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PIECES OF THE PEOPLE WE LOVE 1

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PIECES OF THE PEOPLE WE LOVE 3

PIECES OF THE PEOPLE WE LOVE

Is the first Thieves Editors` editorial project which looks for a new way to introduce different photographersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work contributing to the website a paper publication. Our main objective is to generate a project based in the photographic work of artists whose work we consider interesting to be exhibited, enhance possible connections between images and contents. The call was open to anyone who was interested in taking part. We proposed a concept (Pieces of the people we love) as the basis of visual exploration. As a result, we received a lot of proposals based in that subject from several authors with the most different positions in relation with this issue. Finally, we selected images on the one hand, we considered most representative of the subject and, on the other, those which generated a most powerful discursive script together. Thus, this selection presents from situations to portraits; interesting explorations in color and black and white, gestures and traces, grouped in a sequence that allows associative reading between the parts, fragments of people loved by the authors that we are introducing. We want to thank each of our collaborators and we wish them a lot of success in each of their projects. We also hope to continue developing projects in the future and you can join them.

P A U L P I B E R N I G

The idea of showing my love for these persons by creating a sensual feeling consisting of purity and rawness is initiated by the visual aesthetics as well as through an emphatic moment. The girl at the fence is my niece Linda who is living in Bärnbach, a small town in Austria where I used to grow up as well. She’s a great buddy and we like to fool around a lot, be loud and playful. At that moment though she was very serious and calm. The photo reminds me of my childhood and brings me back to the moments when I was going through a turbulent time searching for my identity and trying to give my life some shape and form. The other photo is showing the feet of Peter Jaunig who’s been a very good friend of mine for decades. He’s a very talented photographer and for our recent project called Nuns/N/Guns we were traveling around Europe capturing objects of any capriciousness. I shot this photograph on our trip to Turkey and even though it was winter it was such a great pleasure to be at the beach, wade through the water and enjoy the warmth of the sun. The perceptible and sensual feeling I’m experiencing when looking at them. It’s thoroughly sparkling for me to notice the reoccurring closeness to people I love by experiencing gentle feelings of washing seawater and touching a chapped wooden surface. My personal approach to my work is to create a visual impact by capturing natural, elementary and simple triggers which evoke a primeval memory and feelings related with. There’s not much of a daily routine because I try to deal with things as they come. Indeed, there’s a difference between photographing people you know and the others you don’t. Considering the intimacy in the communication setting as a photographer I can interact with people I know much more. I’m personally responding to my photographs of Linda and Peter as well as I am a part of their lives and knowing this is indescribable enriching.

J A M E S C O O P E R

Apart from the obvious visual fact that the images are of obscured or unclear people,the whole process of making these images is sort of a metaphor for love. Making photographs in the water is sort of strange, because you don’t ever actually ‘see’ the picture you are taking. Everything is constantly moving and changing, so until it is frozen in a picture, you really have no exact idea of what is there. You have the basic idea, bring all the parts together and then sort of shoot blind. There is a necessary (an unavoidable) letting go of control and an acceptance of the unexpected that has to happen. In these ways it is very similar to LOVE. The people in these pictures are friends of mine. People who inspire me by how they navigate their lives. I love my friends. The experience you have making pictures is often very different from the experience someone has looking at it. What is important to ME is the memory I have of the time we spent together. What becomes also interesting to is that very specific and personal time can then have another life , and can take on a meaning to a complete stranger in another part of the world. Honestly, not so much right now. Neither of the people in these pictures live in the same country as me right now, and most of my ‘daily routine’ is occupied by my 3 year old twin boys.

M E T T E K I R K E G A A R D

The people in my photographs I have really close. I love them deeply and I have spend a lot of time with these people. At some point it occurred to me, that I sometimes saw a glimpse of colors in or from them. I felt like it was small pieces from within, expressed in color, that had leaked from the persons core. And I wanted to work with that. I was reminded how nuanced people are and how difficult it is to put any person you have close into a box, but on the other hand how easy it is with people you don’t know. It’s like when you get closer the person keeps on expanding, change and move. But it also has to do with a way of seeing. A choice of wanting to continue to discover new sides of the same person. I like the terms the french philosopher Levinas uses to describe this: “Totality” and “Inifinity”. Where totality tries to comprehend and determine the other person, infinity challenges you to be open for the possibility of development. I would like to learn to see people more with the eyes of infinity, but it is a very difficult thing to do. When all that is said I think my pictures are a celebration of the beautiful Pieces of the People We love. Some of them are friends and some are family. I chose to work with the people I felt I had close enough to actually see many colors in them. With people I know less I could maybe find one or two, but I wanted it to be a natural process and didn’t want to force myself to come up with colors for people. That would have no point and I would not have been true to the persons. The liberating feeling I get from these pictures. I like that you can sense a person in the picture, but you can’t really see what they look like. I hope that the viewer might get more a sense of a personality and a state of mind than a typical portrait, where you can see what the person looks like physically. To me that is important. When I look at these pictures I also get the feeling of an inner connection. Like when you talk to someone and you feel that you connect on a deeper level. That is what I have with each of these people. So I have been trying to move around them, connect with them and perceive what they have been radiating. I have a lot of love for each of these people. They have let me into their lives and given me the honor of staying really close - some of them for many many years. They have opened up to me and now I have taken just a small handful of what I think they carry inside of them and made it into a picture. So, it’s time for celebration! I am very thankful.

D A V I D C O L L I E R

My Pieces of people images are exactly that, not showing the full person, just parts of some one I love, this is how I interpret this. This is my partner Stephanie, we have been together for a long time and often is my muse for photographs, especially water based ones. She works as a swimming coach so is always in the water. I like how the light refracts with the interaction with the water, I also like to explore 2 worlds, under and over the water. We have a wonderful life living in Australia, our routines are not always the same but having a deep understanding of each other and being able to adapt and accept each other for our strengths and faults is what counts.

MIGUEL CONSTANTINO

I took these pictures in Portugal, November 2012. It’s a diptych of someone close to me, an association of two pictures of different moments and moods, that once put together gives a certain portrait of this person, viewed thru my eyes. I feel that I take better pictures when I know the people. I don’t think they forget the camera, it’s just that we trust each other enough that they don’t want to play games or to hide, they try to be honest because they know it’s the only way to stand their own reflection afterwards.

N A T A L I E K A P L A N

These are 2 close friends of mine. Both are standing in their homes, surrounded with things that make them what they are, on the one hand while standing there – I felt a missing part, longing for something which doesn’t exist. On the other hand I discovered a secret side of them. It’s a found/not found piece. The man – is Amos Ponger, a 40 year old boy. In this moment Amos was resting after arranging his accounts and receipts for his German accountant in Berlin. The woman – is Nira Yadin. 37 year old girl . In this moment she was resting after packing her stuff – she and her daughter had to leave, they were moving to another apartment. In both images I feel what it means “to be alone” - in a good sense. I feel that both of them show an unexposed - self of my friends. People who know Nira can’t believe this fact – that Nira - cannot hear – because she is a superwoman. I sometimes look at her and think – she is also capable of flying I think she is inspiring. We know each other for 20 years now. Amos was the editor of my first film. Amos share his time between Berlin and Tel Aviv. With Amos I can find myself talking for hours (I don’t have long conversations with friends generally). It’s always interesting and worthwhile to talk to him. He is like a brother to me.

C A R I N E W A L L A U E R

My work is fully based on love – for the people and for the places. I always intend to convey the feeling that is composing the moment that I share with the ones I choose and the environment that receives us. I believe in some kind of communion, especially when I photograph Gabriel. I can see subjective elements of our relationship in the pictures. He is Gabriel Honzik, my boyfriend. The day I met Gabriel, I knew that he would be an important part of my life. When he came along, he brought with him beauty, inspiration, friendship, love, fresh air, and all the real things that I had only had in my dreams. Also, I understood that real life could be very dreamy. I try to capture all he means to me in every image. What I really love about the photographs I’ve taken of Gabriel is the sweet mood that I can feel about them. And the way other people who don’t know us feel about them, too. There are so many possibilities. Our relationship is made of dreams that we dream together. When everything around us is a mess, we try to create a new world where these dreams can come true. I believe in the magic that still exists in life. Through my work, I try to overpower all the negative energy that is around. I want to purify myself. I want to make you feel free.

K A M A L T U N G

I had a look at the theme & thought that the photos would fit perfectly. The photographs taken are what that I love about her. Those eyes, her hair and that smile. Her name is Louise. She’s been my pillar of strength and source of joy for the past 3 years. She brought out the best in me, a part of me I’ve never seen. She’s part of the reason why I picked up photography, which is essentially a big part of my life now. The emotions that was evoked at that point of time when it was captured. Little moments with her. Sadly I don’t get to see her much since entering the military. It’s tough. But when I’m out with her we do a bit of exploring & photography.

O R L A N D O R O J A S

According this, I don’t have so much really important persons in my life .. as me .. there always some kind of ghosts that rounds in my head or in my dreams .. this make me take a little pieces of their souls, for me, it is very dificult to see cleary faces. A very big story, but just as I said .. I can’t remember clearly .. it’s just one of the ghost that round my head. To keep her, make a memory (don’t forget her) keeping me alive. ...It’s a kind of aimless way, you travel and meet people that you will never see again, I think that keeps me alive the photographic act. Generally these people end up tormenting and deviating off course. the road gets dark and I can not see, but it’s always an adventure to keep walking.

B R I A N G I W O J N A

I wanted these photographs to feel like a dream because I feel like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m currently in one. I lived in New York my whole life before moving down to Georgia to attend Graduate school. Since arriving here, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found myself more connected to the environment that surrounds me. My relocation has also brought me together with my girlfriend, Freshta, who was born in Georgia herself. These new experiences and the mental state that has encompassed my mind is what I wanted to show in these images, placing Freshta in this natural landscape. The main subject in these images is my girlfriend, Freshta. The location of the photographs, Stone Mountain, is the first place we ever went to together and where we shared our first kiss. We worked together on both the cameras and the imagery of these shots. She has been coming to this mountain her whole life and shares a special bond with it herself, so these photos also serve as portraits of her immersed in the terrain of the mountain. She feels at peace in this place and I feel it really shows in these images. The most important thing about these photos is the fact that we got to work together on this project. We have worked on creative endeavors alone for a long time, but finally got to collaborate here. Freshta got to school me in the field of pinhole photography and I truly enjoy how these came out. It also means a lot to me that this special place has become the glue that binds our minds together. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a place where we have felt at ease, freeing our minds for creativity. We are constantly visiting the mountain to hike, exercise and to daydream in its tranquil environment. It serves as a source of inspiration and brings us closer together. It helps us continue to grow in our relationship and forces us to slow down when things get too hectic. In a way, the mountain is a reminder that everything will be okay.

D E R E K F E R N A N D E S

Most of my photos, I picture the people I love, the photos are not tested and happen so that people photographed maintain a relationship with something that is also in the picture. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never just one person, but rather a story about someone I love. I believe that the strong relationship of a person with a place and can imagine why this place is special to that person, and the history that led to this importance. These photographs have linked their lives to mine and share a story with someone is something that can not be undone.

C A R L O S R O M O

Most of my photography works are focused on contexts where things happen. They are the only spatial evidence that reminds you that something happened. Most of times, the common ground is solitude, in this case, portraited as the remembrance of those bustling moments of life. These people are my friends, from an abstract point of view. I think it is the first time that I see places from this perspective. In the past, solitude was fo me a sought moment to think, to analyze things more thoroughly and quietly. Now, when each one of my friends is living on a different place, most of them not by choice, solitude has become a bitter pill to swallow. Light is the most important fact on these images. I think that it is full of optimism and homesickness at the same time. It is cold and sharp, the one that happens on clear winter mornings, when you are almost asleep and your self-awareness let you see reality more unconsciously, as if it were a movie. My friends have been my safety net for a long time, they used to soften my temperament and it is hard to move away from this stability.

T R E V O R P O W E R S

The pictures are a sort of feeling of something that just happened, or something that was just touched or moved, or passed by. It is my partner, and the story is that it is someone that I care very deeply about. The feeling of movement. The act of photographing a person or a part of a person brings people closer together.

Q U E S T I O N S What is the relation of your photographs with â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pieces of the people we loveâ&#x20AC;?? What is the point of view that you wanted to give to this subject? Who are these people? What is the story behind them? What is most important to you in these images? How does it affect your daily routine the relationship with these people?

words from the editors (thank you!)

paul pibernig james cooper mette kirkegaard david collier miguel constantino natalie kaplan carine wallauer kamal tung orlando rojas brian giwojna derek fernandes carlos romo trevor powers questions

Pieces of the people we love Thieves Editors Issue Nª01 / August 2013

Published by Thieves Editors Claudio A. Troncoso Rojas / María Aparicio Puentes http://www.thieveseditors.com © Thieves Editors. hello@thieveseditors.com 83

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Nª01 PIECES OF THE PEOPLE WE LOVE

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