Our Malawi
Real, fascinating and yet ordinary stories are Noam Friedman’s main focus in her documentary work. Exploring and merging the disciplines, she seeks to find new ways to present her photography. Audio enhances the visual to enable a viewer the unique experience touching on more senses. We met Noam during her exhibition Our Malawi in Tel-Aviv, during which she gladly retold the stories collected in the continent, remembering each person and his unique perception.
Noam Friedman is a documentary photographer born in Jerusalem and raised in Kenya. Her rich background had an impact, eventually deleting the boundaries of movement and borders between countries. Noam travels the continents and brings back her impressions for exhibitions, the latest being Our Malawi, a mixed-media presentation of the country and its people through photography and sound. Noam is back to Africa doing what she loves the most, meeting new people, and documenting their lives’ moments. She explains that the most precious part for her is in creating a personal connection with the subject unveiling a deeper emotion in their routine activities.
Chris Msosa, an emerging young poet from Lilongwe, Malawi, is one of the people Noam met. They decided to collaborate and add original poems to the collection of photographs. The work was presented both in a written form and as a live performance accompanied by Guy Fleisher’s electronic tunes.
Photography Noam Friedman
Special thanks to Guy Fleisher Chris Msosa Folium Publication Stewart Hardie
‘I grew up as a kid in Kenya, and I think that the seed was planted there. It was my first real connection to the continent, and it has stayed since’
Hi Noam, how is your trip going? Which countries have you already visited this time?
Hi, the trip is going very well thank you for asking! Our time here has been amazing. So far we have been in Malawi for 3 weeks, this is our last week now. We've been travelling, from south to north of the country, exhibiting Our Malawi in cities as well as the rural villages and just finished an exhibition earlier today in the capital, Lilongwe. Next week, we will be crossing to Zambia and from there to Botswana and then South Africa.
Why Africa? What was the main inspiration for you to create Nyasaland?
Why Africa? That's a good question... My whole life, I have been involved with this continent. I grew up as a kid in Kenya, and I think that the seed was planted there. It was my first real connection to the continent, and it has stayed since. The main reason for me to create Nyasaland came after travelling around Malawi last year, seeing people and experiencing life in a very different way. I felt that people should see another side of Malawi, or even just get to know the country because actually, not many people know where Malawi is. A zine felt like the right way of putting all those images together.
‘I was lucky enough to meet Stewart Hardie, one of the founders, at the Bright Rooms, where I used to work. We decided to give it a go and try to publish a small zine’
What are some of the technical aspects one needs to proceed with to publish the book? How did the process work for you?
To be honest, this zine wouldn't have come to life without the help of Folium Publication, in London. They are a small publication that is located in South-East London, and I was lucky enough to meet Stewart Hardie, one of the founders, at the Bright Rooms, where I used to work. We decided to give it a go and try to publish a small zine. We knew we wanted to make it a zine and not a book, which is one of Stewart's specialties.
We started by picking pictures - making contact sheets of all the films - looking at it as small copies, so we could play around with images and see what works. Then they made the 1st edit and picked the pictures they liked the most. After that, they did the paging and sent it over to me. We had just a few changes that we made, and then Stewart printed it all and made the zines. It was a great experience for me and gave me the chance to bring my work to print and have it as an object!
‘For me, the craft of photography has always been darkroom practice, I love the technical side of it; I love printing, I love developing my film, I love pushing my limits’
In the process of photographing locals and their kids, you as a photographer become a part of their routine, capturing the authentic moments of their life and lifestyle. Did you communicate the essence of the series for the book to get the consent to be photographed? How does it usually work?
So in the process of photographing the local people and the kids, usually if it's portraiture, like the black-and-white pictures I took, it's always in intimate moments of connection with the person. There was always consent. I am very open about what I am going to do with pictures, even though I didn't know I was actually going to make it into an exhibition/zine at the time, I always made sure that they understood how I will use the pictures later. I did not intend it for a profit, but to show a unique perspective of the country. They were all very keen in taking part and being photographed, and some even posed for me.
The colour pictures are more in the style of street photography, so usually, I would hold the camera for a moment before taking the picture for the subject to know I intend to take a picture, and then I would wait for the acknowledgment or approval in some form of body language. Then I would take the picture. Obviously, I had moments when I took the pictures and was even chased by a guy(!), but I try to always make it something that is just present, not sneaking around...
There’s a photograph of a fire burning the part of the local forest. Tell about this shoot, what happened there?
The photograph of the fire burning in the forest was taken at the Zomba plateau, which is the most beautiful mountain in the area of Zomba city. We were hiking down the plateau last year and smelled something burning, so we turned around to see this massive bushfire, which is something that happens a lot in these areas and is a really big problem of deforestation. After cutting down the trees, they just burn all the wood that is left to make illegal charcoal for sale. On one side was this massive fire, then turning around behind me was this beautiful waterfall, and the contrast between these two caught my eye immediately...
What do you enjoy about photography, is it the technical side, creating the darkroom and developing yourself the prints or the communicational side or the discovery and travel?
What do I enjoy about photography? A few years ago, I decided to look at photography again as a craft. For me, the craft of photography has always been darkroom practice, I love the technical side of it; I love printing, I love developing my film, I love pushing my limits in the darkroom, even though I am not a very technical person. At the same time, I love the discoveries, I love the connections that are being formed with a camera - especially using film cameras - as you always need to guess everything and to trust your instincts to get the right frame. I also love the travelling side of it: meeting new people and learning about their lives, especially in places where I feel a connection... I think, I have to say, all of the above.
The latest exhibition you created with Guy Fleisher OUR MALAWI; NO WORDS NEEDED is an audio-visual experience, a collaboration of two artists merging different disciplines. The photographs are black and white and capture male local workers. What was the most touching story you heard in the process?
There were many touching stories along the way, some sad stories and some happy, but I would like to focus on a really special story to me, meeting Chris Msosa. Chris is a poet based in Lilongwe (the capital) whom we've met last year. For me, it was so exciting to find a local art scene that is actually kicking and happening.
Chris is one of the leading young poets in Malawi. It was so inspiring to see someone who believes in the power of words and wants people to hear what he has to say. Chris is very sensitive in selecting the topics for his poems, and it was such a great meeting for us because we could collaborate with him. We actually sent him all the portraits from the exhibition before we came to Malawi, and he wrote poems in English and translated them to a few local languages as well. In the exhibit we had yesterday, we collaborated - his poems were exhibited next to their pictures. He and Guy had a live performance of poetry and electronic music in the evening, and it was amazing to discover this art scene in Malawi. Chris is also a member of the story club Malawi and manages an art cafe in town. Through this collaboration, we could extend the works into another discipline - poetry, creating a new multidisciplinary connection with the art.
What’s Next?
Well, I am using the time that I have now to work on new and exciting projects, one of them is a new photo-book I am working on with May Lee, a young creative director based in London, to be published in 2021. Other than that, I am constantly photographing and documenting life around me, developing films, and creating more. I am applying to a few residency programs and am generally ready for a new adventure. Exciting times!
