Photographe du mois : Kirsty Mitchell |

Présentation

Kirsty Mitchell nous émerveille par son monde imaginaire, elle n’est pas que photographre mais une artiste à part entière (costume, décors, maquillage, photo…) .
Et c’est une jeune femme sympathique et ouverte qui s’est livré à notre interview.
Je vous laisse découvrir cette femme pleine de talent et ses rêves fantastiques qu’elle transpose si bien en photos.

Interview

1. Please, present yourself in few words.

My name is Kirsty Mitchell. I’m a fine art photographer and fashion designer living in the UK. I specialize in creating photos, which I consider to be the closest I can get to a living painting – in the sense that I am responsible for everything that is in the image as well as capturing it. I make or source all of my own props, costumes and sets, scout the locations, design the characters and do all the art direction myself. I don’t work with any designers or stylists – just my friend Elbie Van Eeden who is my make-up and hair stylist. We have been working on a very special and personal project for the last 20 months called ‘Wonderland’ which is the work I am most recognized for.

2. You’re not only a photographer; please tell us a bit more about your background and process?

I have studied art ever since leaving school in various forms – photography, fine art, history of art, etc. At 19 I trained at the London College of Fashion to be a costumier for film and theatre for 3 years. After leaving and working in the industry I decided to return to University and do a degree in Fashion design and textiles. I was lucky enough to work in the design studios of Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan, who both inspired me greatly and gave me a hunger for the extraordinary. Since then I have worked as a fashion designer for the last 10 years, but re-discovered my passion for photography in the summer of 2007. Since then these two lives have slowly blurred together, and I now use my different backgrounds to create the worlds I want to photograph. Regarding my process it’s quite a long and difficult thing to explain because there is so much involved. I usually start by dreaming of the new character I want to create, this happens most nights and I often have 2 or 3 ideas in my head everyday. Next I look for the location – I spend a huge amount of time walking in forests, and driving around randomly, always hoping to find something amazing. My locations are also greatly effected by the time of year and types of wild flowers that will be blooming when I plan to shoot. After that I begin to physically make the costumes, visit vintage fairs, or search on eBay for strange unexpected items. Colour is vital to my work, so I often hand dye my fabrics too. After that I look for the right model, work on making the rest of the props, and finally get a crew of friends together to help on the day of the shoot. This is a very simplified version of events, if I wrote it all down this interview would be far too long for anyone to finish!

3. You work on clothes, the props and the sets… what’s your favorite part of the work?

My favorite part is when everything is finished, we are on location, the model is completely ready and ‘in character ‘, and everything finally comes together. It feels like stepping into my dreams, its really an incredible moment and makes all the hard work worth it. Its like having our own mini film set, and is the thing I value so much – these incredible memories. Nothing beats standing in the snow with a 9ft girl covered in pink paint! Or standing in the middle of a lake at sunset photographing a real life princess…. It’s incredible, and has changed my life forever.

4. You build a very personal universe, a mix of dream & faeries. A mix of color and sadness. What’s the purpose of your art?

To be honest it has been a therapy. My mother died in November 2008 and photography was the only thing that stopped me losing my mind. My real life was terrible and so, so sad. I had panic attacks, insomnia, and was depressed. So I created a place to hide and lose myself in my dreams. Beauty is what drives me, and I can’t help but be very emotional in my work. The pictures were purely personal and were not intended as anything else, but over time people seemed to discover my work, and it has snow balled into a whole new life for me. It was all escapism, and a way to remember the stories she read to me as a child….. a happier place.

5. There are no men in the wonderland series, don’t we inspire you? : )

Ha ha! I love this question and it’s a good one! It not intentional, it has just happened really. It might be to do with relationships, I ask quite a lot of my models, and it often feels personal and sometimes quite intimate when I shoot them. My main model Katie has modeled almost naked several times for me in public places, as well as standing in the snow, and stagnant water for hours at a time. I trust her, and feel very connected with her when I take the pictures. It is like we are experiencing something precious together – these pictures are almost like reflected self-portraits in a way. She is acting out my dream, my memory, and I don’t think I could feel that way with a male model. Having said this though there will be 1 man appearing in the series, but that picture will come near the end so I won’t ruin the surprise. : )

6. By the way, there is a little touch of Tim Burton world. What kind of influences could you mention?

I am influenced by a huge amount of things and most of it isn’t photography. Yes I absolutely adore Tim Burton; he is a hero of mine. I’m very influenced by film and music; at the moment I can’t stop playing the soundtrack from Shyamalans film ‘The Village’. Its one of my favorite movies and is constantly in my head. I’m obviously heavily effected by nature too, and a great many artists who use it as their main focus, such as the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood. Finally as I’ve already mentioned the stories my mother read to me as a child and their illustrations are highly influential in my work, these are the worlds I day dream about all day, and are the root of almost everything I create.

7. Do you already know the next series you’d like to work on?

I do have ideas, but I’m trying my hardest to focus on finishing Wonderland first. But yes, I have thought about the concept and already have a name for the series ?

8. It seems to take a huge time to build this universe, I see a lot of people working around you on your blog photos, could tell us a bit more how your team work? Is it a fulltime job ?

Sometimes I think the behind the scenes photos can be a little deceiving as I often call on friends to help out at the very last minute when we have run out of time. So in some cases I can be working on a picture completely alone for 4 weeks and then the weekend of the shoot 5 friends will come and help so the team will look huge on location for that one day. For some of the really big pictures I had a couple of students come and work with me at the weekends for a few months over the spring. My partner Matt always helps on set, and sometimes even the models help make the props! My hair and make-up artist Elbie is the only person who works on every picture with me, and we have spent many exhausting late nights together over the last year and half making things at 2am the night before a shoot. So its very varied, most of the pictures will probably only have around 4 people in total on location, I like to be keep things as small as possible so we don’t disturb the landscape, or draw too much attention to ourselves.

9. You’re preparing a book and exhibition, could we hope to see you in France?

Yes the whole focus for the Wonderland series is to be a book and an exhibition. I plan to finish shooting by the beginning of the summer, and I will then be working producing both straight after that. My original expectations were to just show in London, but I am now being helped by an artists collective who plan to bring it to Paris too…. maybe further, so fingers crossed!