Parallel Lines: Elisa Medde
© Kamonlak Sukchai, Love of sky and ground
Federica Belli: The language of photography is still among the most contemporary ones, notwithstanding the diffusion of digital art and AR. Which factors make photography such a relevant medium in our time?
Elisa Medde: There are many factors, all of them somehow having to do with communication, in the sense that photography is a quick and extremely accessible medium. Being so easy to spread, people can recognise themselves in the medium. Therefore, even the most conceptual approaches with photography somehow maintain a certain directness that makes people click. And that is extremely powerful. When you think of the history of human depiction, from sculpture to painting, to frescos in churches, it has always been about storytelling. And recognisability, the degree to which you recognise yourself or find elements of connection – even in the most abstract works, think of Islamic Art – has always been central. Photography has that specific power in our contemporary society.
F.B. Photographic experimentation seems to be proceeding on two distinct tracks: either pursuing innovative visual techniques or exploring newly-discovered needs and issues through a traditional language. Do you place higher value on the development of visual language or on the act of facing new problems?
E.M. This is such a good question. We are used to seeing the development of history of art and image making in a progressive line, one shows an ingrained need of medium progression to be perceived as advancing. That is true, but the important thing you are pointing out very well is that it is not just how you say something, but rather what you say and with which voice. How effective is your language? I am split between the two, however I guess there is a third factor next to the development of the medium and the topic, which is the authenticity of the author’s voice. How much of yourself as image maker are you putting in the creation of those images? If that is present, whether you are focusing on the medium or on the story being told, the outcome is powerful. On the other hand, in our specific historical moment I do see how important it is to address contemporaneity rather than making a strictly medium-related conversation. In the past year a special issue of FOAM Magazine focused on what photography can do: can we talk about what we can do with photography rather than obsessing for so long about what it is? Both questions are important, yet in this particular moment in time it is more pressing to investigate what we can do.
© Plantation, Hybrid - Notes of the Negro
F.B. Also, the importance of photography in our perception of power, politics and identity makes visual literacy increasingly important for observers. The public is widening thanks to social media, yet not everyone has access to a visual education that enables a complete reading of images. How is the role of spectators changing over time?
E.M. Photography is now the dominant medium, as image based social media rule over the text based ones: it is not about Twitter, it is all about Instagram and TikTok. The visual communication, the way we read images and the messages conveyed has become extremely relevant. What might happen with spectatorship is incredible. The public is widening as wider demographics access to the production and consumption of certain types of images, but indeed we live in a moment in which all the paradigms and visual codes are changing so quickly that it becomes one big work in progress. And the educational system is sadly the last one to keep up with what is happening, there is always a blind spot to it. If we think specifically of photography education, I can only think of a handful of Master’s programs that are decoding what is happening in image making. There is so much work to be done from primary school already, in the way kids process images. Children are exposed to huge amounts of images, most of the times coming from the advertising; that has to be decoded, as it is imagery produced in order to provoke a specific reaction in who is viewing it. When there is such strong purpose in making an image, there must be something at the end of a line which allows the ones receiving it to decode it. And that is a huge responsibility we have as people operating in the image-making and image-diffusing world. Many museums are finally and rightfully changing, with a lot more attention being put in educational programs for children from school and long-learning programs for folks of older ages to enter museums and engage with imagery. There is so much more work to be done. It is about information and documentation, but it is also about representation, role models and possibilities. Even when considering abstract photography and the way we consume it – up to a point it was literally restricted to a museum environment, while on Instagram nowadays there is so much abstract work – there is so much hidden potential of which we will see the consequences in a few years.
FOAM Magazine Cover
F.B. In this regard, your practice as Editor-in-Chief of FOAM Magazine has brought to life one of the most stimulating publications on the market. As your audience expanded, how has the approach of the magazine evolved and adapted to its educational role?
E.M. This topic is very dear to me. My job is wonderful, but next to that I am very conscious of the responsibility I have in directing a platform that speaks to so many people and is regarded for what it says. One of the things we did in recent years, for instance, was to expand the textual section. FOAM used to be very minimal and image-driven, as the founders and previous editors had this idea of having photography first and text only later, as a means to get deeper. My perception at a certain point was that we needed to go even deeper, so we maintained the image-driven structure of the magazine with each portfolio being followed by a text, but then we included what we called focus chapters. These articles, essays and conversations explore the themes being addressed from different points of view and editorial pieces mixing text and images. Being written by academics, curators and writers, these articles give sources to our public and add enough layers. Our photography bubble is very exclusive and elitist, I always hated this perception that images are something you must understand because you are infused with some sort of superior knowledge, and if you don’t understand it, it is your problem. It is the exact opposite! Images are the most primal way of communicating for humans. People in my role, curators, writers have a duty service to be done in order to make photography accessible and avoid any patronising tone. The idea I had with my team is that images can be an extremely powerful trojan horse: as you are exposed to images you would not look at otherwise, were you not flipping through the magazine, something in you gets triggered. And my duty is to provide you with information in that exact moment, when you desire to understand more or have more context. That is when you put things into circle and trigger the curiosity. This is what we are trying to do.
F.B. Photography is a language that facilitates understanding of who we are, in often unexpected ways. As a photographer entering the industry, at first there is this barrier at which one starts to feel the pressure to have all the tools for decoding visual language. Yet, by taking the plunge, it becomes obvious that the matter lies in simply finding the right tools.
E.M. It is all about the tools. On the one side you have that drive that makes you become an image maker, that need to say a specific thing and say it through images. But then, there is a whole bubble around it: career, market, money, the capital, are you an artist?, who can even tell if you are or not? There has always been this perception that you are a good artist when your peers and your community–not the market nor curators–recognise your work. One of the nice phenomena I am noticing is this renewed sense of community that goes outside the normal channels. I am not the one giving labels anymore, it is the community creating new ones while I am a mere witness to the birth of these patterns. There has been a shift in power back to image creators, which I find extremely fascinating: everything becomes more fertile and genuine, the voice we were talking about at the beginning – what do you want to say? how authentic is it? – is immediately more visible.
FOAM Magazine Cover
F.B. The yearly Talent Issue, seen as an opportunity to discover emerging photographers, becomes also an opportunity for creative pollination among the selected artists. How do you take the artists’ compatibility into account in your selection process?
E.M. The Talent Issue is an extremely long term age-based container. Each year, the Talent Issue allows us to see what a certain segment is producing around the world; and the more it grows, the broader the picture is. When making the selection we try to really transfer that picture back to the spectators and the participators themselves: alright, this segment of people below a specific age around the world are producing these images in these ways, they are pushing in this direction. Once they see each other together in the magazine, what we strive to achieve is the creation of a community, a network of conversations which can spark professional chances. Not just photographers, but also editors, curators and other members of the industry meet and talk, seeing who is doing what and where. Sometimes the magic happens, leading to gorgeous friendships and collaborations. The most important thing is to have these moments for folks to look at each other and see each other, recognise each other and learn from each other. That said, when I am editing the magazine I do try not to have too much this in mind, because in the magazine each and every artist has a personal space, without an excessive influence from whatsoever is around. As an editor, I try to keep the tension, the balance that creates a sort of open conversation in which everyone has a space, a time and a place to say what they want to say with no interruption. There is a bit of a balance. The Talent Issue is not about one’s curriculum or what one has done in the past. It is about the potential to impact the future. Of course one has to present a body of work, and while it could be anything, it is fundamental for it to be yours. Not a copycat, not a fantastic version of some already done work, not a luxurious copy of an old project. It is a transfer of this is my idea, this is what I want to talk about, this is how it looks. And it works. From then on, if that is bold and authentic enough, all the rest comes very easily. Even the connection with other people, the peer recognition, comes very naturally. They see your work and it is just so gorgeous and different from theirs, and they are going to tell you. All these connections and conflicts are the fertile ground. That is the ultimate goal.
© Fiona Makkink
Elisa Medde, based in Amsterdam, is the Editor in Chief at FOAM Magazine, where she started as Managing Editor ten years ago. She is responsible for the making of the magazine, from the conceptualisation to the production of the magazine. She studied History of Art and then started out as a curator, particularly focused on how the relationship between images and power affects our perception of image-making.
