Task: Pulling insights from an interview with a practitioner: How do they describe the intent of their work. What are their visual choices? How do they reflect and evaluate their work? How does this inform my own practice? What particular issues and themes resonate?
I have chosen an interview with Todd Hido (Christie’s 2017), who I have referenced in my current assignment, who also has previously referred to his challenging childhood, describing how this has subconsciously driven the direction of his work. I have only come to realise recently that my own creative voice is similarly influenced by difficult childhood experiences.
Hido explains that he often tries to recreate scenes that are reflective of his own home. It is not about the subject matter (in this case houses at night), but the stories of the people who live in them. Hido quotes Lewis Baltz who once said that photography sits in a corner between film and literature. Hido uses photography to figure himself out and for him, it is about intuition. He describes his process as the making of paper movies, which he uses to drive the narrative and at times figure himself out. Hido describes how the clear and less clear aspects of an image reflect how our own memories are constructed.
I found Hido’s work immediately resonant. His creation of ambiguity and foreboding is along similar lines to much of my previous work in photographing landscapes. He uses conflicting lighting and deep shadows to great effect. I have to date only used deep shadows to elicit unanswered questions from the viewer. However, as I partially transition into colour I want to similarly use light sources of different colour temperatures to create uneasiness and tension in my work.
List of Figures
FIGURE 1: HIDO, Todd. 2024. ‘Untitled (#3533-A), from the „Homes at Night” Series’. Artnet.com [online]. Available at: https://www.artnet.com/artists/todd-hido/untitled-3533-a-from-the-homes-at-night-series-ZtU7ZLK4tBhUv3xg8JO4pQ2 [accessed 27 Mar 2024].
References
CHRISTIE’S. 2017. ‘Todd Hido: “I Use Photography to Express Myself”’. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTnmO6UXFUc [accessed 27 Mar 2024].
The Photography of David Rosen 