The red thread in my work
and how I found it
In 2008, I started photography as a regular hobby to escape my stressful job as a social worker. I would go on long walks after work to clear my head and try to focus on something other than work. Photography was my rabbit hole, the escape from a job that I loved but consumed me physically and mentally. Photography helped me to be in the moment and simply enjoy the process of walking around keeping my focus on finding something worth to photograph. It also kept me from going home and falling asleep in front of the TV right after work.
When I started photographing, I usually had my camera on automatic mode, because I knew almost nothing about the technical aspects of photography. I didn’t know how to use aperture, shutter speed or ISO. I was just happily snapping away, pointing my camera at everything and anything. But I soon came to a point, where I felt limited by my lack of knowledge and wanted to learn more on how to create better photos. I started reading books about composition and learned more about the technical side of my relatively new hobby. As I started to understand how to use my camera and learned more about composing an image, my photography slowly started to evolve.
Photography mainly served the purpose of focusing on the world around me, while at the same time neglecting what was going on inside me. Latter wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision. It was just, that I hadn’t figured out that photography could actually help me deal with my emotions and understand myself better. This enlightenment came to me in 2016.
By that time I was experimenting with photography and encaustics. I already had gained some experience but wanted to develop my knowledge and skills a bit more. So, I signed up for a class with the artist Nancy Crawford. I had been admiring her work for years. The class was called “Introduction and Advanced Encaustics” and after reading the class description I knew this was exactly what I was looking for.
Nancy taught us all sorts of interesting encaustic techniques but also she also encouraged us to look at another aspect of creating art. She wanted us to think about our creative process: how we make art, what materials we use, and what subjects or themes we are interested in. By exploring these questions she wanted us to get a deeper understanding of Why we make art. And not just the “because it’s fun” or “because it helps me to clear my head after work” type of Why.
Understanding what the overarching theme of my work is, was quite the revelation and a very emotional experience. It helped me to see my work from a new angle and gave me a clearer vision of what I was trying to say through my art.
During that four-day class I only scratched the surface of it all. But it gave me a starting point to dig deeper. In the following weeks, I kept looking at the work I had created in the past. I started to notice the same themes occurring over and over again. All seemed to circle around the transience of life and the passage of time.
I deliberately started to explore different aspects of those themes through my photography and mixed media work. I gained new motivation and inspiration to create. Everything started to connect and a red thread started to appear throughout my work.
Finding my Why helped me to be more aware of my internal aims when making art. It taught me to look inside - and not just outside - while photographing. Which ultimately helps me to create art with a deeper meaning, which as a result feels more authentic.
Figuring out, what I want to explore and express through my art also helped me to grow not only as an artist but as a person too.
That’s all from me today. Thank you for being here and for reading this week’s newsletter.
X,
Susanne
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Thanks for this post. There is nothing wrong with shooting in automatic mode. In fact, for my project during Covid I also had my camera on automatic and just shot whatever caught my eye. I'm really fond of this project and do not think it would have been better if I had shot it setting each photo in the 'right' exposure and so.
I love the idea of a "red thread" running through your work. I can see that in what you make, and it's inspiring—I feel like I'm still figuring it out. Also, I completely relate to the need to clear your mind after work. My current job is adjacent to social work and involves in-home services/support. It can be hard to turn off at the end of the day. Photography helps. I appreciate hearing about how your practice has evolved over the years. Beautiful work, Susanne! ❤️