A way to tie the past to the present
Nicholas Albrecht is an Italian photographer currently based in Oakland, California. He relocated from Naples to the United States to pursue an MFA in Photography at the Academy of Art University. In this interview, we discuss the different opportunities that the new location presents to an artist, particularly in terms of education and new social circles.
We discuss his project Artifacts from the Desert and the Impossible Search for the Atomic Device, which was shot in the Salton Sea region of Southern California. The relationship between the imagery of the place and the title emphasizes the historical events experienced by the communities that lived there in the past and those who inhabit the area today. Nicholas explains his approach to the topic, “the work looks at the relationships between past and present, land and inhabitants, destructive desire and a community outside of social norms.”
We also discuss Nicholas’ book One, No One and One Hundred Thousand, published by Schilt Publishing. This narrative carefully intertwines the lives of people with their surroundings, suggesting a sense of eternity through the ever-evolving stories that unfold within the desert landscape of the Salton Sea. We close the conversation, speaking about the differences and similarities between personal and commercial work and the upcoming projects.
Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski
‘Exposure to different cultures and curiosity seem to have always been part of our lives.’
My Narrative
Hi Nicholas, it’s so nice to meet and have this chat with you. How are you doing?
I am very curious to speak about your path and the decision to move from Italy and leave your work as an Art Director to San Francisco to get your MFA in Photography from the Academy of Art University. It seems that was one of the most critical decisions that played a role in launching your career in photography and getting into the industry. Could you tell about the influence this decision had on your career and in what way you were working to build your name in a different country, eventually winning numerous awards and exhibiting in Italy and the US?
Hi Nastasia. Great to meet you, and thanks for your interest in my work.
Growing up, our parents instilled in us the desire to travel and explore. Although Naples, Italy, was always our home base, we ended up moving pretty often and living in various countries. Exposure to different cultures and curiosity seem to have always been part of our lives. While working in Italy, I was surrounded by an atmosphere of art and culture. My job at the time led me to work closely with many different types of artists, but the one that stuck the most was Ludovica Rambelli. She was directing theater and working with some very talented performers in Naples. I think it was a combination of my upbringing and the expressiveness of performative arts that pushed me to start digging a little more into my own interests.
Naples is extremely chaotic, and I needed a bit of a break. Within a month, I decided to move to the U.S. and concentrate on photography. I think the U.S. played a very crucial role in allowing me to start fresh. I had moved here with a slight change of direction, and the fact that I had zero connections to anything in this country was really liberating. I had this immense baggage from my first 27 years of life that I was now able to redirect in a new way.
The MFA provided the grounds for community and research, but most importantly, the time to explore, make mistakes, and try to figure out what was so appealing to me in photography. And it still holds true that this country offers opportunity. I was able to get my work in front of people in the photo world, which probably would never have happened in Italy. And although San Francisco may not be the biggest hub for photography, it was a very tight-knit community. I’ve met some of my closest friends through photography, and they continue to influence and inspire me.
‘My interest in photography often lies in the idea that land may in some way hold memories, and the future generations that then inhabit those lands are somehow bound to those memories.’
Artifacts from the Desert and the Impossible Search for the Atomic Device
Let’s speak about your project, Artifacts from the Desert and the Impossible Search for the Atomic Device, shot in the Salton Sea region in Southern California, and the research you worked on for three years to learn about this land where the atomic bomb experiments were held before bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What I really love about the project is the way you create emotional connections to the events of the past through the titles of the images, which affect the proximity of the viewer to the subject, from being a couple of miles away from the test site to the Navy bunker at the test site to including portraits of people distanced from the events of the past but close to it due to their proximity to the location. When working on the project, how has researching the subject enabled you to build this narrative and work with people and location, structuring the proximity to the events you managed to create?
My interest in this project started while I was down in the area working on One, No One and One Hundred Thousand. As that book was coming out with Schilt Publishing, I was looking for ways to work in a slightly more performative way. Not that photography isn’t a performance already, but I wanted to create things in a landscape. Almost like very temporary sculptures that were meant to exist only for the photograph.
The Atomic Bomb testing that took place in the Salton Sea never used Uranium. So, what I was actually dealing with was the desire to destroy rather than destructive power itself. My interest in photography often lies in the idea that land may in some way hold memories, and the future generations that then inhabit those lands are somehow bound to those memories. Of course, this is a very intangible idea, just like an A-bomb with no Uranium won’t cause much damage.
So the work looks at the relationships between past and present, land and inhabitants, destructive desire and a community outside of social norms. The inclusion of the text became a way to give each image the weight of what ultimately ended up happening in Japan. A way to tie the past to the present. Some of the images were either constructed on site, performed, or documentation of the little that remains of the naval base there. Some of the people I would photograph I knew for many years at this point. And very few of them even knew about these tests. Yet the landscape they call home was inevitably shaped by those events. That relationship is very interesting to me.
One, No One and One Hundred Thousand
One, No One and One Hundred Thousand is a photo book and your first monograph, published by Schilt Publishing (2014). You’ve been living in the desert area of the Salton Sea for almost a year, secluded from the big city life, surrounded by a different atmosphere and local people well familiar with the area. What was your experience like living in a more isolated place, being in a way left to yourself, your thoughts, and your work?
My time in the Salton Sea area started in 2010. The MFA program offered the opportunity to do a series of directed studies instead of traditional photo classes. I found this to be the most valuable part of the program. I never had much of an interest in traditional classes, therefore the opportunity to hit the road and have a few selected mentors guide me was really appealing. Joshua Lutz, Brian Ulrich, Sasha Bezzubov, and Chris Hedges had all agreed to mentor me through this last part of my MFA program. The rough idea was that I would do the traditional cross-country road trip. One of my first stops would be the Salton Sea area, mostly because of Richard Misrach’s images. The sunset on the first night there got me hooked. It seemed like there was this delicate beauty in the area, and it pulled me in. I had never really experienced the desert in this way. It can be pretty flat visually but somehow open up to so much.
‘For the first three months, I never pulled the camera out of the bag. I spent my time meeting people, working with them, sharing meals and stories.’
For me, this work manages to capture something eternal, the cycle of life, leading us from childhood dreams and aspirations, which take place in some writing included and portraits, to the world of a day to day that is inevitably connected to the area and affected by the area in terms of possibilities and opportunities available, leading to death, which comes in the form of dead animals, and then starting again. It seems there is no quest for meaning but rather a contemplation about being. Could you speak more about the project and how it eventually turned into a photo book?
I suppose, looking back, that I was in need of exploration myself. I needed to find my ground, both as a photographer but also as an individual. I was living in a motorhome so I had the freedom to move as needed. And the desert holds no rules or regulations. For the first three months, I never pulled the camera out of the bag. I spent my time meeting people, working with them, sharing meals and stories. I’ve always struggled with the idea of documenting others, and I think that’s why the camera never really came out. I didn’t know what to say or what to focus on.
After those initial months, I inevitably started to adapt to the new environment. My vocabulary changed, the way I moved through the days became different, my thoughts and desires were now molding to the landscape. Then the camera came out. Most of the images were either inspired by stories I heard from the people there or a collaboration of ideas between us. The kids were my saving grace when I was feeling overwhelmed. They were also, in some way, the 'innocent' entering the landscape. Inevitably bound to be shaped by it. I think there is only one portrait where the person is wearing shoes. All the others are barefoot in direct contact with the land.
I had dedicated so much time and energy to this work that I was eager to put it out there. Joshua Lutz had just started a collaboration with Schilt Publishing. It went under the Magical Thinking label. It seemed to be a perfect match since he had been such a crucial part of the work. I had an offer to publish it earlier during the project, but thankfully, Joshua suggested I wait a little and work on it more. Dig a little deeper. That was great advice. I think patience when thinking about a body of work is an important aspect.
Commissions and Beyond
One of the main themes you work on is people and the connection to the place they inhabit, the form of relationship that is created with the place, and how it affects the person. What I find inspiring is the way you manage to translate this into commissioned projects you work on, staying true to yourself and your quest in the realm of photography. How do you manage to preserve your voice, and what have you learned from the commissioned experience that informs your practice with work beyond?
Commissioned work is a great way to put yourself outside your comfort zone. You are often asked to work in situations that you don’t have a full understanding of and usually in a very tight window of time. It’s also a great way to get access to stories. I remember some of my first assignments. I was so preoccupied with trying to make images that the editors would be happy with. That often doesn’t lead to great work. It took a few jobs to get comfortable enough to shoot things the way I really wanted to shoot them. This taught me to think about the subject first and respect them as much as possible. My work has always been about others, and finding a way for that curiosity to play a role in assignment work has helped me to maintain a certain approach.
When I first started to photograph, I never really thought about the commercial side of it, I never thought about assignments or commercial clients. As time went on, it was really rewarding to merge the three aspects. Being able to collaborate with people instead of always being out alone has been a great way to feel part of a world outside of my own projects.
Upcoming Projects
What theme or narrative are you researching, and what can we expect from you in the upcoming months?
I would say my workflow has shifted a bit since Covid. I have started to work more on assignments / commercial work, and that, unfortunately, has taken time away from personal work. The two main projects that I have been working on in the past years are probably halfway there.
One of them deals with returning to the towns surrounding Mount Vesuvius, just outside of Naples. I have always wanted to work on something near my home city. The focus of the work is to explore the way Mount Vesuvius, an active volcano, plays a role in people’s lives. It also allows me to dig into my past and my family’s history.
The other project I have been working on is based here in the U.S. It loosely follows paths of migration. I was reading about how coyotes dwell in areas that blur the distinction between wild and urban and found it an interesting way to look at how we, as humans, choose where to settle. Water plays a crucial role in the work, both because it’s a key factor in choosing where to settle but also because it is quickly disappearing.
