New York are new places of inspiration – I like to cruise the aisles and imagine ways to use the various gems I discover. I always like to have a lot of books on hand, although unfortunately I rarely finish them. I’ve been reading a lot of dream journals for a current project and have found that to be really invigorating. Jack Kerouac’s Book of Dreams is an especially exciting read! Of course, learning about anything new is always inspiring, and I’m influenced by people who are determined to live in an expanded world and people with unusual beliefs. I’m also inspired by the discoveries of strange new organisms and any discoveries in space. And maybe most of all, I find a great meal with friends to be very inspiring. Good things usually come out of conversations had over a delicious feast!


©Brea Souders


NP: How do your projects come about?

BS: I carry a sketchbook with me most of the time and try to write down things that inspire me regularly. I usually have a few seeds of ideas spinning around for a while, and when one idea grows out of control, I decide to devote more time and energy towards seeing it to fruition. I’m learning to dive into projects more quickly. Most of my work relies on a lot of research and I have a tendency to get hung up in that stage. It comes to a point where I feel almost paralyzed and don’t know where to begin with the actual production. So I’m forcing myself to produce work earlier on, side by side with the research. It results in more photos that end up getting scrapped, but I think overall it benefits the work and is a better balance of planning and intuition.



©Brea Souders


NP: What's next?

BS: I’m currently working on a project called Islands & Streams that examines the recorded dreams of scientists, philosophers, writers and other luminaries from whom I’ve drawn creative inspiration. I’m isolating fragments from their dreams, creating them in my studio or outdoors, and then photographing them. The final photographs will be sequenced together to create a new narrative.

NP: Thank you!

To see more of Brea's work, please visit: www.breasouders.com.

Kudos to PDN

When PDN announced their 30 this year, we were pleased to see that they listed MartineFourgeron amongst their selection. Not just a woman, but a middle aged woman!
Martine Fougeron observes and documents the life around her, photographing family and friends.
Find out more about her and her work at: www.martinefougeron.com.

And to read more about the experience of women in the arts visit Ellen Rennard's very eloquent blog "Quintessence" and re-read recent Nymphoto Op-Ed pieces.

WIPNYC - Lightside Individual Project Grant

Women in Photography, co-founded by Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips in June 2008 to showcase the works of female fine art photographers, is pleased to announce their first project grant, funded by Lightside Photographic Services/ and co-sponsored by LTI. The $3,000 grant award will provide funding to one photographer to support project costs.

GRANT: $3000.00. One grant will be awarded

APPLICATION PROCESS OPENS: Wednesday April 1, 2009 12am

Link to online application will be made available on wipnyc.org.

DEADLINE: FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2009, 12AM

GRANT ANNOUNCEMENT: JUNE 10, 2009
Grant announcement will be made at evening event at the National Arts Club, Grand Gallery. There will be a reception for the grant winner and a slideshow presentation of their work. The Grant winner's work will be featured in a wipnyc.org online solo showcase opening on 6/16/09.

APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY
Applications will be only be accepted from photographers who are at least 18 years old, and who are NOT currently enrolled in any full-time or part-time degree program.

PROJECT ELIGIBILITY
Projects submitted for consideration can be new or ongoing. Applicants should submit no more than one proposal in support for one project.

REVIEW PROCESS
WIP’s curatorial staff, Amy Elkins & Cara Phillips will review projects for visual & conceptual strength, rigor of purpose, and clarity of stated project goals.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
WIPNY will only accept online submissions.
Applicants must submit exactly five images. Each image must be:

JPEG format
72dpi
sRGB
650 pixels wide

Contact Info
BIO (Under 200 words)
CV

**Please direct all grant submission questions to the email address which will be made available as APRIL 1, 2009**

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Describe the project in 300 words or less* ( IN PLACE OF ARTISTS STATEMENT)
Please include: Project start date, or in progress staus. Estimated finish date?*
Please provide a detailed list of expenses. Itemize each expense and provide a dollar amount.*
Please list any estimated income or other funding sources.*

--

Women In Photography
co-curated by Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips
WIPNYC is a Humble Arts Foundation project.

A Conversation with KayLynn Deveney

from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, © KayLynn Deveney

KayLynn Deveney is not just an amazing and quite accomplished photographer, but she is also a great mentor. She recently successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Wales, Newport thereby earning the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Photography. Whilst studying in Wales, KayLynn met Albert Hastings, the subject of her photographic series. We're delighted to have KayLynn participate in this Conversations series.

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

KayLynn Deveney: I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with my fantastic husband, Will. My funny, smart parents and many great friends are nearby. The last few years of my life have been focused, to a large extent, on finishing a practice-based Ph.D. in photography. I have been an adjunct faculty member at points in Wales, Cleveland and Albuquerque while working on the Ph.D.


from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, © KayLynn Deveney

NP: How did you discover photography?

KD: I became interested in photography while taking a photojournalism course in college. Through that class I met working photographers who were very generous and willing to share their time and knowledge. Eventually, I went to work as a staff photographer for the Albuquerque Tribune, a well-respected afternoon daily that recently closed, as most afternoon papers have. The staff of the Tribune proved to be long-term mentors and friends. After nine years, I left the Tribune to return to graduate school to study and think about the subjective aspects of documentary photographic practice. I chose to attend graduate school in the United Kingdom at the University of Wales, Newport.


from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, © KayLynn Deveney

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

KD: There’s no shortage of things to be inspired by in this world. I’m inspired by people, their intricate and complex lives, and their willingness to share their stories. I like to be in other people’s company and I love hearing stories. I’m inspired by my brother’s dedication to making music, my husband’s pursuit of a thoughtful life and a true integrity and my parents’ love for their families. Art, movies, fiction writing, music, a really witty person - all can be very inspirational. The list could go on and on.


from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, © KayLynn Deveney

NP: How did this project come about?

KD: Bert and I lived in the same neighborhood in Wales. I noticed him working in the garden of the dilapidated apartment building where he lived. I stopped and talked with him one day, and the more we talked, the more I liked him and wanted to know him. Soon after that first conversation I asked Bert to collaborate on the project with me.


from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, © KayLynn Deveney

NP: How did you go about producing this book and how does editing contribute to the book's story?

KD: From the beginning the project was a book. I taped contact sheet prints into a small notebook and Bert wrote his responses to my photographs beneath the image in the notebook. The final design of the book reflects the early template of the original notebooks.

The editing of the work was complicated. First, each image and its accompanying caption had to be successful in my estimation, either offering commentary on the cyclical nature of Bert’s days or adding something new to the narrative. Second, each image had to work in a pair. I didn’t want the book to have blank pages. I wanted to keep the story flowing and uninterrupted. (Color was a big consideration in working on the pairings.) Third, the pairings had to be sequenced in away that made sense and propelled the story forward while also allowing days and nights to arrive and pass throughout the work.

The book is designed to reflect the collaborative nature of the project. There is a deliberate attempt to have both the words and images carry substantial weight. Emphasizing the words was fundamental to the presentation of the content. Including Bert’s text expands the dialogue about his experience, but it also opens up discussion regarding the subjective nature of the photographic negotiation.

I edited, designed and bound four initial copies of the book. These handmade books were then shown to prospective publishers at portfolio review events. I met Jennifer Thompson from Princeton Architectural Press at Review Santa Fe. The publication of my book evolved from that meeting.



from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, © KayLynn Deveney

NP: What's next?

KD: Making new work! I successfully defended my Ph.D. in Wales in December and have subsequently completed the minor revisions. Also in December, I received a substantial grant from the Anonymous Was A Woman foundation that will support new projects that I am starting now. In terms of exhibitions, ten images from The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings will be included in an exhibition titled The Art of Caring: A Look at Life through Photographs, organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art. The exhibition will run May 16th - October 11th, 2009 at the New Orleans Museum of Art before traveling to other venues. And finally, I have been accepted to a two-week course at the American Academy of Bookbinding that will focus on the fundamentals of making leather bindings.

NP: Thank you, KayLynn!

To see more of KayLynn Deveney's work, please go to www.kaylynndeveney.com, also go here to purchase a copy of her book.

A Conversation with Kanako Sasaki

Backyard and Morning, from Wanderlust, © Kanako Sasaki

My work explore my own imaginative world that is influenced from various connections such as traditional Japanese novels and Ukiyo-e paintings or my childhood memories, which inspire me to composite my own Ukiyo—the floating world. -Kanako Sasaki, from Wanderlust.

Kanako Sasaki was an artist in residence at Light Work during my sophomore year at Syracuse. The child-like dreamy quality of her images immediately drawn me to her photography. Also, the combination of childlike nostalgia with her intense interest in cultural history create surreal photographs. I'm so happy Kanako agreed to participate in this conversation.

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself.

Kanako Sasaki: I grew up in Northern Japan. I decided to study journalism in the US, when I was 17. So, I went to undergraduate in US, upstate NY and received BA in Journalism.
I didn't start photography until the year 2000 or so. I realized that the real way to communicate would be in a free form, not through the mass media.
This is why I started to make images.
I have been lucky enough that I managed to visit different cities to do my project such as Bolivia, Eastern Europe, and so on. I like people and want to understand how people are in any condition of their living. This is why I started to do photography, not to forget how I felt and what I saw.



Uniform and Outcast, from Wanderlust, © Kanako Sasaki

NP: How did you discover photography?

KS: I took my first photo class by curiosity. My teacher showed us some slides including Cindy Sherman. I think her work gave me inspiration and opened up my world to photo.


Yellow Leotard, from Wanderlust, © Kanako Sasaki

As a contemporary Japanese, we hardly talk about the past, because of the generation changes and the swell of the consumerism, which have been fulfilled their desires and having the comfortable lives. I feel urgent to access our own true past so that we can prepare for the future. -Kanako Sasaki, from Walking in the Jungle

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

KS: My memories and imagination are influenced from nature, places, and novels that I've read in the past. One of my favorite authors is Soseki Natsume's novels.

Formally, I look a lot of paintings. I do care to see more than just photography.

I love film and many have inspired me. French, Hong Kong, and Japanese films have taught me the importance of small details, story telling, and how to narrate. Some examples are Jean Luc Godard's "Picnic," Wong Kar Wai's "Chungking Express," and films by Kurosawa Akira.

The act of play and humor is very important in order to reach my audience. I guess this is how I see and how I survive. At the same time, I don't want to forget my memories and sensitivities from my childhood in Japan. After traveling around, this is my defense mechanism in a way... perhaps and the way of communicating people.
I believe we are not so different from each other despite our cultures or any beliefs.



Bathing and Swing Club, from Wanderlust, © Kanako Sasaki

NP: How did your project "Wanderlust" come about?

KS: During "Wanderlust", I was seeking for my origin and also facing the question of "what is reality." Reality became imagination and the two merged. Inspired mainly from traditional Japanese novels and love stories, Ukiyo-e paintings, and my own childhood memories. Also, in order to communicate via images, I want to focus on some universal feelings, such as naiveness and innocence.

I have more been interested in creating a surreal and eccentric mood to express a dream like world than showing the womanhoods. Furthermore, I am interested in the idea of bipolar, such as innocence and aggression, loneliness and playfulness to express the extreme stage of emotion that are on the verge of formation or even explosion. Therefore, there are multiple personalities underneath in girls, which push “self” into the images. It is almost not about the issue of being a girl or living in the different culture, but just as human beings to survive in the reality, which contemplate with the idea such as loss, escape, isolation, and self-distraction in the modern life. -Kanako Sasaki, from Wanderlust

Anne Frank's Signal, Departure, and Site of Russian Army's Departure to Attack Japan 103 Years Ago, from Walking in the Jungle, © Kanako Sasaki

NP: What were some of the ideas in "Walking in the Jungle"?

KS: In 2006 I did a residency in Vienna, Austria. That was my first time living in Europe and was my first time facing so much history in the country. When I was living in London last year, I worked on "Walking in the Jungle." It was my reaction to the history in Europe, especially the history shared with Japan in the Japanese-Russian War in 1904.
I tried to understand the history, especially since my generation can't experience living in the past, and is away from the history. I thought it is very important to understand and remember the history.
In Europe, history surrounds people's lives, especially from buildings. Last year, I was mainly interested in war in history. I thought about the people who had to go through it, for example, Anne Frank.
The project was about my naive interpretation and my link of history so that I don't forget.



Termination and Time Escape, from Walking in the Jungle, © Kanako Sasaki

NP: What's next?

KS: I am working on two different projects, "Bolivia/Okinawa" a project about the immigration of Japanese people to Bolivia after World War II.

I have started the project in Okinawa village (Colonial Okinawa) in Bolivia since last year, connecting the link and gap between the people in Okinawa (Japanese Okinawans) and the people who immigrated to Bolivia after the WWII. I use visual pieces such as video, film and photographs to express their stories.

I'm also working on another project about Iceland, titled "Drifted". In both projects, I began utilizing video and photography. I think it's a good beginning.

NP: Thank you very much!


The Depth, from Walking in the Jungle, © Kanako Sasaki

I struggle, struggle not to forget, what I have felt or saw, etc. In order to do so, I make my own work and create fantastic images or space to remind the viewers to evoke the forgotten emotions and memories. -Kanako Sasaki, from Walking in the Jungle

Currently, Kanako is participating in two solo shows in Japan, both featuring brand new work from her current projects.

Shiseido Gallery
"Okinawan Ark"
Now through March 1, 2009
Ginza Shiseido Building, basement floor
Ginza 8-8-3, Chou-ku, Tokyo

MA2 Gallery
"Drifted"
Now through March 14, 2009
3-3-8 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Also to see more of her work, head to www.kanakosasaki.com.