Never So Visible by NorthSite Contemporary Arts

Never So Visible Spiro Miralis Underpass Ovidiu Gordan Familiar Place Zhu Mo Bright Bright Day Aishah Kenton 58/15 Soham Gupta ANGST Sancintya Mohini Simpson Bloodlines

Cata logue

An exhibition curated by Sean Davey & Aishah Kenton, Pacific Centre for Photographic Arts

Spiro Miralis Underpass 4

Zhu Mo

Ovidiu Gordan

Bright Bright Day 20

Familiar Place 12

Sancintya Mohini Simpson Bloodlines 28

Aishah Kenton 58/15 30

Soham Gupta ANGST 38

Front Cover: Ovidiu Gordan from the series Familiar Place Back Cover: Soham Gupta from the series ANGST

Pacific Centre for Photographic Arts 2

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Pacific Centre for Photographic Arts acknowledges the Gimuy Walubarra Yidinji and Yirrganydji as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which this exhibition was first shown.

Essay

Who is it for, really? Each of us has unique viewS of the world. They are built on our individual histories, familIES and life experiences. Even amongst those with whom we live in our cities and towns, it is our personal, social, and professional networks that inform our webs of lived experience and awareness. It is from these complex webs that we perceive the world and make decisions within it, and from which we form our ideas and opinions. Your position in the world is the perfect starting point in which to engage the practice of photography. For each of us, the people, places and things we know intimately can seem so ordinary that we should be forgiven for failing to see merit in these ‘close things’ as potential subjects for photographs. All too often the medium is thought of in such narrow terms that we are blind to its fuller potential. A closer potential. The camera, by most accounts, is an easy going companion. It is happy to accompany us on life's journey, working when commanded without fanfare nor protest. Utilising the camera in close quarters - pausing perhaps on occasion to consider and reflect on moments of inspiration - can be a fulfilling experience. But more than that, this tool can help us navigate the world in a more permanent state of heightened awareness. When we start to see and be aware of the things that not only affect us, but actually shape us - the things that make us who we are - our complex personal spaces start to become a little more understandable. It is within these more complex psychological 'webs' that the practice of photography is an asset, one that reflects our time and place in the world to a wider audience, and perhaps more importantly, to ourselves.

Photography is a well recognised and considered medium for communicating events and experiences; sharing the self with another, the personal with the public. This, by and large, is considered photography’s primary function, and by all admission, photography is the most popular visual medium, transmitting

Soham Gupta, who lives in Calcutta, India, collaborates with

and disseminating visual representations en masse with

marginalised and vulnerable people in his community, working

comparative ease (and frightening speed). There is, however, more to photography than an ability to make something and

in a space that carries the very real risk of being classified as opportunistic. Look beyond the thought of this and the love

share it with others. When we look deeper into the practice

Gupta has for his subjects is clear. Gupta’s work explores nothing

of photography, focusing less on long accepted aesthetic

less than the vulnerability of humanity itself—which he deeply

parameters, technical concerns and the opinions of others,

identifies with—done so with personal empathy and

we develop a freedom to interpret for ourselves. The question

understanding, expressed in a direct, yet poetic manner. The

then arises, can the practice of looking and investigating close circumstances make us more aware, more empathetic, more

subjects’ willingness to be photographed by Gupta is, though him, extended to us. Without patronise, these portraits reveal that we

concerned individuals? I believe it can.

all exist in this world together, no matter how far apart, socially, economically or geographically we are.

Never So Visible brings to attention six artists deeply invested in their own stories, explored through photography. Six webs

Aishah Kenton (co-curator of this exhibition) uses her camera

from different parts of the world, six auteurs with diverse

close to home, photographing her domestic interior spaces,

languages, families, histories and experiences presented in one

herself and her husband (the author of this essay). Kenton has

space, revealing (rather than primarily communicating) stories using the medium of photography. There is no singular approach;

equal interest in her subject as she does in the resulting images as objects in their own right. The reality of life is Kenton's starting

starting points range from friends on holidays, as in the work

point from which the reality of the photograph is born.

Underpass by Spiro Miralis made in Italy, to observations of subdued interiors and colourful exteriors in Ovidiu Gordan’s

With great personal interest and enthusiasm, this exhibition explores the practices and relationships each artist has with the

hometown village in Romania.

medium of photography. In turn, if there is any hope or expectation on the part of the us, the curators, it is not that you

Sancintya Mohini Simpson directly confronts elements of her

like or dislike the works on show, but rather appreciate they,

family history, exploring past atrocities that to this day leave a

like you and I, all feel and see the world in a unique way.

deep impression on her own sense of identity and place in the world. Chinese artist Zhu Mo chooses the book form to combine archival colour family photographs with his own contemporary black & white images, in which the past and present are

1. Paraphrased from an email conversation with Antoine D’Agata (2013)

acknowledged as being forever entwined. Mo’s use of his own family photographs (showing him as a child with his parents), reveals the importance of family history to the artist, re-framing

The more we are able to understand the experiences of others, while appreciating our own as being of value, the better chance we have to empathise and understand the differences that so often define us. To step out of our own web, if only for a moment, to experience that of others1, this is what the medium of photography is capable of.

the context of his own black and white photographs. Sean Davey Exhibition Curator Pacific Centre for Photographic Arts

NorthSite is supported by:

Spiro Miralis

Underpass

Exhibition statement The idea of perfection diﬀers with every opinion, however the general consensus is drawn toward aesthetically symmetrical order and harmony; a view of something undamaged and unblemished, faultless to almost the point of becoming maddeningly repetitious, but remaining delicate enough to stay our rejection. Underpass isn’t afraid to show the other side of life, the side that everyone knows but tries so hard to cover up and ignore. The photographs in the series have movement; they live, breathe and revel in their imperfections. These photographs relate to all of us. Bridget Pribyl

Interview What is the significance of the title of your series, Underpass? Underpass is no more than the English translation of the Italian word sottopassaggio. I spent a great deal of time on the back of a friend’s motorbike whilst traveling in Italy and saw it repeatedly on street signs. I thought it would make an interesting title one day. You photographed this series in 2012, how has your work evolved over the last decade? My work has and hasn’t evolved. I think the process is the same really, so in that regard things have been near static. I’m not a technical photographer and know little of the things one might learn from learning photography. I just know it requires pressing the shutter often, the more the better almost. My process is the same. I have everything printed and then just look at the stuff as if it belongs to someone I have never met. Where things have evolved is the subject. I joked one day that when I started shooting flowers, I would quit photographs. Well, it’s about all I shoot these days. I’m nearing a garbage bag full of colour film and I’m not even shooting that often. I guess when I put it in for development, I’ll be saying farewell to photography altogether. I approach them the same way I would anybody. Have you changed? And looking back what does this series now represent to you? Changed… nah not me. I think we take claim for the two things we can never control. Our genetics and our formative environment. Change is nothing more than the process of understanding oneself. It’s dressed up awareness. How I shoot and why I shoot is who I was at birth and will be at death. I mean my sensitivity and awareness will be a constant reincarnation of the same over and over again. I think.

Spiro Miralis ⋅ Underpass

Spiro Miralis

Biography Spiro Miralis lives in Sydney, NSW. His ﬁrst self-published book Zero was published in 2006. Spiro shies away from calling himself a photographer. If any deﬁnition of him (as an artist) is required, he will give in to that of being an auteur. “The photography just happens. I have no control over that. It’s a time and a place and an experience. Where photography really starts for me, is in the process of editing, that is where the work really comes together.” openeditions.co

In your eyes what makes a ‘good’ photograph? By ‘good’ I only mean that the photograph has very little to do with what’s in the frame and everything to do with what’s beyond it, the subtext of it. What it can mean to you as a viewer, what discussion it can produce. The simple truth is you could get your best work without knowing, caring or trying even, and you You find the editing process plays a strong role in your practice, yet this seems at odds with the immediacy of your photography and what you choose to show. Can you explain this process of editing your work? By editing I mean selection. The other thing that’s huge is sequencing. Apart from that I don’t think about the shooting. You’re there, you have camera, you press the shutter. People never really take me seriously because I very rarely use the view finder. I mostly use a 28mm lens so it’s hard not to get something. Plus, I’m not too tall so even when I do frame, I tend to frame quite low. I’m not threatening in any way, so people don’t respond to a photo being taken. It’s more around them they think I’m interested in. It produces a missing head here and a missing arm there but that’s not a problem. Once it’s done,

could get it doing all those things too. That’s why I don’t worry about the process and only care about the edit. The edit and sequence is everything. Put simply, I’m only shooting to have something to edit. If you think about photographs, it is quite strange that so many photographers take claim for them. They’re really just miscellaneous items. You shoot thousands to maybe get 50 good images that you can use. For me I get about 1% of what I shoot. Imagine if our bad photos represented us as well. No one would give us the time of the day. Only a weather reporter is allowed to get it so wrong and keep their jobs. Them and photographers. But my point is only an edit can be the catalyst for something intelligent about the work to be conveyed, and it needs to be a great one to do that even.

I never care about the actual provenance of the photographs. Who the people are or where it was shot. Of course, I believe there’s a holy trinity where you shoot those closest to you, and your intention is unaffected, and you get something really good. Absolutely. But the same could happen without any of the first two and only the last. Ultimately if it’s good it’s good.

Spiro Miralis

Spiro Miralis ⋅ Underpass

Spiro Miralis

Spiro Miralis ⋅ Underpass

Spiro Miralis

Spiro Miralis ⋅ Underpass

Ovidiu Gordan

Familiar Place

Biography Ovidiu Gordan (1984) lives and works in the small town

I see photography as one of the most important art mediums

of Simleu Silvaniei, Romania.

as it can show us the human condition in its most rawest form.

“I like to say that man is stuck in time, obsessed by form and so photography is my futile way of stopping time.

me endlessly fascinating. I like to say my main subject matter is what Brancusi called the essence of things, always inwardly

The most mysterious thing is that there is a complexity about

looking for the unspectacular, private and ephemeral things

photography that seems to be reminiscent of life itself and

that make up life.

people can project onto photography an endless amount of alternative realities.

What we as humans perceive to be visually interesting is for

Ovidiu Gordan ⋅ Familiar Place

Ovidiu Gordan Interview Can you tell us more about where you live and photograph? I live in a small town called Șimleu Silvaniei in north-west Romania. It’s hard for me to describe this place in words. However, there are two things here which are most precious to me; people and nature. The people are always interesting, I guess because they have

Do your religious beliefs and upbringing add another dimension

had to deal with poverty all their lives, they have this instinctual

to your photography?

creativity. Their idea of home is very precious to them.

This must be so, but I don’t think I have any control over that.

Being close to nature is another factor which I think makes

For a very long time I took pictures without having an answer

people humble. Myself, I see nature as the ultimate work of art

for why certain things attract me.

made by the God of infinite love with endless possibilities.

I was raised Christian Orthodox, now I accept religion as a part

Mostly I am just trying to appreciate my little corner of the

of who I am, as part of my culture but all in moderation. I see it

universe and having this pleasant experience. Of course,

as part of my psyche, not to be messed with.

this is just my interpretation. I gather you have been away from your hometown for some time. Are you revisiting a collection of images already made or is it a nostalgic return to photograph a familiar place? I was away from home for about ten years, away in another bigger town and away from my country. I guess distance is what formed my love for the familiar. Familiarity gives me comfort. And it’s often about how things look, a certain aesthetic that gives the feeling of home.

Maybe it’s because of it that life feels very fluid to me. Nothing is 100% real, and nothing is 100% true. 99 is not 100. Good artists seem to have access to a different dimension, an altered reality. That’s why seeing good art is like a religious experience ... it’s transcendent. We both share a love of the renowned Romanian sculptor, Brancuși. His sculptures were like altarpieces to be worshipped. How did he influence your work? I believe he was right to think of essence as form. And yet we

You have spoken about ‘weeds’ as a subject frequently appearing

are obsessed by form. Things only appear simple because form

in your images. Can you describe their symbolism?

is visible, but form is essence. So his question was, how can

There are a lot of weeds in my pictures, I see them as a symbol of our ephemeral existence. In this sense weeds are very

I portray not the bird but flight itself ... I also try to achieve something similar through my photography.

interesting; symbolising both neglect and the passage of time,

You seem to hint at something that has just happened or

yet they are also a triumph of nature. They are an unwanted

someone who has walked out of the frame in your photographs.

plant that is a triumph of evolution.

It’s subtly done and not overt, yet why do I have this feeling?

When I see a weed growing out of a crack in the concrete it

To me photographs are something between memory and dreams,

reminds me that we are just passing through… life will find

they are to be interpreted in the Jungian sense. Things in the

a way and we are irrelevant.

real world become symbols in photographs. I base my projects on ephemeral things like sentiments, thoughts or dreams. For this project my question was, how do I portray longing and homesickness?

I feel the connection I have with the people and places

So, my photography is a question without a particular answer…

I photograph must be sincere for my photographs to be

or I guess the answer must be in the artwork. But hidden always,

effective and so I only take pictures of my immediate

never obvious yet made from the obvious. That’s what makes a

surroundings with people I know and love.”

good picture.

ovidiugordan.com

Ovidiu Gordan

Ovidiu Gordan ⋅ Familiar Place

Ovidiu Gordan

Ovidiu Gordan ⋅ Familiar Place

Ovidiu Gordan

Ovidiu Gordan ⋅ Familiar Place

Zhu Mo

Bright bright day

Interview I was interested to hear more about your photography, what projects are you currently working on? I’m currently working on two projects. It’s all on my website (www.zhumo.me). One is about county towns in China. At present, China is undergoing great changes. As the most important part of China, the county seat has been neglected by people. The second is Xinjiang hip-hop. Is there still singing in these times? These projects seem to be at complete odds with one another, can you tell us more? For those less interested in what is going on in China, these two sets of works may be difficult to understand. It may seem that these two groups are inconsistent, but in fact they both relate to the reality of China. They seem to be two different groups, but in fact they are the reality that every Chinese is facing and cannot escape from. But I don’t want to get stuck in the reality of the moment. I’m sure this will pass. Instead what I show is a land, a group of people’s vulnerability and beauty, maybe the beauty that belongs only to photography. In your series, Bright, Bright Day, did the relationship it documents come to an abrupt end, as it leaves us wanting to know more? I started this project simply because at the beginning of the relationship, I realised that it was the beginning of some kind of end. I was crazy to hold on to everything. I wanted the photos to be remembered. Yes, the end of the photo is the end of our relationship. This series reminds me of the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind directed by Michelle Gondry. Have you seen this film, and if so, are you cleansing yourself of unrequited love or painful memories?

“Nostalgia! I even feel it for people and things that were nothing to me, because time’s celestial body is for me, And life’s mystery is a torture. Faces I habitually see on my habitual streets—if I stop seeing them I become sad they were nothing to me, except perhaps the symbol of all of life. The nondescript old man with dirty gaiters who often cross my path at nine-thirty in The morning… Didn’t The lottery tickets who would pester me in vain… The round and Ruddy old man smokes a cigar at The

Is there more to be told about this series that audiences would not already know? I think you don’t need to know too much about the work, just feel the photos. These are pictures of people trying to deal with loss, trying to deal with forgetting, but it’s all in vain, we just forget. To forget is to die a little.

door of The tobacco shop... The pale Tobacco Shop owner… What has

What does the exhibition’s title, Never So Visible,

happened to them all, who because I regularly saw them were a part of

mean to you and your work?

my life? Tomorrow I too—I this soul that feels and thinks, this universe

Never So Visible is a good point, and I think it runs through

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the film. In fact, this series is not

I am for myself—yes, tomorrow I too will be the one who no longer walks

about clearing away some painful memories, but about facing

these streets, One hundred and one hundred people and one hundred

some fear of loss in the way of photography. I quote Pessoa’s

and one hundred people. ‘And everything I’ve done, Everything I’ve felt

literature at the beginning of the book, almost at the heart

and everything I’ve lived will amount merely to one less passer-by on the

I believe in photography, and I believe in the images that

of the book.

everyday streets of some City or other.”

photography conveys outside the picture.

almost all of my photos. I’ve always felt that the most important part of a photograph, is what you can’t see, is what’s not there.

Zhu Mo · Bright Bright Day

Zhu Mo Biography Zhu Mo, based in Beijing, was born in Changsha, Hunan Province in 1984. His works were selected in the Three Shadows Photography Award in 2012, exhibited in the first Beijing Photo Biennial in 2013, and in PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai in 2014. In 2012, his photography collection “The Emptiness” was published by French independent publisher Edition Bessard. In 2014, his photography collection “Bright Bright Day” was published by Chinese independent publisher Jiazazhi Press. In 2019, he was awarded the Abigail Cohen Fellowship from the Magnum Foundation and ChinaFile. In 2021,his books “Chinese Contemporary Photography Catalogue: Zhu Mo” was published. He is co-founder of the independent photography magazine “altertrue”. zhumo.me

Zhu Mo

Zhu Mo · Bright Bright Day

Zhu Mo

Zhu Mo · Bright Bright Day

Zhu Mo

Zhu Mo · Bright Bright Day

Sancintya Monhini Simpson

Bloodlines In Fields of Cane #3 My great-grandmothers had tattoos on their hands And spoke languages I can’t understand With calloused palms and brown skin belted by sun They bled, like I bleed, the same Story, trickled down legs in fields of cane My back tells my mother’s, mother’s, mother’s Glory, unknown, numbered, allocations for ships Women bound with babies on hips and from dawn to dusk, In Fields of Cane #1

Just quotas, for colonisations gain, As They bled, like I bleed, the same

My great-grandmothers had tattoos on their hands

And under tin roofs and hard floors spread

And spoke languages I can’t understand

Ash blackened, with limbs upon limbs

With calloused palms and brown skin

They laid for the white mans sins

Belted by sun

To be continued tongue tied and babies taken

They bled, like I bleed, the same

Sugared stories with bitter blood

Story, trickled down legs in fields of cane

Trickled down legs in fields of shame

My back, tells my mother’s

They bled, like I bleed, the same

Mother’s, mother’s glory, unknown Numbered, allocations for ships Women bound with babies on hips They bled, like I bleed, the same No longer a quota, for colonial gain Continued tongue tied And children taken Sugared stories with bitter blood Trickled down legs in fields of shame They bled, like I bleed, the same In Fields of Cane #2 My great-grandmothers had tattoos on their hands, And spoke languages I can’t understand, With calloused palms and brown skin, belted by sun They bled, like I bleed, the same, Story trickled down legs in fields of cane, My back, tells my mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, glory, Unknown, numbered, allocations for ships, Women bound with babies on hips, While ochre shade, swum thick down thighs, Rationed for men, bodies were prised, Sugared stories with bitter blood, Trickled down legs in fields of shame, They bled, like I bleed, the same, Just quotas, for colonial gain And under tin roofs and hard floors spread, Limbs upon limbs, bodies not yet dead And continued tongue tied, they worked, For children who waited, From light to dark, for ash blackened mother’s return ash blacken Mothers bare foot return For children who waited, For ash blackened mothers, bare footed return with babies taken Still they worked, heavy, bellied and swollen breasted, bangled, battered, bare feet to return in the dusk bare footed return Bangled, battered, Drowned, Hung, Slashed,

beaten, buried, or hung empty, hungry and young Lay the white mans burden thick down thighs Swollen breasted, beaten, Brown bodied beaten

Sancintya Monhini Simpson · Bloodlines

Biography Sancintya Mohini Simpson is an artist and researcher based in Brisbane, Australia. Her work navigates the complexities of migration, memory and trauma through addressing gaps and silences within the colonial archive. Her practice moves between painting, video, poetry and performance to develop narratives and rituals. As a descendent of indentured labourers sent from India to South Africa to work on colonial sugar plantations, she grounds her work in collaboration, connecting wider narratives surrounding descendants of indenture and their diaspora communities. Recent solo exhibitions include New Old Archives, Milani Gallery, Brisbane (2020); Kūlī nām dharāyā/ they’ve given you the name ‘coolie’, Institute of Modern Art Belltower, Brisbane (2020); Echoes Over Oceans, Firstdraft, Sydney (2020); Remnants of my ancestors, Hobiennale, Hobart (2019); And words are whispered, 1Shanthiroad Studio/ Gallery, Bangalore (2019); and Bloodlines, Metro Arts, Brisbane and Next Wave Festival, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne (2018). Simpson is represented by Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia. sancintya.com

Sancintya Mohini Simpson

Aishah Kenton

58/15 Biography (Nur) Aishah Kenton grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Aishah was a finalist in the 2017 Maggie Diaz Photography Prize

Aishah graduated from the Australian National University

for Women. In 2020 Aishah was awarded a coveted spot in the

with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2018), where she majored in

2020 Chico Portfolio Review in Montana, USA.

photography at the School of Art and Design. In 2018 Aishah was awarded an Emerging Artist Support Scheme Award for her graduating exhibition To Whom it May Concern. The award was given by the Goulburn Regional Gallery, where her most series of work was exhibited in 2019/20.

Aishah is one half of KENTON/DAVEY, the other half being her husband and fellow photographer, Sean Davey. In 2020 KENTON/DAVEY joined OCULI, the Australian photographic collective. aishahkenton.com

Aishah Kenton · 58/15

Aishah Kenton Exhibition statement Can you talk briefly about Sean & why you like to photograph him? Sean is my husband. We met early 2017, when I walked into a photography gallery, and we ended up talking for about an hour. We were good friends before anything romantic happened, and then at the end of 2018 we got married. Since the beginning of our friendship and then relationship, we were already photographing each other. The physical act of photographing each other has always felt comfortable. Was this your first collaboration between you and Sean?

Could you shoot the same work now?

This isn’t our first collaboration, although most of the images in

I’m not sure I could shoot the same work now. I think mostly because

this body of work were made early in our relationship. This work comes after my first body of work To Whom It May Concern

we don’t have our own space at the moment. There isn’t as much

(2018). I started to make instances of this body of work 58/15 back

be said about having your own space, and that’s one of the things that

before To Whom It May Concern, in a small book called I Love You. It was my first ever artist book, back in early 2018, but I always

I dearly miss about our time in Canberra. There are always concessions to be made and that’s life, I guess. I am making different work now, but

felt that this body of work was missing something or needed re-

Sean is still a big part of it.

working.

freedom within the confines of a shared space. There is something to

I have also been thinking a lot about how people have been living

You took this collaboration further and formed Kenton/

in confined spaces since Covid. I feel as though the work is perhaps

Davey, two artists working as one and often using one

more relatable now after all the lockdowns everyone has been through,

another as the primary subject in your photographs.

even though the images were made in a completely different time. Even though this body of work was made before Covid, current

How is this series different? Although there are still images of me in the body of work,

events bring a new contextual aspect to the work.

I feel as though this body of work comes more from me than Sean. I think this work is different because it comes from solely

These are intimate images and not what most people would

from the apartment, a confined space, in comparison to my work

exhibiting this series?

Second Exit, where it was about my developing and ongoing relationship with Australia in a physical sense. I’m interested in the fact that Australia is so large, yet what I’m focused on and interested in is this small, confined space we lived in for a few years at the beginning of relationship. This apartment was the space in which our relationship grew and flourished.

openly share with others. Have you had reservations about

Yes, it’s definitely more intimate than the rest of the works I’ve previously exhibited. I never really had any reservations about it being shown, because I feel it is as much about time as the intimacy it reveals. I have always been inspired by Japanese photographers and their philosophy of photographing almost entirely their own surroundings, it has never really appealed to me to go and make photographs somewhere seemingly exotic for the sake of it. It is always about my own personal experience, which is unique, as is everyone's. Photographing Sean, I see and know a vulnerability that I don’t think many people see. I feel appreciative of it, because this type of vulnerability is usually not shown in men, and here I am getting to shoot my partner naked, or in quite personal circumstances. I like the fact that he accepts the pictures of him which may also not be flattering, and in one sense that in itself shows how much he loves me and appreciates what I do.

Aishah Kenton

Aishah Kenton · 58/15

Aishah Kenton

Aishah Kenton · 58/15

Aishah Kenton

Aishah Kenton · 58/15

Soham Gupta

Angst

Biography Based in Calcutta, Soham Gupta’s work constantly moves between the realm of documentary photography, art and the written word. He responds to themes of loneliness and isolation, of abuse and pain, of scarred pasts and uncertain futures, sexual tensions and existential dilemmas. In 2018, Soham was selected by The British Journal of Photography as one of sixteen emerging photographers from more than 500 nominations made by a global panel of experts. In the same year, his book, ANGST published by Akina Books was shortlisted for the Les Prix du Livre: Photo and Text Book Award at Les Rencontres d’Arles and the Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation First Photobook Award. He was one of the invited artists participating at the 58th La Biennale di Venezia curated by Ralph Rugoff in 2019. In the same year, Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany acquired twenty images from the series, ANGST. The prints were in an active and multifaceted dialogue with works and groups of works from the Photographic Collection’s holdings, which includes the work of Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Irving Penn — Soham’s spiritual predecessors. soham-gupta.com

Artist Statement They don’t know the terrors that go through your mind as you lie there in the pit waiting for a hint of light to tell you that the night is over. —Hubert Selby Jr., The Room (1971)

Soham Gupta · ANGST

Soham Gupta Interview One naturally wants to know each and every one of your subjects in your series, Angst. Can you briefly describe who they are? The people in the pictures are mostly mentally ill homeless people—or absolutely marginalised outsiders—all whom I befriended and made images with. Sheltered by the darkness of

Was that series a genesis for your critically acclaimed work

the night, when people go to sleep a whole new world emerges.

that followed over the next decade?

These people used to live near the stations and transportation

This bitter place you see remains with me wherever I go.

centres of Calcutta in India. That’s how it started. That’s how

It is indelible. I will never get Calcutta out of my system.

I got to meet them. I empathise with them and I see myself in them. In your earlier series, Howrah Bridge, what was the plight of those you photographed? A few years ago I made a project of people living under the Howrah Bridge. The people are not there any more. They haven’t been housed, they’ve been moved to the peripheries.

Instead of simply photographing the city, this time I focused on a specific language; the language of the night. Night is when I feel really comfortable—also, with darkness. Night is like hell—yet—with its promise of a sort of invisibility, people come out to haunt the streets while the others go home. Was ANGST photographed in one night or over a period of time?

They are communities that are always moving, they are always

It was shot over several years from 2013 to 2018 and published

in flux. Right now there are fewer people around. On the

as a book by Akina in 2018.

one hand that’s a good sign, but on the other it’s to do with gentrification. It’s not that the problem of homelessness is being solved, it’s that it’s being moved, it’s being made invisible.

Why is photography your chosen medium for expressing your stories and those you represent? Photography is not the only medium through which I express myself. I use words, when images fail and images, when words fail. On my website, you can find four short stories that are part of this work www.soham-gupta.com/short-stories. What does the musical score add to the viewer’s experience? I use music to create tension. Currently, I am working with someone very interesting to create a soundscape of the city at night.

Soham Gupta

Soham Gupta · ANGST

Soham Gupta

Soham Gupta · ANGST

Pacific Centre for Photographic Arts

Never So Visible

Exhibition Curators, Sean Davey & Aishah Kenton Pacific Centre for Photographic Arts | pcpa.com.au Exhibition commissioned by NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Queensland, Australia | northsite.org.au First exhibited NorthSite Contemporary Arts 12 February—14 April 2022 Artist interviews by Sven Knudsen Exhibition catalogue design by Alberto Florez Exhibition catalogue printed by Vasili Vasileiadis, Deephouse Print Studio.