Protest on streets around the world, an @womeninstreet gallery curated by Samy St. Clair
Sign of the Times
women
In Her View
Women seen by women, Street photography gallery from @womeninstreet, curated by Michelle Rick
Guest Curator: Michelle Rick
Beach Bodies
Street photography series by Deborah Barak
Please tell us a little background about yourself, and how you came to photography.
I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up in what can be most simply described as a spiritually focused commune made up of ex-hippies (transitioned into the 80’s as “conscious yuppies.”) My mother was born in Egypt, and emigrated to South Africa as a child. My father is American, of Russian and Polish descent. I was always surrounded by a wide diversity of experiences, views and relationships. I existed in a very liberal, safe place that was tucked inside the larger environment of a very segregated and violent Apartheid South Africa in the 80’s, then a blossoming and hopeful, but still violent country in the 90’s.
At 22 I headed to the US. I never intended to stay more than a couple years, but I got sucked in to New York as people do, the sense of freedom and potential so irresistible, the diversity of the city both so familiar and so different from what I was used to.
My interest in photography began early, sparked by my father’s own photography. He was always the guy with a camera or video camera in his hands. I spent hours going through his binders of negatives, contact sheets and black and white prints from the 70’s, and was inspired to create. I have always felt a pull to tell stories of real human experience, but the medium has changed over time. I wrote some, and I dabbled with photography on and off in my teens and twenties, but cameras were stolen, lost or broken. I put almost all my energy into documentary films and television, and made production my career, first in South Africa, and then as a TV producer in New York.
In 2011 I got an iPhone and started taking pictures with it. I couldn’t stop. At first I was just amazed with what could be achieved with a phone camera. I discovered photographers who were using Instagram as a serious place for sharing and learning, and I dove in. I began to photograph on the street, in the subway, thrilled by the moments of humanity and character, the traces of a story, that I could capture with the phone. But by 2013 I was hankering for more control, and I bought another DSLR.
My world expanded from there. I photograph all sorts of subjects now, working with families and artists, as well as on the streets wherever I travel, but whatever I’m shooting, I approach as a documentarian.
I don’t think I really knew of street photography as a genre before 2013, but when I look back at photos I took in my short bursts of shooting throughout the years, I see that I was always doing it. I think growing up in the unusual environment that I did made me interested in diversity of experience, seeking candid moments that make me feel connected to those whose lives may be far removed from mine.
What is the inspiration for your Beach Bodies series?
It’s really all about that thong. The Beach Bodies series was born during a two week holiday to Rio de Janeiro in 2014.
What struck me almost immediately upon arriving at the beach was how women of every imaginable body type seemed to feel so at home in their own skin. Not just there, but out there in all their glory, and without shame or regard for shape or age. Thong bikinis were not reserved for those with toned and tight behinds. So many women claiming the beach as their own within the space, claiming the right to be there in their bodies just as they were. To be comfortable, to be sexy for their own sake, to be physical and to bare their bums and bellies to the sun, to walk and run and stretch and enjoy. I bought a purple thong bikini from a vendor on the beach and joined in. It gave me a freedom and comfort I had never experienced in a swimsuit before. It’s a feeling that has stayed with me. So I began to photograph the Beach Bodies I saw that inspire me with their unselfconsciousness, both male and female. They give me permission to be that comfortable in my own skin. I’m on the lookout whenever I hit the beach, in any country on any continent.
Do you find it different to be shooting on the beach than any other locales, a different mindset for your approach?
I’m trying to capture people in a moment that is particularly unselfconscious, so I try to be even more discreet than I would on the street, where I care less about being noticed with my camera. I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable or under scrutiny, which would be contrary to what inspired me in the first place, so even though I’m usually shooting undetected, I always maintain a respect for my subject and I hope this comes across in the images I’ve chosen to include in the series.
Do you think being a woman has an affect on your approach?
It certainly has an effect on the subjects I choose and the way that I see, which I think is with an empathetic and strongly feminine quality. And it definitely has an effect on how I am perceived on the street with my camera. But my womanhood is inextricably tied up with all the other things shape my vision — being a 5 foot tall, introverted, white girl from Africa just to name a few. Which has more effect on my approach? I don’t know.
Sonia Madrigal
Street chat
Please tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, where do you live now? Your background with photography, how and when you were drawn to the street genre.
I am based in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, a big city near Mexico City, and I have lived in this city since I was born. Neza is an eclectic place because of its multicultural nature, since it was founded by people who immigrated from other states of the country, and this aspect is evident when you walk in it. Many great memories that I have, and that have marked me, have to do with the streets.
I studied B.S. in Informatics. I started to work in different companies, but one day I realized that this did not make me happy. So I went backpacking, and when the trip ended, I started searching for what to do — I had always been interested in artistic issues, but never could start at it. Soon, I found a community cultural center where they taught a workshop of basic photography and digital photography, and that’s when everything began. During these workshops, I took a class with Mark Powell, and this was when I began to experience the pleasure of hunting photos in the streets of my own city, and in the places that I frequented — nearby cities, and public transport. That was my beginning.
How do you define “street photography” for yourself?
Street photography for me involves relearning how to look — at my environment, at others, and even at myself. I am amazed to appreciate in the small details that surround me, the accelerated morphology of my own and other cities — and this speaks a lot to who we are as its inhabitants. Doing street photography has also involved having a moment to think, and to reflect while on the road — during these journeys, there is a constant stalking not only of photos, but also of ideas, to continue creating.
Does your local situation affect your work?
Currently in Mexico, one of the biggest human rights crises is being lived — the rights of women. This country has become a hostile ground for Mexican women to such a degree, that we have failed to guarantee the right to life. This not only affects me as a woman who does street photography, but also as an inhabitant, and as a human being. That is why in my work, the themes around women are kept present, so that I can continue to observe this situation from my trench.
In what ways do you think being a woman has affected your work?
It affects me in many ways, not only in the themes I approach, but also in the moment in which I am facing an artistic discipline where only men have space. From the fact that men consider that we women have “advantages” in street, to the fact that they do not allow, or they invalidate our own ways of looking at and living the street. The challenges that exist, or exist in street photography, are just one example of all the schemes and stereotypes that we have to bring down in so many other areas. Men have always spoken for us, it’s time to shout that we can do it for ourselves.
Color or black and white, digital or film?
I try not to limit myself. In addition to street photos, I try to do experimental work mixing different genres, so I do not limit myself too much in technical aspects, because this always depends on what I want to say.
What photographers can you name who are the most inspirational to you?
Definitely the work and history of Vivian Maier and Diane Arbus, as well as Martha Cooper, are a great inspiration for me. But whenever I meet women who do street photography, I like to read what they have had to face in this world of men to continue taking pictures, that motivates me a lot.
Is there a special project you are working on? Or recurring themes you are often drawn to?
Yes, my current focus is on violence against women, especially in danger zones around Mexico City. I have been working on this subject to bring more awareness to this great problem that exists in my country and in my city, and my perspective is from the street. Along with this, I’m also doing my street photography and street portraits, where the central characters are normally women.
