::Intent::

Q:

- what is your intent, what is it that you are trying to say?

and perhaps more importantly

- why do you feel that you need to say it in the first place?


A:

that is the question of questions and I remember a portfolio review with Paul Fusco in which his insistence on this question was making me angrier and angrier: ...'what is your intent?"..."what did you feel when you took this picture?"..."what are you trying to say?"...

His last words were something like: ..."photography is a language and it is a difficult one to learn and speak well"...

These questions have been knocking around in my head and yes... what is it that I am trying to say and perhaps: ..."why do I feel the need to say it in the way that I am?"... The other day I had the chance to give a talk about my work at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester as part of one of the RedEye public seminars. I got an excellent response, people seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say and I was very happy that my talk generated a lively discussion and that the points were directed to the audience as a whole and not AT me, which is what I was affraid of considering the fact the subject is rather 'delicate'. One of the questions which kept me thinking was from Mishka Henner, a manchester based documentary photography and his question was related to aesthetics... why do I use such stark black & white images and what is it that I am trying to convey, am I pessimistic about what is happening?

I guess I am a pessimist, which was my first answer... yes, the glass is always half empty... BUT ... and this is a big BUT ... pessimism is not the same thing a cynicism... which in my mind equates to not much more than ..."why the hell bother in the first place"...

I think the issues related to Islam and Britain and in fact the rest of Europe are very serious, 7/7 and the Madrid Train Bombings are a point in case. There should be no question about the fact that there is a problem. And I genuinely believe that people are very aware of that. The problem now is is that people either feel threatened or targeted and this applies to both the Muslim communities and the Generic population.

The issue however is really quite complex and I feel that the mainstream media are really good at doing two things...

one: paint a simplistic bleak image, where all muslims are angry and have a tendency to explode on contact, and really, all you have to do is simply read the headlines of the tabloid press... of which there's a lot of in Britain

two: paint a simplistic rosy image, where everything is fine and all muslims are happy without really trying to dig a little bit deeper, just a 'politically correct' image

Both points are wrong and unfortunately it is sadly much more complicated than that... add a few identity crises, related cultural ties plus a couple of socio-economic issues at home and abroad and there you have it... complex and serious... that is my point... let's not pussy foot about the issues... let's talk... what are the stereotypes we have... why do we have them... does the image we have in our minds fit the visual stereotype we have? how do aproach trying to solve the issues... and maybe the most important issue is HOW do we start talking about them... so far I am out of any real answers...

::Shooting Music::













:: metz & trix::