R
So what happened to your art career?
R
If you look at my work, and I mean the larger body of my work, you’ll see lots and lots of conceptual art ideas weaving through everything, but especially my fashion work. Back then, in my very naive student brain, I thought I should choose a genre of photography that was incredibly seductive, i.e. fashion and beauty. Then I tried to put my concepts and ideas into that type of work. I was very influenced by body politics and those artists, but I wanted my medium of communication to be broader than the art market. You see, back then, the art market was very small. I thought it was too narrow and I was also young and excited by the idea of being the Richard Avedon or David Bailey of my generation – both of whom worked as if they were artists, in a commercial world.
R
It sounds like you just wanted to work in a job where you could be in fashion and all that goes with it!
R
Well, I kind of did and to be really honest, for a while I probably did think I was God’s gift. But the ideas were always there and at the same time, I’ve never felt comfortable just doing fashion photographs. I need to make ideas to really feel satisfied with the work.