Complete interview text
What are you making?
At the moment I'm trying out different things in the field of materials/equipment and presentation. I don't necessarily have some kind of subject in mind while doing those experiments. First of all I’m trying out analog techniques. For example I'm working with a large format camera at the moment and I’m amazed by these large negatives. I'm just kind of experimenting with light and working indoors instead of outdoors. I feel like I have limitations in traveling because of covid and I feel like I have to figure out a way that I can continue making my work but without necessarily stepping outside or to places that need extensive traveling. I just made some experiments with lightning indoors and see if the camera is working properly, because it's quite old. It does work pretty well, and my mind is blown away by the quality of these large negatives. The grain is really soft and the contrast in the black and white film is beautiful.
Some of the photographs that I’m making with the large format camera are just focused on the light indoors. Very intuitive work and little experiments with how the light falls on objects and some of them turn into abstract photographs and some of them still have recognizable objects in them. These results make we want to step into studio photography too. That was never my thing but I’d really like to research a lot of possibilities, now I’ve started this Master. So I’d like to make an indoor set that makes you feel like the landscapes that I'm using usually in.
There’s an old camera that I have and used to belong to my grandfather. I took some photos with the camera and it turns out the light meter is very much off. I ended up with a roll of overexposed and blurry images. I did find these results very interesting visually because the outcome were very vague images. I’m used to making very sharp and colorful images but these were more like shadows of a landscape instead of a clear image.
Who is in your neighborhood In some way these images remind me of an exhibition I saw a long time ago. There were paintings by Maaike Schoorel and at a first glance her paintings looked white, untouched. Then, when you looked closely, you could see some shadows and very light colors on the canvas. I now find this very interesting because of the imagination that is left for the viewer in this kind of work.
The second thing I’m working on is how to present my work, however in this particular moment I’ve put this on hold for a bit. This is something that was on my mind for the last couple of years, because I'm used to presenting my work in a traditional way; let my photographs get print and framed. I want to figure out a way how to step out of that traditional way of presentation. For example I bought this old projector where you can put slides in. I’ve been photographing with 35 mm and medium format before and I usually scan then and/or print them in the dark room. I want to research other ways to make the presentation more intense. For example turn it into some kind of projection and take up more space to really get the viewer into that experience that I had myself in the landscape. I also would like to experiment with video and sound. For example in Debeuckelaere’s work she combines still images with abstract sounds in a video.
Who is in your neighborhood Barbara Debeuckelaere is an artist who works with still images in video and sound. She made a film called ‘Fishy business’ in which you can find an interesting form in storytelling without adding a narrative in writing or speech. Presentation-wise I’m also very interested in installation artists like Anish Kapoor, James Turrell and Ann Veronica Janssens. In their installations you seem to be absorbing the artwork because the entire surrounding plays a part in it. As for me surroundings and the human connection with them, are very important, I would like to incorporate those aspects in my work.
Why are you making it?
I want to be like a sponge and absorb everything in the upcoming period. Experimentation is key for me. I want to develop my work and in order to do that I have to open up a bit and explore more and new possibilities. The travel restrictions are uninspiring for me, there are many destinations on my list but at the moment they are pretty much unreachable. My own work is around nature and planet earth but there's something in me right now that wants to break out of that. The restrictions and inability to travel are guiding some of my experiments but also made me interested in even bigger space.
Who is in your neighborhood? There are several series, fictional and documentary, that evolve around traveling to Mars, for example ‘Away ‘and BBC’s ‘Mars’. They are very appealing to me because of the fact that this subject represents some bigger then are own experienced world. I’ve been diving into NASA’s archive and found not only images but also recordings that might be of use to me. Shannon also referred me to Julian Charriere, an artist who builds miniature landscapes but it’s hard to tell the difference with a real life mountainous landscape.
How does it relate to other things you have done?
I want to do something with environment and I want to do something with that experience of being in nature and being in the overwhelming beauty and calmness which relates to work that I've made before. I want to create this dream world where you want to dive in.
How is it different to other things you have done?
I'm really stepping out of my comfort zone and working very intuitive now. Because I’m experimenting with new analog techniques, I have less control over the picture. There’s less selecting and editing involved afterwards, which gives me a sharper focus in the actual moment of photographing.
What are the most significant choices have you made recently?
Working with other materials/equipment then I'm used to and making my move to the indoors. Maybe it will last for a few weeks and then I'll get outdoors again. I don't know how it will work out in the end. I'm choosing to experiment more, not sticking to what I know and what I feel comfortable with. I know when I make my photographs outdoors and I take all my digital camera equipment, that the outcome will meet my expectations. The significant choice is that I'm stepping away from that comfort zone and stepping into something more undiscovered. The physicality and tangibility in making darkroom prints are appealing to me too.
[Steve’s general note on Sacha’s text: More images please! and there is room to follow some of your statements up. For instance “I did find these results very interesting visually.” It would be useful to know what aspects of them you find interesting. How so? the mode of address is very honest and open]