GIDEON MENDEL constructed chaos
ANDREA BLANCH : Congratulations on Drowning World . As soon as I saw it , I had to reach out to you . I ’ d like to know your beginnings , when did you know you wanted to be a photographer ?
GM : A really long time ago , in the early 80 ’ s . I began working professionally at the end of 1983 . theatre of operating with film and the Rolleiflex camera . While an old camera , it slows it down and makes it more difficult , it adds a little more to the theatre in terms of engaging with your subject . But also using it at your waist , there ’ s no camera between your face and the person being photographed , which to me it makes it more of an intimate connection .
ANDREA : Did you have any art education ? What led you to photography ?
GIDEON MENDEL : I have a degree in African economic history and psychology , and not very distinguished degrees either . Photography started as a hobby and became an obsession , kind of like a river that I fell into . In 1983 , I spent a few months in the darkroom learning the early system with Ansel Adam ’ s book . I ’ m a completely self-taught photographer .
ANDREA : Using a Rolleiflex camera to photograph in Drowning World , doesn ’ t that make things more difficult for you traveling around with film ?
GIDEON : It is a completely ludicrous and idiotic thing to do . But it ’ s a weird thing because when I first began the project in 2007 , you could argue that working with a Rolleiflex gives you a better quality of file compared to working on 35mm or digital . Progressively , digital files and cameras are so good now , so there ’ s less and less obvious reasons . But there ’ s something very special and magical about the Rolleiflex .
ANDREA : I understand , I used to work with Richard Avedon and that ’ s all he used .
GIDEON : I ’ ve sort of been grappling with the thing . When there were major floods in New York and England last year , I went up as an experiment to work digitally and the portraits were just not as strong even though they were technically efficient . On one level , there ’ s the
ANDREA : Yes it does .
GIDEON : I ’ m looking at someone , looking very carefully at the expression of their eyes . And I ’ m looking at them partially through the camera and not through the camera . The key thing for me in this kind of portraiture is getting the expression and kind of meaningful connection . That connected moment is what is so important to me .
ANDREA : In the Drowning World , you ’ re not present when the flood occurs correct ?
GIDEON : Yes . I kind of get there in the aftermath . Certain kinds of floods work better than others . When I have the resources and the funds to travel , I ’ m on the phone trying to do research to figure out how long the flood water is going to last . Am I going to be too late ? Because I want to get there when the water is still relatively high . I have to find out if the water is still there or if it will last . I ’ m trying very hard to get all this information before I travel . With the types of floods that happen in America , the water tends to move away rather quickly . I went to a flood in South Carolina last year which was devastating to Columbia but by the time I got there , the water had pretty much left and it was just the aftermath . But the water was moving so I was able to find flood communities further down the river . Sometimes it ’ s that kind of pacing of things . Floods in India usually last for a long time . Like in Nigeria , I was able to make my trip there in time and still find communities under water . It ’ s really a
Portrait by Gowhar Fazili , 2014 .
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