Saskia Wilson
SASKIA WILSON’S QUIETLY BRILLIANT AND RUMINATIVE WORK REPRESENTS PEOPLE AND PLACES IN THEIR BEST LIGHT.
Saskia’s meditative portraits are genuinely stripped of posture or persona, focusing more on personal presence, subtle disclosure, minutia, and depth. Her golden-hour-soaked landscapes and location photography are rich with earthy colors and full of detailed and gradated natural light; we’re presented with new ways to see and feel these contemplative and historically complicated settings. Saskia’s work is all about the accumulation of these recognizable signature qualities—ironic, given her versatility and the generally unshowy qualities of her images. Nevertheless, I can almost always pick a Saskia Wilson photograph when I see one in the proverbial wild. Saskia works as a professional photographer but is also a dedicated photography educator, basing her teaching practice on facilitating participatory photography programs with young people from diverse backgrounds. Growing up in Bundjalung country in Northern NSW, and currently working and living on Gadigal and Wangal land in Sydney, Saskia was able to shoot this gallery for TSUKI and answer a few questions about her process and life during lockdown.
HOW DO YOU CREATE AT HOME? HOW HAS THIS BEEN DIFFERENT FROM YOUR REGULAR PROCESS?
At the start of lockdown I was just pulling things out of the kitchen cupboards and shooting them on my phone. Although I do shoot some still life in my commercial work, I usually work in larger teams on location, so shooting alone in my lounge room at my own leisurely pace was quite peaceful.
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO WORK IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD OR YOUR STUDIO DURING THIS SITUATION? OR IS IT JUST FROM HOME?
I am lucky to have a lounge room with north facing windows, lots of sunshine, and obliging housemates. I was also able to shoot a few commercial jobs where I was just shooting around the city or suburb on my own.
HAS THIS SITUATION ENCOURAGED OR EVEN DEMANDED YOU TO TRY SOMETHING NEW?
It definitely made me look differently at the vegetables in my fridge, the canned food in my cupboard, and my own body as subject matter when I was running out of options! It also encouraged me to experiment with the limited amount of equipment I had at home.
HOW ARE YOU STAYING INSPIRED AND MOTIVATED?
I think just having more free time and space gave me the opportunity to do what I love to do in my own way; I was actually feeling more inspired than ever! I felt motivated to record the beauty of modest things, the simple things surrounding me that I am so grateful for: my garden, the view from my apartment windows, my lovely housemates. Because my subject matter was somewhat confined, I tried to experiment more with lighting and grading techniques.
HOW HAS LOCKDOWN-LIFE ALTERED YOUR WORK?
The series I have sent was an attempt to view my own city with the same rose-tinted glasses I photograph through when travelling.
ARE THERE ANY POSITIVE (OR NEGATIVE) CHANGES YOU CAN SEE COMING OUT OF THIS SITUATION?
I think it has forced people to slow down and reconsider how we were living/working, what we value, and how we want to spend our time. Hopefully all “frontline” and “essential” workers will be better valued—and paid accordingly—in the future.
HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING / LISTENING / READING ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?
I can highly recommend watching the Australian documentary “In My Blood It Runs”, a visually beautiful and intimate film about an Arrernte Aboriginal boy Dujuan as he grows up Alice Springs, central Australia, directed by Maya Newell.
