Oh & Young Hearts, Sam Nixon
These early looks at two different projects from New York-based photographer and director Sam Nixon showcase his fluid aesthetic interests. Excerpts from his Oh series finds him following musician Oh Hyuk around Seoul, Korea, and Young Hearts features documentation of his travels shooting a short film in Israel and Palestine.
Over email and during lockdown, TSUKI asked Sam a few questions about the origins and processes of these forthcoming book projects.
Oh
What is it about Oh Hyuk that you find compelling, photographically speaking?
Oh Hyuk is a fascinating character, he’s unassuming and gentle. For the front man of a popular South Korean indie rock band (Hyuk Oh) he is extraordinarily humble, bordering on shy. With his shaven head, signature sharpened eyebrows, and centered lip piercings, Oh is instantly intriguing. In an era of omnipresent K-Pop idolization, Oh has always gone against the grain and committed to his own way of producing music. Drawing musical and stylistic inspiration from punk, skate, surf, Japanese culture, and Brit pop, his depth of knowledge on music and fashion is vast. He's a delight to shoot with and he’s always down to get weird and creative.
What was it like seeing and photography Seoul, Korea (at least partially) through Oh’s eyes?
Oh compiled a list of meaningful locations around greater Seoul that were formative for him. He spent 12 years living near Beijing, China from age 5; so these locations in Seoul, where we chose to shoot, brought back childhood memories of visiting his grandparents. It was moving to witness Oh's reaction to these places from his childhood, some of which he hadn't returned to for more than a decade.
Fashion—both fashion culture and fashion media—is present in or beneath both your book projects Oh and Young Hearts, albeit in different ways. How does fashion play into your explorations and perceptions of travel and culture?
Fashion helps to embolden or to emphasize an image. You can choose to go big or go subtle or nothing at all—which is also still a conscious choice. You can draw the viewer's eyes or you can divert attention elsewhere. It's a great tool that increases variety and hopefully “says something.” When possible I like to use vintage pieces and/or the subject's own wardrobe to gain even further insights into their personality.
Young Hearts
These photos feel somewhat distinct from the filmed story you made for Document Journal, which documented some filmic impressions from your travels through the region. What is it about this place that keeps you interested and excited enough to shoot it in multiple ways, and in different mediums?
These images are a small selection of alternates from an original story I shot for Document Journal. I'm publishing a book very soon containing the original images plus an extended collection of pictures from the same trip. There were so many pictures that I liked that I couldn’t include, so I thought it would be great to have them all collated and playing off each other in one place—like a book. The film (for Document Journal) was another medium that I wanted to explore and utilize, since there are just some moments that can't be replicated in still images alone, so whenever possible I'd whip out the Bolex and shoot. I was taking sound recordings and interviews at the time so I knew I wanted some moving imagery to work together with the voice over.
What kind of moments were you trying to capture, or create? Or were you just keeping open to what presented itself?
I wanted to explore and discover things I didn't already know. Obviously Israel/Palestine is such a complex place with a deep history of conflict and injustice, so without significant experience in the region I couldn't possibly portray a definitive narrative of the land. I knew I should just focus on individual stories and personally connecting with as many people from as many backgrounds as possible—within the constraints handed to us.
What were the main challenges of photographing this particular series?
In this story I really strived to collaborate with a diverse range of individuals and societies. We did the best we could with our time limits and access. Our wonderful creative producer/fixer/casting director Sarah Benjamin is Israeli, and from Jaffa, so through her connections it followed that most of our pre-organized talent were also Israeli. If we’d had more time I would have loved to collaborate with a Palestinian producer/fixer in addition to working with Sarah. But I'll continue to visit and keep exploring the region to tell more stories of the West Bank and surrounding areas in the future.
It’s a highly complicated region with a lot of conflict, and this raises a lot of questions. How do you think or feel about what roles visual mediums like film and photography can bring to exploring these questions?
This collection of images is by no means a definitive account nor a comprehensive study of the land or its people. The knowledge of the enduring suffering here is heartbreaking and I strongly disagree with many of the government's policies. The images in my book Young Hearts are not intended to settle scores or defend any political or military wrongdoing. Nor was I trying to portray the country in a certain light other than the light of the individual subjects.
So are you looking for something before you start shooting or do you respond to what you see there? I guess there is a bigger, more general question for any type of “document” or “document-maker,” which is: Are you responding and documenting the world as you see it, or are you trying to shape the way is it seen? (Or are they inextricable?)
This work in particular is a first impression of a place and its people. The photos capture moments of personal connection, ones that were either very brief or otherwise were just the very beginnings of a friendship. There’s a combination of methods I used to capture the images: organizing meetings with village spokespersons; casting talent through Instagram; stopping by the side of the road; traditional documentary/street photography. And through this exploratory trip we were lucky enough to meet such beautiful and kind hearted people from all walks of life.