Jim Goldberg interview

HUCK: What was it like finding and meeting the subjects of your photos?
Jim Goldberg: This particular project began in 2003 when I was given a commission by Magnum to photograph one aspect of Greek culture in honour of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. For three weeks, I worked with the various immigrant populations in Greece documenting their lives. After the commission ended, I returned to Greece and enlarged the scope of the project to include the countries my subjects had migrated from. It’s always exciting and yet a bit uncomfortable going to places and meeting people you don’t know, especially since part of me is rather shy. That said, it was an amazing and humbling privilege to meet some of the people from the large community of immigrants, refugees and trafficked persons. So, it’s a lot of things and there is no real simple answer other than, wow!

Did you feel like you were being at all exploitative?
I try to be mindful of my role as an 'outsider'. And although I try not to, I expect that there will be times when I do feel exploitative. I grapple with this, as it's a consistent dialogue that I have with myself, and my work.

How did you avoid projecting your own preconceptions?
It may be impossible to transcend my own limitations and preconceptions. However, one way I deal with that is by subverting what we know and playing the ‘expected’ off the ‘unexpected’ - at least when it concerns images and text.

Do you feel like art has a place in activism, or is it reactionary?
It can be both. I hope to make mine active.

I understand that you are mostly concerned with being "aesthetically radical"?
Sure. To clarify, aesthetically radical meaning I am always trying to mix up and push the documentary form.

Did you form friendships from your work?
Yes, I did. A few of them are deep ones. However, most of the people that I worked with are immigrants, refugees or trafficked persons who have limited access to the internet and phones. That’s an expense they can’t really afford.

You use Polaroids quite a lot, do you feel sad about final stock of film running out?
Of course. I love Polaroid and am sad at its probable demise, but losing one medium forces me to try another and that is exciting.

What cameras do you use? Do you prefer film or digital?
I carry a lot of cameras with me when I am working: two Polaroid cameras, a Mamiya 7, a Leica, a 4x5 Linhof camera with a couple different backs (Polaroid and film), various types of digital cameras and a video camera.

What advice would you give for young photographers interested in the same themes as yourself?
Read a lot, eat well and learn to listen. Just sit still and watch.

What other projects are you working on, or do you have planned for the future?
I am finishing a special edition of Open See. I am also working on a presentation of my work that will be projected onto town squares in Greece. After that I am going to reprint an earlier project of mine called Rich and Poor.

The Open See exhibition will be shown at The Photographer's Gallery, London until January 31, 2010.

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