Sunday Edition: Veneziani, Muriu, Indig and Kilmer
PHOTOSNACK #130
Last Sunday, I reached out to photographers previously featured on PHOTOSNACK and asked them to send me back their spontaneous thoughts, observations, reflections, or pieces of advice.
Today, I am sharing with you the messages I received from Paolo Veneziani, Thandiwe Muriu, Mark Indig, and Chris Kilmer.
This is a free preview version of PHOTOSNACK Sunday Edition. Please consider supporting my work (and getting all future Sunday Editions!) as a paid subscriber.
Paolo Veneziani
There's a lot of confusion out there. Thanks to photography, however, we have the opportunity to put things in order, organize the elements, and find harmony. The challenge is to find the point where we can position ourselves both physically and mentally, in space but also in time, where the obvious turns to beauty.
Paolo Veneziani was featured in PHOTOSNACK #115.
Thandiwe Muriu
Headwraps are a key part of African culture. These colorful crowns hold immense significance during various social occasions like weddings, church gatherings, and other important social outings. The more prestigious the event, the larger and more elaborate the headwrap.
Sunday Best, as well as the other images within the photographic series called Material Culture, were inspired by this rich cultural heritage, one I observed daily as my mother skilfully manipulated rolls of fabric into towering masterpieces in preparation for her weekly church attendance. No two headwraps are ever the same - they are draped for a transient moment and then gone as soon as they are taken off at the end of the day, and even if the same fabric, pins, and method are repeated, there will always be something new in the final drape.
Material Culture serves as a profound homage to the artistry of this beauty practice while inviting contemplation on the self-empowering nature of this ritual. Every time a woman puts on a headwrap, she adorns herself with the African equivalent of a regal coronet; the humble fabric transcends its material form, becoming an exquisite work of art that graces her head like the crown of a queen.
Thandiwe Muriu was featured in PHOTOSNACK #112.
Mark Indig
For many years, my photography was limited to “one-off’ images of scenes that jumped out at me that I couldn’t not not shoot (forgive the triple negative). Then in the early 2000’s I became fascinated with the fully concrete Los Angeles River and began a photographic journey that continues to this day. For about six years, I even had a business that took photographers on photo tours of the river. Given this bizarre and rather dangerous environment, the tours required an airtight release, bolt cutters, and lookouts for taggers and police. So, in this way, the L.A. River became my first discrete “project." I ended up self-publishing a photo book about my experiences, The Los Angeles River: A City Runs Through It. I was honored when the late poet Lewis MacAdams (founder of Friends of the L.A. River) wrote the foreword:
“Signs and wonders, mysterious juxtapositions. Mark Indig’s L.A. River is a universe of creatures for whom the river is not so much a waterway as a state of mind, a gigantic musical score played by the wind through a megalopolis of power towers and wires. The sun never seems to rise on Mark Indig’s River, where brutal forces grow out of lethal mists. Moonrise is marked by flocks of lost birds and barbed wire, and banana trees grow out of a station wagon pockmarked by bullet holes. Yet Indig’s intentions are not surreal, nor are they documentary. They are a meditation on beauty in the raw. Some day, the River’s banks will all look Victorian, with park benches marked by donor plaques, but right now, the River is as raw as the city it drains. Mark Indig has caught the moments before the river is dedicated to education and recreation. His is a river that troubles our sleep.”
I chose this particular image to post here because it encapsulates so much about the river: the concrete walls and bottom, the dribble of water that goes straight to the ocean without benefitting the landscape, the graffiti, and what passes for a waterfall in Los Angeles.
Mark Indig was featured in PHOTOSNACK #121.
Chris Kilmer
Thank you for your generous invitation to speak a few words.
I should plead the Fifth Amendment as I do not wish to incriminate myself by trying to write above my pay grade.
"Inspiration is for rookies; the rest of us just have to do the work." - Roger Vail.
"If you do what you love, good things will happen."- William Clift
When you "borrow" from other artists, make sure you repay the loan with "interest."
The mundane is in the eye of the beholder.
If you lived in Iceland, Sacramento would be exotic.
Avoid reinventing the wheel - look at the history of photography.
Chris Kilmer was featured in PHOTOSNACK #107.
Sunday Editions are here to connect you with photographers whose work you previously explored through PHOTOSNACK.
I want to reveal some authentic parts of the people behind the cameras.
I don’t ask them any specific questions. I ask them to share whatever pops into their mind when thinking about YOU - the readers of this newsletter.
It makes their responses genuine and personal.
I hope you enjoyed today’s Sunday Edition.
Until next time,
Tomasz
ALWAYS surprising and best of all
Delightful !
Very nice idea Thomasz, to let some text come in. I have always had difficulties with titles and explaining text for a photograph. The photograph itself should speak out. But here it adds. Indeed sometimes you need text to get to grips with a photograph ans appreciate it. So that may be a topic for discussion.