There's something inherently hopeful about being creative
Vicki King explains that her work, although, is often described as dreamy, on the opposite, strives to offer an alternate version of reality by adding qualities of fantasy. Vicky remarks, “The kind of art I love and aspire to make has a sense of the unreal about it... something surreal, but also an emotional and human quality.” Speaking about the art of photography, Vicki touches on the dichotomy between the real and the illusory, describing the practice as a powerful tool for changing reality, filling it with one’s passions and desires.
The almost magical trait attributed to this medium is emphasized as accessible by both the photographer through imagination and the viewer through the perception of the moment.
Vicki King is a photographer from Leicester, currently living in London. Warm and deep tones, atmospheric narratives, hyper-personalized approach to the scenery are critical elements in Vicki’s work. In this interview, Vicki elaborates on the way choosing a profession changed her life. She emphasizes that photography in her practice is always about elevation, showing beauty. Vicky opens up about the financial side of the artist’s life in a city like London, a subject not covered much by the creatives themselves. We speak about the therapeutic facet of making images, the effect the lockdown had on Vicki’s work, and her new project on touch.
‘The kind of art I love and aspire to make has a sense of the unreal about it... something surreal, but also an emotional and human quality.’
Dream-Like World
There is a common element that connects your work - the elusive, dreamy atmosphere - which enables the viewer to slightly detach from reality and enter an optimistic, almost magical world. This world seems to offer a good substitute to the trouble, anxiety, stress in the real one. How would you describe yourself from a more personal perspective?
My photos often get described as dreamy, which is not really the intention. I’m always looking for ways of elevating real life through my work, or even just on a day to day, I’m naturally drawn to a more heightened state of being and to fantasy. It's about creating your own space and perception of the world, which I think is a powerful tool to imagine something different outside of current circumstances. The kind of art I love and aspire to make has a sense of the unreal about it... something surreal, but also an emotional and human quality.
In a way, those are opposing forces, but it's what makes an interesting photograph to me… photography is at the interstice between reality and fiction, and my work is about heightening and exploring that. I like the idea of falling in love with a moment you weren’t there for, or with someone you don’t know, through images... you don’t always get all of the information or questions answered in a straightforward manner; there are gaps to pour yourself into, fill up the space with your own wants and desires.
What draws you to create the beautiful imaginary scenery for your characters?
There’s something I see as precious about what I choose to take a photo of - I want to elevate, not make something look ugly to point and laugh at. It's probably quite a sentimental approach, but I think it stems from how I view photography's role in my life... I discovered it when I needed it,
and it has given me an outlet and a purpose. My introduction to photography was seeing family slideshows as a child, it's quite affecting seeing a past you weren’t there for beamed up on the wall - it's nostalgic, a much more romanticised version of real life. So I think that had an impact on me, subconsciously.
When I was growing up, there were some difficulties at home. I moved out and got a job when I was 16. In a way, at that time, I was living this teenage fantasy life of just going out with my friends, dressing up, and travelling around the country on the mega-bus to go to techno parties every weekend. It was a way of escaping. I learned pretty young that you can create your own world if you aren’t happy with the one you are living in. That ethos is something I take with me and it informs the way I make pictures.
‘For me making art can be a way of communicating things that you aren’t able to verbalise; you can make work about subject matter that is too personal to share without having to be literal about it.’
Therapeutic Photography
Personal projects (compared to commissioned work) open the door to deep thought processes, exploration of the self and the world, which sometimes can be healing. How photography helped you to answer inner questions or develop as a person?
I think there's something inherently hopeful about being creative. The act of taking photographs, for instance, literally pulls you out into the world. For me making art can be a way of communicating things that you aren’t able to verbalise; you can make work about subject matter that is too personal to share without having to be literal about it. It can be a way of working through and exploring emotional states that aren’t ready or willing to be spoken about, or as simple as being transfixed by the way the light’s hitting water, it kind of turns everything else off. I think we can so easily become immersed in our own image and states of mind that anything that has the ability to really let you be present with what's in front of you is kind of amazing.
As far as photography allows me to develop as a person, it's immeasurable really. It's a way of satisfying my curiosity. I’ve been able to travel a lot more and enter spaces and learn about things I wouldn’t have normally been able to without a camera.
‘My main challenge throughout my 13 years living here has always been financial, both throughout my time being a student and the journey to working as a photographer. It's not something that I see talked about very much’
London
When you decided to study, you actually moved from Leicester to London, where you’re currently based. What was the main challenge you experienced during this period?
I guess I have a complicated relationship with London. I’ve grown during my time here, learned a lot, and have been given opportunities that I would never have been given in my home city. You are exposed to mind-blowingly talented people and experiences that allow you to imagine so many more possibilities. My main challenge throughout my 13 years living here has always been financial, both throughout my time being a student and the journey to working as a photographer. It's not something that I see talked about very much, especially in the arts/fashion, but I think the shroud around it only perpetuates the many layers that make it impossible for so many people to viably work.
Structurally arts favours those with access to big expensive cities. You essentially need to have an endless pot of money to create work that you don’t get paid for, months of free labour during unpaid internships, invoices are routinely not paid for six months... I have hope there are ways to dismantle some of these elements and create more opportunities to work in the arts spread throughout the UK. The way it stands at the moment is very much London-centric. Sometimes students or younger photographers ask me for advice about working, and I don’t know how to honestly answer their questions, as I don’t think the path I took was a particularly healthy one. I used to feel quite a lot of shame about my situation and perceived lack of certain things, but now I see them as a strength.
What would you say to yourself back then, knowing where you would arrive after years of practicing photography?
I’d like to go back and tell my younger self - don’t ever presume just because someone has more accolades with an institution that they are better than you. I’d like to believe there are other ways of creating interesting and meaningful work outside of traditional routes that bar so many people from entering.
‘I started photographing myself because there wasn’t anyone else around, spent some time looking through my old negatives and collecting together images that brought up the same themes.’
Lockdown
How would you define 2020 in a way the year affected you and your work?
Well, during the first part of the lockdown in the UK, I barely saw or touched anyone for about three months as I was living alone... it was a weird time! Touching, surface, desire have always been elements in my work, so the total lack of those things became something I wanted to explore.
I started photographing myself because there wasn’t anyone else around, spent some time looking through my old negatives and collecting together images that brought up the same themes. Because of the pandemic, touching has been replaced by sight; seeing each other through screens and windows, and there's now an element of fear and distance that's infiltrated the sense that makes us most intimately interact with ourselves, others, and our surroundings.
Which one of your photographs you would pick as the best portrayal of the period and why?
This one was collaged from prints of orgies I shot in Berlin on set with pornography collective Four Chambers. Everyone is connected and merged and not necessarily distinguishable from each other, and swimming naked in an abandoned quarry in Italy. It's really about the joy of touching each other and being outside, a Memoriam. I love the way Valentine's (one of the performer's) tattoos merge into the reflections on the water.
B&W Photography
Some of your photographs lead to a new direction of exploring the body, shot in black and white, with a different atmosphere, not so much a fantasy rather poetic tranquility. How did this new angle in your work was developed, and where do you think it will take you next?
I’m so drawn to colours that I, sort of, left black and white behind until relatively recently, despite always admiring it from afar... These came about when we were allowed a bit of freedom last year in-between lockdowns, and my friends, Billie and Vex, and I were desperate to be very outside and very immersed in nature in the freest way possible. We all come from backgrounds of using the body in our work, be it through sex work, photography or fashion; so we wanted to collaborate on a series that expanded ourselves in a way that our usual work did not always allow, through the absence of clothes, depicted the nude body in a non-sexualised manner.
They photographed me also, which was a new experience. A lot of the landscape in the UK is green or beige, so photographing it in black and white is a way of transporting it to something else. It makes it less connected to an obvious time and place. I usually don’t have the patience (or skill!) to colour print, but I made prints of these and worked into them. There's something magical about being in the black and white darkroom, it's slow and meditative, you can't look at your phone, everything's sexier than on the outside.
Next Steps
What project are you working on or planning as the next one?
The work I mentioned previously on touch, I’m working on turning it into something tangible, a book of posters you can pin up on your wall. I think it makes sense for this project. Also, because a lot of it features the body in various states of undress, every time I try and share any of these images on social media, they are just deleted straight away, and my account ends up being restricted, so I think online is not the place for it. It's a good push for me to put together a book of sorts, which I have been wanting to for a long time.
