María G. de Azcárate
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bio:
Is a Spanish born and raised visual artist, currently based in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).
Easily moving between authentic documentary and surreal scenography, analogue and digital all her images speak a whimsical and alluring language that radically exposes the vulnerability and the strangeness of the everyday.
Nowadays, we are subject to a new way of consuming images, more immediate and crowded. With this collection of photographs, she tries to declutter and appropriate her own deserted photographic archive, confronting her past with her present, creating new narratives.
Tell us a little about your work an the projects you undertake? What inspires you?
I’m inspired by boring everyday stories. I’m inspired by people, by emotions (hidden ones), by my dysfunctional family, or my own dark side. I’ve always been attracted to weirdness.
How long have you been shooting for?
About 11 years, I would say.
What is it that got you into Photography
I enrolled in the HTC program in artistic Photography at my hometown in Spain, after being living for a few years on the other side of the country. I was very young when I left there. I got into a very toxic relationship, and I needed to do something about it. With a bit of pressure from my family, I decided to come back and study Photography, I was very attracted to it, and it was time to do something creative-orientated. And I really loved it. I had a very rough time. I guess Photography saved me, and she keeps saving me over the years.
What medium do you tend to shoot on and why?
I don’t care much about the medium, I shoot with a full-frame digital camera, I shoot analogue (35mm) or point and shoot, with my cellphone, or I use my film scanner to create new images from the ones I’ve got… I don’t care much about sticking to one medium, basically because I’m a bit eclectic and I really like to switch. Depending on the kind of project, or the language I want to use, I would use one camera or another. Someone told me once that it’s essential to have control over your gear and don’t let your equipment have power over you.
What are your long term goals as a photographer?
I want to mostly keep learning. I think it’s impossible to believe that one knows already all. I want to learn and explore and experiment more.
Do you idolize any photographers or artists work? Tell us about them.
I idolize the work of Jim Jarmush so much, the work that Robby Müller did with Wim Wenders, and also Wim Wenders himself. As well the work of Francesca Woodman and Nan Golding. I find them so visceral, on their very own way.
Nowadays anyone can take a photo. What do you think is the difference between a hobby photographer and a professional photographer?
I think the difference would just be that one of them is making money out of it, and the other not. Thinking from the perspective that anyone can take a photo nowadays… being able to look at a screen and pressing a bottom, doesn’t make us humans hobby photographers. It just makes us part of the insane world that we are creating full of meaningless and repetitive images, images that we don’t even look at again. We all see and create so many images every day that Photography (as we know it) is losing its core, the world is crowded by it.
Where can we find you online?
You can find me on my website and on Instagram.
@mariag_azcarate @an_entire_life
