TAMAR GRANOVSKY – www.tamargranovsky.com
Artist Interview by Juan Madrid
This is an open series of interviews with the artists in the Photography Now 2017 exhibition.
“Much of the area has a ghost-like quality and my project is more about the people – and their absence – than about the land. The sense of isolation is what pulls me in and whatever I photograph, there, follows an intuitive path which is typically directed by human marks.“
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Tamar Granovsky, North Shore, California, 2015
1. Where are you from, and what is your background in photography? How did you get into photography?
I was born in Israel, grew up in Canada, and have spent the last 22 years in the U.S. I have a background in mixed-media sculpture installation but left that world to work as an archivist. 17 years later, I left that world and travelled. It was at that time that I discovered my love for photography; it was (and is) a way to help me look at the world, slowly and loosely and try to understand it better.
2. What inspired you to make the work in Photography Now 2017? What is the work about? Please describe one piece, the evolution of the concept, and the process?
The Salton Sea has been of interest to me ever since I saw the documentary film, “Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea,” not long after it came out in 2004. I finally made it to the Salton Sea in May 2015 and have since returned five times. In a nutshell (if this is possible), the work focuses on this marginalized and neglected “Western Frontier” and the vestiges of its inhabitants. Much of the area has a ghost-like quality and my project is more about the people – and their absence – than about the land. The sense of isolation is what pulls me in and whatever I photograph, there, follows an intuitive path which is typically directed by human marks.
3. Much of the work in Photography Now 2017 seems to describe a distance between the subject and the viewer, a disconnection, and/or a dystopian situation. How do you think your work relates to these ideas?
I’m not sure that I can agree on this for my work. On the surface, perhaps someone may think so. However, I wish to make work that doesn’t just describe what has been “captured” but also describes an emotion. 4. What are you working on now? Currently, I am working on projects in the Salton Sea in California and Bahia Province in Brasil.
5. What is the one photograph you always wanted to make but never could?
I want to make a photograph that stops you in your tracks and takes you to an emotional place – that brings out strong feelings (whatever the reason). I strongly believe that good art work does this. I don’t believe that I have been able to do this yet.
General exhibition information:
Photography Now 2017
November 4, 2017 – January 14, 2018
Juried by William Ewing
Featured Artists: Lars Anderson, Sarah Anthony, Ben Arnon, Sandra Bacchi, John Barnard, Emily Berl, Adam Bernard, Christopher Paul Brown, Tianqiutao Chen, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Orestes Gonzalez, Tamar Granovsky, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Jeanette May, Zora Murff, Laurie Peek, Ceaphas Stubbs and Ayumi Tanaka.
See full exhibition information or exhibition guide (issuu.com).
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