The Forms They Inhabit In Time Of Crisis
“Why don't you take photos of human beings?” - one of the questions Chloé confirms as a struggle she confronted. The gaze turned towards the outer experience, outside of the body, questions the forms and the connections between living creatures. The boundary between the self and the surroundings vanishes yet poses a challenge of redefining those connections through meticulous research.
Her experimental approach to the process and the outcome from the post-production, the desire to explore form, space, and life (in a manner that engages the viewer in the emotional background of the photograph) are the topics we come to learn about.
Chloé Milos Azzopardi is a Paris-based photographer whose work spans the range of mediums as photo-books, exhibitions, and lectures on the topics of literature and photography. We start the conversation with Chloé to dive deep into the realm of observation as a point from which her perspective develops. We make a journey from the teenage years, the decision to leave high-school, to depersonalization disorder to the upcoming book The Forms They Inhabit In Time Of Crisis, which juxtaposes humans with nature and explores otherness. Chloé speaks about her writing and draws a parallel to the visual world, “When you take photos, even if you are outside and with people, you are never the one who is acting - you are always a bit remote, observing. Writing is in the same position.”
‘In my family, it was forbidden to choose photography as a carrier because my mom tried it in her early twenties, and she figured out it was a dead-end for her, so she didn't want us to take the same path.’
I Am
You currently live and work in Paris and Catalonia. Where did you grow up?
Thank you so much for having me! I grew up in the suburbs of Paris. I left my mom's house when I was 16. I wandered a lot in the city at that time: walking in parks, sitting on rocks all day while skipping school, watching other people being busy with their things, killing time. I guess it's how I started to spend a lot of time being an observer. I remember I had a small camera that I sometimes took with me.
What led you towards photography?
In my family, it was forbidden to choose photography as a carrier because my mom tried it in her early twenties, and she figured out it was a dead-end for her, so she didn't want us to take the same path. But I decided to quit high school before the final year, and somehow I started to work as an assistant for a queer photographer Émilie Jouvet. Then I went to art school; we didn't have a photography teacher, but we could borrow cameras. I used those to help me with my large format drawings. After a few years, I came to a point where I realized I wasn't making drawings anymore; I was making huge photos that I spent months developing with my small markers instead. So I let down the markers and turned to photography, experimenting a lot. Masao Yamamoto and Andrei Tarkovsky were my biggest references.
‘Everything that makes me discover an unknown in the world - pauses me. I also tend to notice tenderness in things.’
Observing
A photographer is an observer constantly on the look for something unexpected, for an angle that others don’t notice. A photographer is also a communicator of emotions: personal or of the surroundings through their prism. What pauses you? What do you tend to notice and photograph?
I want to research earthly living things with the same curiosity and intensity we would study forms of life coming from an exoplanet. Everything that makes me discover an unknown in the world - pauses me. I also tend to notice tenderness in things: it can be in a gesture, a material, an activity, a shape.
What is tenderness for you?
Here is an example of what I call tenderness. To make a living, I'm working in a middle school. What I love the most is looking at the kids running in the playground. Sometimes they all synchronise without noticing it, and their bodies go up and down together in the same rhythm like waves between the buildings. It's really beautiful.
‘Since I was a kid, I have had a depersonalisation disorder that affects my ability to form a constant 'me'. My photos are very influenced by this experience.’
The Forms They Inhabit In Time Of Crisis
The series juxtaposes nature and humans in an attempt to find the common, an attempt of a symbiosis of the forms. What are some of the main findings from this research?
I tend to spot a repetition of shapes or behaviors. Apart from my photographic work, I spend my time making collections of images according to themes. At the moment, I'm looking for circles! I really like Aby Warburg's and Marie Quéau's work. I don't know if I have any results from this research yet. I think I'm just trying to demonstrate something.
In the western philosophy, we have done everything to distinguish ourselves from animals to the point that we think of ourselves outside of the living things' sphere. I try to rebuild bridges, to find common forms that go through us to understand our shared vulnerabilities. I try to study living things without going through a prism of utility or servitude, looking at humans on the same scale as plants, minerals, and animals.
What was the drive behind starting the series?
The motivation for this series is also more personal. Since I was a kid, I have had a depersonalisation disorder that affects my ability to form a constant 'me'. My photos are very influenced by this experience. I spend a lot of time without feeling my body or my boundaries, so I project myself into other things. I imagine the sensations of the living things around me. That's why this series is also an attempt to redefine what otherness, individuality, and plurality can mean when bodies' limits are challenged.
‘I am very interested in traditional Catalan celebrations. I see it as a resistance to the growing control of populations and to the ultra-securing of existence that can be observed all over the world.’
Topics
Work that presents a topic and idea receives more attention than work with the most attention to technique. It’s important to analyze the inward and outward worlds to bring in a personal and unique perspective. What are some of the topics which interest you and you feel strongly about?
I am interested in many subjects, the deconstruction of gender, epigenetics, astrophysics, animism, my grandfather's photographic archives of birds…
What topic would you like to develop for your next series?
At the moment, I am very interested in traditional Catalan celebrations. I see it as a resistance to the growing control of populations and to the ultra-securing of existence that can be observed all over the world and particularly in the Western countries.
Catalan celebrations (especially for Festa Major) are constant risk-taking. People make human towers more than 10 meters high, on top of which children climb without any protection other than a helmet and the crowd. People carry giant statues on their backs. For the ‘correfoc’ which means 'running fire,' they dress up as devils and dance in the streets under fireworks. It's kind of dangerous sometimes, but they do it anyway. The youngest learn to measure the risks themselves, bundle up in jackets and T-shirts, so their hair and faces don't get burned… I would really like to do a series about these celebrations and the villages in which they take place.
Lectures
You’re taking part in lectures and events. What in your opinion is the connection between literature and photography?
Most of them are readings because I study creative writing. A lot of my writing revolves around the key moments that I wanted to shoot but couldn't. It's another way to bring a photo to life. I often think about those two mediums as twins. They can capture reality; you can look at them in books, and they carry loneliness that is sometimes similar. When you take photos, even if you are outside and with people, you are never the one who is acting - you are always a bit remote, observing. Writing is in the same position.
What was the most surprising question you received?
The question that really surprised me was: "Why don't you take photos of human beings?" hahaha. I have to say it's my biggest struggle. When I started photography, I was afraid of shooting people, first because of image rights, and second because it was difficult for me to understand and work with human emotions.
Installations & Expositions
Could you walk us through the process of preparing toward an installation: from the concept to the physical preparation of the space?
For a long time, I preferred to look at a photographer's work in books they made rather than in exhibitions. For me, it was the perfect object for photography. Then I saw the work of Charlotte Moth and Wolfgang Tillmans, and I reconsidered exhibitions, haha. I love it when an exhibition gives the feeling of a stage for something to happen.
When I do an installation, I try to think of the space as a whole. The photos I present have individuality, but above all, they must compose an atmosphere together so that the entire space is an artistic proposition. I start by printing all my photos with a bad printer, spreading them all out, and I don't hesitate to remove some of them from the selection if they don't deliver a cohesive message together.
How do you align the main connecting thought in the images and the way you present photos to the public?
When I install the photos, I think a lot about the paper, about the fact that I want people to feel the material the photos are printed on because many of them are textural. I want my photos to be like objects in space. I often put them in relation to videos or installations. One of the things that are the most important to me is the movement of visitors in space. I like it when they don't have to follow the walls and that they don't directly see everything when they enter the room so that the photos are superimposed in space like layers that reveal themselves little by little to tell the story of the series.
Upcoming Projects
What are your plans for this year? What are you working on right now?
This year I will first try to survive! In the near future, I will be doing a photographic conversation for "a new nothing" with Paul Cupido, which I am very excited to start!
Otherwise, I'm working on my series ‘Forms they inhabit in time of crisis.’ It's slowly becoming a book; I'm working on the design right now. I have to find a publishing house. With a friend Juliette Chalaye we are going to print a photo book that we have had in mind for a long time, ‘The hollow stones.’ And I also have to finish my book for the creative writing program I'm in. So if you didn't understand it: this year will be all about books! That being said, what I'm craving to do is an exhibition with a painter friend, Vincent Naba, whose paintings are very close to my photos.
