Session2 - Interview

Text 1: Interview with Nosh

1738 words INTERVIEW TEXT

I was wondering, what are you making right now?

I don't know exactly, I think I'm just in the very beginning of the process. I am working on some ideas about the Eye project in Amsterdam and I am also working in collaboration with Yalou in the portraiture project, reflecting about subject, portrait and stability.

In this last project I started wondering what would I love to explore as a portraiture and I thought that it would be interesting just to talk with Yalou, interview her so I can get to know her better. I am interested in the images I could create from her speech, her story; how can memories, feelings or sensations can be translated from a narration (spoken or written) into images. I think it is interesting to try to do it live: I will create images with Photoshop about what she's telling me, but quiet in an abstract way, I would not pretend to find the exact image she’s describing because memories and feelings are subjective and I think you cannot describe perfectly a memory; or if you do, the image that I'm imagining will not be the same.

One interesting point in this is translation between the languages, in this case the spoken language and the creation of images. If you are telling me about your memories, how do I imagine that? How can I transform that into an image? That was my starting point, but then it changed with Yalou because we love talking and we discovered many interesting things in our discussion.

We started reflecting about the beautiful images. When I think about making a portrait of Yalou, I think about how to construct a beautiful image and for that I need to get a number of qualities in the photo: to have a correct exposure, a correct focus, a good composition, and so on. But also ideally I want Yalou to look good, to look beautiful, right? But… why? Why should that be beautiful? Why should both subject and medium be “beautiful”? So we decided that we are going to try to find a way to, to create “not beautiful images”, or at least that we were going to reflect on these concepts. And then we got this idea of our throats.

And what do you mean with your throats? What are you going to do with it?

Thinking about this idea of images that are not beautiful, medical images automatically came to my mind and from there I thought of a video that a drama teacher showed me a few years ago. The video showed the vocal cords of four people singing, it was quite a discovery, all the students were amazed and surprised because no one in there had seen it before though it is our body right? But it seems so strange to see your own body from the inside! An abstract shape, so you know it's you because someone tells you that it is you, and because you recognise your voice, right? But it has so an estrange shape!

An image that you have never seen before, but it is you.

On the other hand there is an interest in the conversation itself, in the dialogue, in telling ourselves. By talking about ourselves we are creating ourselves in a way, so we are constantly changing. So I like the idea of a portrait of us, just talking about us, through the image of our vocal cords.

Why do you really want to use this technique/image?

Vocal cords are an example, it could be something else. In fact it is not at all easy to record vocal cords, you need medical equipment, that's why we are considering working with archival footage. In particular, the vocal cords are just a little bit repulsive but also very funny, but what it is interesting is how these abstract images of our own body are open to the imagination, it could be anything, it could be an alien, it could be a vagina, it could be an amoeba and I find those possibilities liberating and fun.

It sounds really interesting, really. How does it relate to other things you’ve done?

Actually it was good to realise the connexion with other projects, I just found that connexion while talking about that. I think this new ideas are related to my interest of finding these “not beautiful images”.

Mm-hmm. , I dunno, the, the, the, the. Specific words in English, but maybe the, Yeah. The mistakes you make when you make non good photography, you know? Mm-hmm. , Um, you can make photographs. >>> Buscar accuracy

But I think that we need to have more examples of things that are not that.

It's related with my project I made with the retouching photographs. That I was just, uh, gathering like the. , the, the hiden parts of the females that are removed, like Theves or I, the eye, I think it's related with that. And I, I'm really interesting in this.

And does it also related to the Pixel project you did as well?

I think so, although this one has another direction, but yes, it was like my way to say “I don't agree with that”. To hack the system a little bit in a symbolic way.

Also you had some interactive works also like The Potato project, that was so funny and it was about the body as well.

It was an educational project based on Mr. Potato. It started in a design workshop in Madrid in 2018. A friend of mine, María had the idea of hacking and reinventing the iconic Mister Potato from a more inclusive and open point of view, because his approach to the body was shaped by machismo and limited to the male-female dichotomy. Women wear heels and men have moustaches: there wasn't much choice in imagining other possible bodies.

The idea was to ask the children but also adults to draw parts of the body and to see what happens with that. How children and adults draw (and talk) about the different parts of the bodies and how different they can be. We discovered of course that it was easier to talk and draw about an eye or an arm than draw and talk naturally a penis or a vagina. We chose a few drawings that we liked and we printed with laser cutting and we made the pieces for the potatoes, so people could play with that.

So what I've seen now as well, also with showing the throat or making the body parts for children or showing me what's happening inside it's also a quite educative way of working.

Maybe, yes. It's interesting. I think it is born out of a need; the need to know why I am not able to talk about the things that scare me or that I don't understand or that I don’t even know much. But I would like to do it with humour because it is something very personal and intimate and it can become tragic and painful if it is not treated carefully

Yeah. Super nice. I love that project as well, um. And how is this a project? You know, we talked a little bit about how it relates to each other but how is this new project different from the other projects you did?

I think it's different, first of all because I'm working with Yalou and that changes everything. This is the first time that I'm working with someone in a project, even if in the past I had collaborations, they were not the same. We are very exciting about working together and that is a very positive way to start a project.Another different aspect is language. It will be the first time that I will be working in video in depth.

What are the most significant choices you have made recently? Related to the project or maybe also in general, it's a really broad question, right?

One choice that I think is important for me, and I did it for the application here, is to try speak more openly about personal aspects or issues. For example when I presented my work the first day I spoke about my experience working in medical company but also about the experience I have had since I was a child with doctors as I always had issues with my back. For me, only to speak about that was a way to say “this is part of me, this is important even if it is not a very comfortable aspect”. I will maybe decide do something with that, te speak more clearly about that, or may be not, but I think this will be present somehow in everything. Reflecting about these “bad images” that I am looking for makes sense for me as I have always felt uncomfortable with my body. So for me it was important to say, to decide, okay, I will speak about that just as I can talk about other things.

I see a link about your insight and your bones, I dunno if it's your bones or, the way you want to portray the inside of a throat.

Yeah, I think it is interesting to discover our invisible parts in all aspects, the aspects that we don’t know about ourselves, which could be physical or not. We are not used to looking at or talking about things that cause us some kind of discomfort. I just think we need to incorporate these elements and normalise them, treat them as part of our history and play with them.

It's quite interesting how you want to use my medical photography, for example, or like insights to show something else, you know what I mean? To get a better understanding of someone and also with your own experience and your own body. I see all the stuff in there are lots of links and connections.

Yeah. Lots of connections, it is interesting how the ideas and projects can be linking while talking. That was really helpful. Thank you.

I'm really interested to make it a piece together. Nice, thank you so much and see you next time.

Okay. Next chapter. Next chapter. Okay.

Text 2: "Short" version

755 words

I am working on some ideas about the Research Labs in the Eye Museum in Amsterdam and I am also working on collaboration with Yalou in the portraiture project, reflecting about subject, portrait and stability.

When I think about making a portrait of Yalou, I think about how to construct a beautiful image and for that I need to get a number of qualities in the photo: to have a correct exposure, a correct focus, a good composition, and so on. But also ideally I want Yalou to look good, to look beautiful, right? But… why? Why should that be beautiful? Why should both subject and medium be “beautiful”? So I thought that this project could be nice way to reflect about these concepts.

I am also interested in the images I could create from her speech, her story; how can memories, feelings or sensations can be translated from a narration (spoken or written) into images. I think it is interesting to try to do it live: I will create images with Photoshop about what she's telling me, but quiet in an abstract way, I would not pretend to find the exact image she’s describing because memories and feelings are subjective and I think you cannot describe perfectly a memory; or if you do, the image that I'm imagining will not be the same. There is a question of translation. If you are telling me about your memories, how do I imagine that? How can I transform that into an image? That was my starting point.

Thinking about this idea of images that are not beautiful, medical images automatically came to my mind, specially a video about vocal cords. It is so strange to see your own body from the inside! Vocal cords are just a little bit repulsive but also very funny but it is just an example, it could be something else. What it is interesting is how these abstract images are open to the imagination, it could be anything, it could be an alien, it could be a vagina, it could be an amoeba… I find those possibilities liberating and fun.

An image that you have never seen before, but it is you, an abstract shape.

On the other hand there is an interest in the conversation itself, in the dialogue, in telling ourselves. By talking about ourselves we are creating ourselves in a way, so we are constantly changing. I like the idea of a portrait of us, just talking about us, through the image of our vocal cords.

This current research is related with my project “Invisible catalogues” in which I gathered information that never appear in fashion photography, such as creases, threads, imperfections on fabric, bags under the eyes, veins, feminine nipples or prominent bones. In a broader field, this project investigates the paradoxical tension between patrimony and conservation in digital images. If photography is a part of our patrimony, what happens with the removed details? I conceive this gesture as poetic and critical manner of conservation the unseen, the censured. There is also a relationship with other interactive projects I’ve worked in like Mx Potate, an educational project based on Mr. Potato. It started in a design workshop in Madrid in 2018 and continued in 2020 in MediaLab Prado. A friend of mine, María had the idea of hacking and reinventing the iconic Mister Potato from a more inclusive and open point of view.

https://artskills.es/proyectos-artskills-2018/mx-potatos-potatos-degenerados/

https://www.medialab-matadero.es/proyectos/mx-patate-hackeando-mr-potato

One of the paths taken by the project was to ask children and adults to draw parts of the body and to see what happens with that, how different they can be. We discovered of course that it was easier to talk and draw about an eye or an arm than draw and talk naturally a penis or a vagina.

There is a connexion between my actual research and the projects I’ve worked on so far. One choice I made about my artistic practice which is important for me is to try speak more openly about personal aspects or issues that concern me, as a way to say “this is part of me, this is important even if it is not a very comfortable aspect”. We are not used to looking at or talking about things that cause us some kind of discomfort. I just think we need to incorporate these elements and normalize them, treat them as part of our personal history.