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Polixeni Papapetrou Fotógrafa australiana que emplea las imágenes para jugar con la identidad, muchas de ellas concentran la esencia del recuerdo infantil. Las imágenes que encontraréis en estas páginas forman parte de sus colecciones: Between Worlds, retratos de niños con máscaras animales y Phantomwise, pequeños con antifaces en un mundo de adultos. A pesar de que parecen meros guiños humorísticos, sus significados son más profundos.
Marta Portalés Why did you start learning photography? Growing up as a child, I was not especially good at drawing and always felt inadequate during art classes so I focused on other academic interests that came more naturally to me. After leaving school, I studied law and began my professional working life as a lawyer. I worked as a lawyer until 2000 when I decided to become full time artist. However, even while working as a lawyer I had an interest in photography that went beyond looking. I began to study photography as a part-time student at RMIT University in Melbourne in 1993. In 2007. I graduated with a PhD in fine arts from Monash University, Melbourne. So as you can see, I did not have the usual entrance into the art world.
place, but I like to rearrange the world or project my thoughts onto the external world that I encounter. I like to think of the camera as a witness to my thoughts and I suppose that you could describe my pictures as ‘interior’ rather than ‘exterior’. I also love to develop characters, dress them up and direct them. I am particularly inspired by the many characters whom you encounter in British comedies. Is it your personal challenge to push your pictures as far as they can possibly go? I think that it is the goal for any artist and naturally it is a challenge to find the balance. When you are working with a surreal image or even an image that is grotesque, you want to push it
Do you create your artwork as a collage? Although it may look as if my pictures are photoshopped and assembled, the reality is that I work with film and do not composite my images. My photographic work involves either making direct prints from negatives or alternatively scanning the film to a digital file. When I rely on digital printing, I use the digital process in the same way that I would work in the traditional darkroom. I call this process, the digital darkroom. The majority if digital work I do on a file is performed with a view to cleaning the file, balancing tonal contrast and colour. To date I have not used Photoshop as a compositing tool or to manipulate the image in any radical way such as altering faces. It’s not that I have anything against this process, but rather it is because I have not found a place for it in my practice so far. Why did you begin doing these surrealist images, was it because the camera used as witness didn’t satisfied you? I did not ever set out to make surrealist pictures although I have been told that my work contains this dimension. I stage my pictures rather than photographing the world as I encounter it. I have never considered photography as a direct and truthful translation of reality—a purely mechanical reproduction of what the camera sees. To an extent, reality is subjective and it follows that photography of this reality is also is subjective. I think that I like to project my ideas on to the world that I see. I feel the need for some intervention on my part. This is not to say that the world is an imperfect fotografía: Polixeni Papapetrou
reportaje internacional as far as you can so that you suspend disbelief, but also the image should remain within the realms of the poetic rather than being simply freakish or gratuitous. Where do you find the inspiration to choose the elements and to assemble the picture? I find working with my children, child friends of the family and my children’s friends refreshing and amazing. The subject matter of childhood and its representation has been a major source of inspiration in my work over the past few years. I plan the work ahead of time—whether the work is in the studio or on location— I select the backdrop or location, source the clothes and costumes and loosely story-board the scenes and poses. The staging element of my work is conscious so I need to think about how I would like the process to develop. Naturally, however, because I am often working on location unexpected things can happen that can make the photograph either better or worse that you intended. The costumes worn by the children and the props are designed to evoke a mood or story and this is usually the beginning of the process. I search for the costumes
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and props myself. When I’m looking for clothing and props, I am trying to imagine how the picture might unfold and look. Often I find a particular prop such as an old pram, briefcase, walking frame or wheelchair that becomes the inspiration for the idea behind the work. For each image I select to exhibit, I would take about five rolls of film of medium format film so that’s about 60 pictures in total. By digital standards this is a very low number of pictures. I try to work efficiently so as not to tire the children, but we usually spend about two to three hours taking the pictures. I used to take much longer, but because I plan the picture beforehand and have a clearer idea of how I want the picture to look, the shoot is more streamlined. These days I have a better idea of how I want the realised photograph to look before I begin the process. When you build the images do you sometimes go back to images that are sitting in your files? It’s interesting that I am always looking ahead and don’t really go back over my older negatives. Still, it is something that I may be fun to do one day. I’m sure that there might be some surprises there that I missed seeing the first time. Do you find inspiration in painting? I find inspiration in many paintings, both historical and contemporary. I am particularly interested in 19th century painting and photography. I suppose that I am more interested in work that incorporates narrative and some theatrical staging. But of course, I just adore the work of Hieronymus Bosch and would regard his work as a major inspiration in allowing me to feel more freedom in pursuing the idea of the grotesque, the absurd and the surreal. Which are the photographers that you particularly appreciate? I have been greatly inspired by 19th century photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and Oscar Rejlander, all of whom understood photography as performance in the tableaux tradition full of illusion, symbolism, the imaginary, theatre and performance. Other favourite photographer’s of the 20th century include, Jeff Wall, Cindy Sherman, Joel
Fotografías: Polixeni Papapetrou
Sternfeld, William Eggelston, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Sophie Calle, Yasumasu Morimura and Miwa Yanagi. I am also drawn to the work of photographers who portray the world around them and in doing so somehow also reveal as much about their inner world. Artists such as Diane Arbus, Roger Ballen, Richard Billingham and Martin Parr Rineke Dijkstra and Nan Goldin come to mind. Do you want to create certain feelings with your photographs? I like the idea of transporting the viewer into another space where they can experience a feeling of wonder. I would also hope that when someone looks at one of my pictures that they may also take on a more reflective view of the world. What do you want to make the spectator believe with your images? I would hope that my pictures are like the experience of going to the theatre or viewing a film. When you are involved in the experience of looking at a constructed world, you momentarily lose sight of the fact that what you are experiencing could not be real. In my
reportaje internacional my photographs I try to have enough reality to convince you that you are in the real world, but enough ambiguity to induce fantasy. For this to take flight requires an over arching aesthetic lyricism which might neither be real or fictional. I try to achieve a balance between the fantasy and reality by relying on narrative, mood or atmosphere, lighting, costumes and the acting by the subjects. Which of your projects has given you the most satisfaction? Each project has its unique qualities and this is a difficult question to answer. It would be quite easy to say, that those
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are the most well received ones. But I think the projects that have given me the most satisfaction are those where I have been able to manipulate the identity of the subject though appearance and setting. I should add, that I really loved working on my first body of work Elvis Immortal for the social interaction. For a period of 15 years between 1987 to 2002, on the anniversary of Elvis’s death (16 August), I visited the Elvis memorial in the Melbourne general cemetery to photograph fans paying homage to Elvis. I miss doing this, but I don’t go back because I feel that I have said everything that I wanted to say. Do you solicit feedback from others? I love feedback and am fortunate to be reviewed frequently. I have gained a great deal from the writing of many serious people who commented on my work. Also, when I am asked to do an interview, it is a way of receiving feedback on my work, because I am asked to respond to particular issues raised by the photographs. What equipment do you use now? I use the same equipment that I have
Fotografías: Polixeni Papapetrou
been using for 20 years: my Hasselblad with either a standard 80 mm lens or a long focal length lens of 150mm. For the past few years I have been using Kodak NC 160 film. Would you have any advice for those who would like to pursue the fine art market? I am a little reluctant to give this advice because I have never followed commercial principles myself. I do think that it is important to have the technical skills to execute or realise your creative ideas. How would you challenge students to be good photographers? I would advise students to study the history of photography in as much detail as possible. I would also look at differences in style from continent to continent as well as throughout different periods in history. I would not underestimate the importance of developing a critical voice. I think that all of this study and research is like a foundation upon which your own ideas can be built. In other words, to learn and be inspired from the long history of photography, but to make the pictures your own. Photography is easy in that anyone can take a bad picture, but it requires a lot of thought and work to create a good picture. I would advise students to think critically about what makes a good image. In other words, what is cliché, what is hackneyed, what is a stereotype, what is gratuitous, what is ideologically insensitive. Students need to find the subject matter that inspires them and gives them endless possibilities for interpretation. This is about finding your voice. You usually don’t have to travel very far to find your ideas because they may already be existing under your nose.