Ahorn: In the preface of the book you say that the work is about “not understanding Niigata”. Everything, every photograph, under this light, seems to represent a “No-Where”. You were able to collect stories about Niigata, but what did you see in these photographs about the real Niigata and what is, on the other side, the fictional part of the story you built?
Andrew Phelps: The term “No-Where” is an important one for me when I think of my photographs on a formal level. It is a combination of a certain lighting, film, paper etc that tends to lend a bit of a stage-like quality to the images. I think this is very important for my work to lift the subject/landscape out of its normal context, almost as if all of the images were made in one shooting, in one studio, with one lighting set up. This type of work is anything but objective. It is a very subjective way of working but has disguised itself as “documentary” through its style. There is no smoke or mirrors, but who and what I choose to photograph, and more importantly, who and what I DON’T photograph, or decide to leave outside the frame, is very important. It is a very egoistic way of working. I’m not there to tell the story of Niigata, though that is what is expected of me as a photographer. The title alludes to my skepticism of this assumption that my camera will tell the truth about a place. I found myself trying to make my HIGLEY images in this place that was very foreign to me and I realized I would and could never understand a culture through photographing it, so I made that interesting cultural gap my subject.
Ahorn: There is a feeling that connects the books you’ve made in these last years: Higley, Baghdad Suite, and now Not Niigata. The city is always a place where we have to think intensely about what is happening around us. We have to stop, look at that photographs, and think about what those cities are, what they represent. In Higley we can see the new side, development of the American Southwest. In Baghdad Suite we ‘re trying to believe that one day the phoenix will be born again and rise from the ashes. And what is Niigata? The atmosphere seems quite meditative.
Phelps: It is for sure that my work in Niigata can’t be as complete and rounded as a series like HIGLEY which took years to make in a place that was once my home. NOT NIIGATA would have been worked to death and probably been useless if I had traveled there time and time again as I did in Higley,AZ. NOT NIIGATA is all about the brief encounter as a traveler, passing through, always lost and illiterate. I think the feeling you mention is one of slowing down the pace with which we usually move through such places. When I decide to set up the camera, it is a slow process and there are no snap-shots to speak of. I am the first to admit that my photographs seldom jump out and grab ones attention right away; they seem even a bit boring at first, so thanks for using the word meditative, that sounds nicer! With the camera, I have the excuse to slow down and stare at something mundane, which in the case of Niigata, is often simultaneously something exotic."
From "Not Nigita"
© Andrew Phelps
From "Not Nigita"
© Andrew Phelps
From "Not Nigita"
© Andrew Phelps
From "Not Nigita"
© Andrew Phelps
From "Not Nigita"
© Andrew Phelps
