Interviews with Wolfgang Tillmans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYIXGdoTwWA (Tate 2017)
https://hypebeast.com/2017/10/wolfgang-tillmans-nowness-photographers-in-focus (HypeBeast 2017)
Tillmans is one of the most important and influential artists for my decision to pursue photography outside of commercial headshots and portraits. Seeing his exhibition at the Tate in 2017 opened my eyes to what photography could be for me and completely changed how I look at the world photographically.
In the Hype Beast interview Tillmans explains; “I never felt like I was behind the camera, but it became a fluid way of expression – I was able to enact things in front of the camera and so it is a performed reality.” This interesting perspective seemingly removes the physical barrier of the camera between Tillmans and his subjects, however I am not certain that it was a two-way experience for those he worked with in portraiture. The feeling of being photographed is a feeling in its own right, even if it feels natural it simply isn’t. Every photograph is a collaboration between photographer and living and non-living subject.
When speaking about photographic practice, Jeff Wall says ‘The photographer is either a hunter or a farmer (Wall, in Horne 2012 – IC3) My perspective of Wolfgang Tillmans is that he positions himself in working as both in terms of image making, however when it comes to curating his work, both his staged and captured moments are pulled together in a larger overall experience. The printing and hanging of the work is famously a large part of his process and for this reason I would ultimately position Tillmans as the farmer, the image taking process is just the sowing of the seeds for an overall harvest. His process of building models of the gallery spaces to map out his work exhibition is what brought me to this conclusion. I think this physical element of his practice is something I will employ in my own editorial and curatorial practice.
In the Hype Beast interview Tillmans describes the overarching theme of his work. “There is such a number of parallel interests that make up the entirety of my work, what joins them is that they have an immediacy and can talk about what it feels to be alive today.” The interesting aspect to this ongoing theme however is that the ambiguous quality of his work can resonate with different audiences sharing different experiences of being alive. I think Thomas Ruff sums up this feeling Tillman’s is striving for in saying ‘I believe that photography can only reproduce the surface of things… what people see I what’s already inside them’ Ruff (IC 2)
If you compare Tillmans and his body of work with photographer/anthropologist Martin Parr there is visual similarity and it is interesting that both have been successful for presenting a relatable and accurate perspective of life and culture at different points in their career. Parr’s works provide successful slices of life with ‘The Last Resort’ and ‘Common Sense’ – both relating to classism whereas Tillmans’s work, rooted in counter culture; both are direct and ambiguous at times though how this works to provide identifiable relationships between image and audience, it could be positioned that the two work together as opposites.
References
Dorment, Richard (2003) ‘Photography in Focus’ in The Telegraph
Horne, Rebecca (2012) ‘Holly Andres, ‘Farmer’ of Photographs’ in The Wall Street Journal (3rd Febrary 2012)
CRJ 