By Katie Trotter for VOGUE Arabia, September 12, 2019
The title of the exhibition is Crossroads. What is the meaning and inspiration behind it all?
I feel it is simply a time in my life where all of the paths I have walked so far are coming together. They all share similarities and have acquired integral parts from one another.
You started out as a photojournalist after your studies. Can you tell us about that time and how you transitioned into fashion photography?
It’s funny, at the beginning of my career I was knee-deep in the documentary world – that was where my focus was. Yet I knew I wanted to experience new techniques, methods, and ideas. Little by little I started falling into the world I am now in. It was and still is very organic.
Can you explain how your work always seems to evoke emotion?
It’s simply a reflection of how I feel at the time of the project. I need to express ideas and create images that I remember. Although a series of images needs to follow a narrative, it is important to me that every single image has a meaning of its own.
It is interesting that one person can look through a camera and take a simple picture, and one can look through the lens and see magic. What do you see in things that differentiate you from others?
What I really love is imagining things from one perspective and then reinventing myself and starting again from a different place. I have always lived in my own world where I escalate and build new ideas. The idea of compressing frames in my head in a pictorial way before taking them close to abstraction interests me.
What has been your career highlight to date and why?
I would love to think it is still to come but definitely exhibiting in the Staley Wise Gallery in New York is one of them.
You recently shot Kim Kardashian on the cover of the VOGUE Arabia September issue. Can you tell us about the experience?
It was a great experience to work closely with the whole team and to collaborate with one of the most famous woman on earth. She was very approachable, hardworking and enthusiastic. The entire project was incredible.
Fashion photography is evolving all the time. How do you stay relevant in the throwaway digital age?
I feel you always have to adjust to the times but in this time of mass production, imaginary needs a real message that stays with us more than it ever has.
Photography takes a lot of creativity but is also highly technical. In this exhibition, you are using one of the oldest and richest methods of printing color photography. What can you tell us about dye transfer?
It is, without doubt, the best color-printing process for my imagery. There’s only one person still doing it in the world, so of course it adds a romantic feeling.
What do you hope that people will feel when they walk through the exhibition?
All I ever want from anyone who observes is emotion and surprise.
The exhibition will be on view at Staley Wise Gallery from September 12 through November 2nd, 2019, with an opening reception attended by the artist to be held on Thursday, September 12th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm.
