hobbes: portrait of a blanket dweller
Q: Where? A: The Alphabang Art Space, 228 South First Street, #201, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204
Q: When? A: Febuary 28th- March 30th (by appointment)
"hobbes’s work is whimsical, mythical, and tender—touched with humor and vulnerability. as a young, emerging artist hobbes has begun to develop a stunning visual voice. this collection of self-portraiture explores the relationships between the transitional self, discomfort, and belonging.” -Via Alphabang
We sat down with Hobbes Ginsberg at the opening of their Milwaukee show of self-portraits at the Alphabang Art Space and asked them a few questions about their work.
Hobbes Ginsberg: Photographer/ Wannabe (sea)Punk/ Blanket Dweller
Preferred Pronouns: They/Them/Their(s)
How did you get into photography and what about it speaks to you the most?
A few years back, when I was 15 or so, I used to do graphic design- doing a lot of digital drawing and things like that based off of a lot of other peoples photographs and it wasn’t really doing a lot for me and so I was like ‘you know what? I should probably just start taking the pictures myself’ and so I ended up going on a trip to New York in 2010 and I had a camera from my friend that was slightly better than your normal point-and-shoot and was taking a bunch of pictures of all these random people on the street and I didn’t really even know what street photography was at the time or what I was really doing but I ended up also seeing some exhibitions there of street photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson- big names like that.
That’s kind of where I got started doing everything. I really was very drawn to making that connection with people I didn’t know- finding those little moments and interactions between strangers and that’s something that’s kind of been a tie throughout even though I’m not doing street photography anymore. I’ve been focusing more on portraiture and self-portraiture with this show but I think it’s always been about creating interactions with people and it’s also been a really effective way for me to push myself through things and work through personal issues which has been very helpful.
Could you describe the transition from street photography to portraits?
I started out doing street photography- really candid shots and landscapes with people and there was this photographer (Benoit Paille) I found who was doing this series of portraits of strangers that he had met on the street… so he would approach them and ask them for a photo which is breaking that barrier that you have with the candid street photography but still keeping it kind of natural and real.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benoitpaille/sets/72157629624812902/
And I was really into that series that he was doing and so I decided to do my own take on it which was an ongoing project for me, off-and-on, over the last couple of years. But that was what got me started doing portraiture. I started going up to people on the street and instead of standing back and watching their motions from afar I would go up and create a moment between us and take a portrait of them then.
Then I stopped doing street photography entirely and switched into doing self-portraiture just because I felt like I had to switch things up, I’ve always had that kind of going-in-and-out in my work. After I had this period of months of doing self-portraiture in early 2012 I went back to doing a lot of street portraiture again. And (doing self-portraiture) really brought a whole new perspective of how to take pictures of other people because I had done so much portraiture of myself- taking that knowledge back out onto the street and using it on strangers while bringing back that whole idea of creating moments with other people again.
I did that for a few months before switching back into the self-portraiture I’m doing now and getting into doing studio work and bringing that whole new thing in- I feel like I always need to break it up and make myself do something really different. So I started doing studio work and used myself as a model to kind of turn that back on me for a little bit and work through things that way… and now I feel like I’m ready to take everything I’ve learned from the studio portraits and put it back onto other people. So I have a lot of series in the works, doing portraits with people I don’t know, still creating that moment between myself and someone I don’t know otherwise except for this photo.
I have a series that I’m working on where I’m taking portraits of girls in their rooms. So I’m going into someones personal space, who I’ve never met before, and we’re creating this moment that is intimate in regards to the area and the fact that I’m trying to capture this photo of someones… self. I really like the Idea of bringing that kind of intimacy into a situation where I don’t really know the other person.
http://hhobbess.tumblr.com/tagged/in-their-room
"I think the photos kind of inform my identity as much as my identity informs the photos"
How did the show come about?
The recent studio self-portraits I’ve been doing over the last six months but those garnered me a lot of attention online so they lend themselves very naturally to being a series and being exhibited together. This show came about because the curator (Tanya Dhein) found my work online and contacted me to do a show.
The self portraits I think are my most realized recent work. It’s the most all-encompassing and comprehensive body of work that I have at the moment because I’ve been doing it for two years now- these sort-of bits of self-portraiture and especially this most recent series is where I’ve grown most as a photographer. It’s all very engaging and the colors are what people talk about because it’s very bright and poppy- I think that catches a lot of peoples attention and I think that mixed with the fact that it’s of myself lends people to really like it.
How do you think your identity has informed your work?
I try not to be too explicit about that sort of thing but it’s obviously, because I’m shooting myself, it’s a part of my work. I think the photos kind of inform my identity as much as my identity informs the photos in the sense that I’m a very aesthetic-based person and so I’ll often try out something for myself in a picture before I wear it in everyday life. In the photos I try to go for something that’s very much kind of ridiculous and very bright and very much ‘there’ and using photography is the way I feel most comfortable confronting those identities- especially when there’s conflicting identities.
I have a piece that is not in my show but up on my website- in a dress with hairy legs and I don’t usually go out without tights on but in the context of photography it’s a way I can kind of deal with that kind of thing and make it something big and important in a way I can deal with. I think using that and just creating this over-the-top aesthetic for myself is a way that I can kind of control my being… and I think my identity has a lot to do with why my work has been so well-received because it’s something that is kind of different and kind of subversive for a lot of people and it’s kind of interesting- not only how it is photographed but me being in it as a model makes a big difference for what the final result is because, you know, it’s a different sort of thing- maybe people aren’t used to.
It’s also the sort of thing- in this moment in time in the Tumblr community, that I’ve become a part of, is very much something that people are into the idea of promoting. Which is good and I feel like its helpful because a lot of people have told me that seeing my work as something that’s visibly kind of queer and weird and very much out there as a contrast has given them a lot of inspiration and that’s very important for me to hear and I’m really happy that it’s something I can do through my work and especially since it’s gaining attention- more and more people can see it and I’m glad that that’s happening.
Is there one photo here that you feel is a really good example of what you are going for in your work?
I’m pretty happy with the most of them there. I think the one that has the GAP bag over my head… That was one of the early studio portraits that I did and I think it was one of the moments where I really kind of figured out what I was doing with this current stretch of work. Just the way that the patterns mixed and the colors came together- it really mixes that element of darkness with the really bright poppy pastels, which I like, into something that I’ve been wanting to keep throughout the whole series.
A lot of it is dealing with my own depression and things like that but I like to kind of frame it in a way that’s very bright and positive so that the end result is not a deafeningly sad photo- it’s very happy but the person in it maybe isn’t necessarily. The emotions I’m using to power the work (aren’t happy) but the end result is much more positive. That’s why I think that one is a really good example of what I was trying to do with the play between the humor and the darkness, with the bright energy but the sort-of sinister actuality of the photo.
”it really mixes that element of darkness with the really bright poppy pastels, which I like”
What is in store for the future?
I have a couple of projects in the works- the ‘Entangled’ series (a series of intimate self-portraits with other people) that’s playing a small part in this show is definitely something I want to expand upon- I’m not really sure how I want to do it yet but those ideas are very much bouncing around in my head at the moment. And then there’s the ‘girls in their rooms’ series that I touched upon earlier- now that I’m getting a little more settled in LA I really want to get started on that.
http://hhobbess.tumblr.com/tagged/entangled
And then I’ve got a couple secret projects in the works that hopefully I’ll get out in the next couple of months but I don’t want to tease them too much just yet.
Any parting words for Milwaukee?
Thanks for having me, It’s been very inviting which is awesome. I’m glad that everyone came out.
Hobbes’ work can be found here:
http://hhobbess.tumblr.com/
More information about the show and the Alphabnag Art Space:
http://alphabang-artspace.tumblr.com/
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