BJP: The exhibited images derive from different periods of your relationship with photography. What are the central themes, which run through them? How do these manifest in the photographs?
MT: This is such a hard question. The reason it is so hard is not that there is no answer, but, because the answers themselves are not concrete — they are enigmatic.
I could list what my work is about intellectually — displacement, place, community, self, and memory are the key themes. But, and I am feeling this more and more, such a list may alienate the work instead of bringing it closer.
My work is about looking; about seeing; and, most importantly, about connection — the things that make us human. It is about being human and having human experiences. Increasingly, I perceive it as relating to togetherness and reflecting identification or empathy. The images reflect the relationship, the connection, which I have with my subjects; the connection I have with you as a viewer, which allows you to see not only me, but yourself, and others, more deeply. It is a triangle between me, you, and others, which the work makes visible.
A quotation of mine, which was published in the 2019 publication Young American, published by Paradigm Publishing, by Thomas Beachdel, may articulate this best: “The work is really a portrayal of humanness. I hope people can look at these pictures and see themselves — I see myself in them. And I hope that people see that we are all just that: people, with the same human core.” This is what I hope to convey in images such as Kate and Odie (2017), Aheem (2020), Massima (2016), and really all my portraits — connection, an empathetic connection. They are fundamentally about people just being; being themselves, being human.”
Moreover, the portraits are also about the affirmation of identity, and the idea of belonging; the idea that we all have the right to be ourselves, present, visible, and seen. The portraits are a testament to the fact we all matter, no matter our race, creed, religion, nationality, sexuality, identity. In the portraits, the ‘subjects’ (a term, which I hate) are precisely who they are, and so am I. Wolfgang Tillmans once said something about portraiture that inspired me deeply, or maybe it was that I identified with what he said: “the process of it, is a very direct human exchange … The actual dynamics of vulnerability and exposure and embarrassment and honesty do not change, ever … it requires me as a person to be sort of intact and fluid.” (Wolfgang Tillmans, Royal Academy Schools Annual Lecture, London, 22 February 2011, in Wolfgang Tillmans, ed. Theodora Vischer, exh. cat. (Basel: Beyeler Museum; Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2017), 71.)
I really relate to that because when I take a portrait, or maybe even any photograph, I have to be honest and present and open, otherwise, the photograph does not work. And similarly, the sitter also needs to be open. In a way, what is most special is the relationship between myself and who I am photographing. The idea about belonging, or positive affirmation of identity, is really important to me.
When I first showed Young American as an exhibition in 2018 at Czech Centre New York, I had a loop of 222 portraits in a 30-minute large scale video projection install called So Far from Mikulov (2018), which displayed all the kids’ faces 12-feet tall. The energy of the 300 kids who came to the opening of my show overwhelmed me; how touched they were to see themselves as they are — it was a validation to be who you are; no make-up, no pretence, that you are great just as you are. This is so important; I relate to it. And it is significant when there is so much (Instagram, for example) telling you to be something that you may not be, or showing you something that someone else has but you may not.