Could you tell us about the two pictures here? In what context were they taken? These pictures were taken in Caracas, Venezuela as part of my book
Capitolio.
Capitolio
is a book about Venezuela I published in 2009. It is sort of a
reflection on a particular experience during the dark nights of
"revolution".
What "capitolio" refers to?It refers to the domed building that houses a government. Here,
the city of Caracas, Venezuela, is itself a metaphorical capitolio
building. The decaying Modernist architecture, with a jungle growing
through the cracks, becomes the walls of this building, and the violent
streets become the corridors where the human drama play itself out in
what President Hugo Chávez called a "revolution".
When did you first photograph in Venezuela? I
began photographing in Venezuela in 2004, and for a series of reasons
got caught up in the place. I was making very intuitive images that did
little to explain anything, but seemed loaded with emotion. Very early
on, I had an idea for a film that I tried to make into a printed book in
which an image completes the image that came before, and is fulfilled
by the image that follows... like a film reel. It was an experiment of
sorts to try and break the sacredness of the single image.
When and how did you start to photograph? Photography
has been a part of my life since a very early age. I never imagined
that there was such a profession as photographer until I was already
making a living from photography. That was around 1993, so I guess that I
could say that I "started" to photograph seriously in 1993.
My roots
are definitely in the documentary tradition. In the beginning, I found
myself in war zones around the world. I was often called a "war
photographer"... a title I reject. I came to realize that I was perhaps
trying to explain the world to myself rather than trying to "tell" a
story in the traditional journalistic sense. My work has become
increasingly subjective, ambiguous and personal.
What do you like about black and white photography? I
consider myself a colour photographer. Black and white was a particular
choice for this body of work, because of something I was trying to
achieve in the concept of the book I was making. I was experimenting
with how to create cinema in a book. Colour has too much information and
stops the continual forward movement in a book form. The idea was to
create a sort of film reel that felt like stills pulled from a motion
picture. The subject, Venezuela, also simply has too much colour. It is
distracting.
How has the profession of photo reporter changed since you started? Documentary
photography has certainly been changed by technology and the changes in
the market. That’s the boring part. The more intriguing change has to
do with the notions of subjectivity and objectivity. We are all much
more aware that a photograph is by its very nature subjective... and
therefore not "factual". But that does not mean that it’s not true,
quite the opposite. But that truth is a subjective truth.
Limited edition, numbered and signed.