David Uzochukwu explains the inspirations for his otherworldly, dramatic imagery
The Austrian-Nigerian photographer sat down for an interview at Nicer Tuesdays in which he opened a window into his complex and thoughtful work.
- Date
- 14 July 2021
- Words
- It's Nice That
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David Uzochukwu is a photographer, filmmaker and artist based in Berlin exploring ideas of strength, masculinity, resilience, longing and belonging through his digitally manipulated work. When he joined our editor-in-chief Matt Alagiah for a chat during last month’s Nicer Tuesdays, he had just finished writing and directing his first film.
Throughout their interview, David and Matt touched on many topics – including how David initially got into photography at a young age because someone he had a crush on happened to be into it – but a particularly fascinating part of the conversation concerned David’s aesthetics. David’s images are unmistakable as his own, and are distinct across his entire commercial and personal portfolio. Oftentimes characters appear with animal-like additions to their bodies, like fins or wings, and are set in dramatic and moody landscapes that could be earth or could be another planet entirely. This, David explained, is born from his time reading fantasy novels as a form of escapism; a precursor to him picking up a camera. Through creating these kinds of images, he attempts to cling to the things in life that inspire him, that feel like a breath of fresh air. It’s also his way of controlling the world around him, of instilling a sense of freedom to see the world how he wants to see it, and that includes rejecting many elements of the modern world. He sees this not so much as an exploration of nature or a return to a primordial time, but as a means to conjure up something that already exists: a parallel plain.
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One of the most innovative artists and designers of the 20th-century avant-garde, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) challenged the borders between abstract art, design and craft. Tate Modern’s major exhibition will be the first in the UK to trace Taeuber-Arp’s accomplished career as a painter, architect, teacher, writer, and designer of textiles, marionettes and interiors. Showing from 15 July - 17 October 2021, the exhibition brings together over 200 objects from collections across Europe and America, the exhibition will show how she blazed a new path for the development of abstraction.