A Woman Crush Wednesday from our archive, with Jessica Backhaus:

Interview by Qimei Fu

Shifted from capturing vivid scenes outside to creating abstract still life and collage in the studio, how did you feel about this change in the creative method?

As an artist, I find it necessary to challenge myself and to explore unknown fields. In terms of the creative method, I enjoy the different stages of a project. For my photographs, I still go out into the world and discover places where I can create my work. Then there is the time that I spend in the darkroom and in my studio where I can continue the next steps and experiment with various materials to find new forms of expression. This immersion into other worlds, to loose and find oneself, to follow uncertain paths, to dare, to try new attempts are some elements that are at the base of my art practice.

How would you describe the series A Trilogy?

The three series in A Trilogy are some acts of liberation for me. I did feel the need to break new grounds within my photography practice. The first series Beyond Blue are photographs of colorful threads that were staged on colored backgrounds. They seem to lead a life of their own, tracing the fall of light in the space and forming variously shaped outlines. Allusions to portraits, bodies, abstract-geometric constellations stimulate our imagination. I found it fascinating that there are endless possibilities in this radical reduction, even if you only work with three elements like a piece of colored thread, colored background, and sunlight.

In Shifting Clouds, I look at a reality between things. This second series from A Trilogy shows fragments and visual reflections that appear to be in limbo, Reflections, haptic surfaces, imaginative, transforming structures, rhythmic, sweeping tones, color-intensive sensations. Here I deal with thoughts, memories, associations, and patterns that motivate us to start over and dare to give up everything safe. It's about the process of change.

In the third series, New Horizon, I show freely associated, poetic works in the form of collages. For these, I use a wide variety of materials, my own photographs, various papers, adhesive tape, and sometimes liquid colors. For me, components of mixed media, painting, and collage expand the spectrum of photography. I tried to put harmony, stylistic inconsistencies, and irritations in a playful, yet discreet and careful way. The resulting works are like visual poems to me.

How did New York inspire you when you lived there from 1995 to 2009?

I moved to New York when I was 24 years old. At that age, everything seemed wide open and ahead of me. I was inspired by the endless energy and the unique cosmopolitan aspect of the city. People come to New York from all over the world and try to make it in their respective fields. I enjoyed the diversity and vibrant culture a lot. In New York, there is also a particular light that I find very inspiring.