2011 Award Winner ELISABETH MOLIN talks to the BarTur Photo Award

Molin’s works act like footnotes to reality. They help broaden our visual understanding, offer clarity and reveal what is hidden or overlooked. By focusing on a detail, an object, a process, they help expand our knowledge of these, with lightness. Once the details become apparent, you wonder why you had never noticed them before? Molin has an eye for unlocking phenomena around us, to make us think, twice. - Emily Butler

The first question is how would you describe your work?

I'm interested in ideas of displacement, perception, time and representation. I work with photography in an expanded way and often include photo objects, video and writings.

You were studying at University of the Arts London in 2011when you won the Bar-Tur Award, what led you there, what led you to photography?

When I started to study I was mainly drawing and then I found that with photography and video, I could somehow bring different elements together. I also like the immediacy of photography, that is is something that can transport you somewhere, and you can enter spaces with a camera which you couldn’t otherwise enter.

Do you have a favorite photographer? Or Maybe anyone who is heavily influential on you or your work?

Yes I think the work of Taryn Simon is a very intriguing. Generally I’m drawn to artist who work with time based mediums like Mika Rottenberg, Laure Prouvost and Pierre Huyghe.

So how do you decide to start on a new project?

Often it’s quite intuitive. I collect different materials in the form of video, photography and texts, and then after a while I start to see a pattern, how seemingly disconnected worlds can come together to form a new language.

What are you working on at the moment?

COMFORT 7/32/00 is a project that addresses entropy, how architecture affects the body and the often surreal intersections between biological and mechanical rhythms in the city. The project combines photography and short texts, together creating a prism of approaches to the subject. Whereas the photographs visually speak of moments of intersection, the text describes bodily encounters with synthetic materials, screens and data.

Fantastic! Well Done! And What are your top tips for those people who are applying to this year’s Bar-Tur Award and those who are just starting out in photography?

I always try to see it like a chance to take a risk and to combine my work in a new way. I would recommend applying for awards and residencies and I think smaller opportunities you can create for yourself. I think there are many ways to keep your work going and I think for sure receiving awards like the Bar-Tur Award is such an honor.

What was your first camera and what do you have now?

A point and shoot camera. Now I work with different cameras depending on the project, Black Magic, Fuji or my iphone.

Thanks so much Elisabeth!

For more information please visit: www.elisabehtmolin.com