Daurismo – Interview with Daura Campos

20 Gennaio 2021

HW: What did you want to be when you grew up? 

DC: Honestly, I had no idea. I figured out that I wanted to work within the creative community in 2018 when I ventured into photography for the first time. 

 

HW: How do you explain your art? Who introduced you to…..?

DC: My art is a result of the conjugation of documentary and portraiture photography. In my practice, I represent contrasting realities and captures intimate moments of day-to-day queer life through a cinematic lens. I actually introduced myself, when traveling with a friend and not being able to afford a digital camera to capture the trip, I bought an analog camera in a thrift store and haven’t been able to put it down ever since.


HW: Talk to us a little bit about how you got started… Which musicians/ photographers/ painters/ artists are you a fan of? 

DC:  I got started in photography as a hobby, but my practice quickly evolved into something deeper. I’m passionate about the craft of telling stories through portraiture and the learning and un-learning process of photography practice. 


HW: What are you obsessed with right now?

DC:  Film soup! I’m a bit obsessed with the process of cooking the film, finding new ingredients and taking it to the lab to develop it. It’s a more ludic experience within photography, but it has been helping me to deal with managing my expectations.


HW: How would you describe your lifestyle?

DC:  Introspective, I live most of the time inside my own head. Photography is one of my biggest communication tools, so I spend a lot of time thinking and researching about it. 

 


HW: Where do you get your inspiration from?

DC:  Everywhere, but mostly my coming of age experiences and my closest friends. I’m very focused on the mundane and on the W.H questions of life, I ask myself over and over again: Why do I value this experience? How has this shaped me? What are my peers thinking about? and many other questions that drive me to try and answer them with my photography.


HW: What do you think your biggest personal or professional success has been so far?

DC:  I believe success is very hard to measure, but I’m most grateful for the opportunity to have a collaborative experience when creating alongside my subjects and being let into their lives and spaces.


HW: What’s the dream?

DC:  I would say that right now my dream is to be able to keep working on my practice, pushing through and coming out stronger every time. 

 

HW: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

DC:  “Be your best editor”. Learning how to let go of work that doesn’t represent you anymore is a big part of being a photographer, that has let me share my work in more meaningful ways, which is a gift.


HW: What is your biggest fear?

DC:  To be unhappy with my practice.


HW: What is fragility for you? 

DC:  In my personal experience, it is not being able to connect with other people and learn through their experiences. 


HW: What do you think of the link between psychology and art?


DC:  I would say that personally, I fish a lot of my work out of my and others experiences.

 

 

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