I did an interview earlier this year, but I messed it up because of all the time spent on the road. Totally missed the deadline while being young, wild and free for all eternity. So here it is. Countryside is nympho pride
What does photography mean to you?
Photography means everything to me. Photography helped me find myself. Through photography, I learned to approach this world in my own way. I learned to deal with being, to deal with living and passing.
What is the most significant theme of your photography?
I guess it’s the countryside. Rural living has defined my life for as long as I can think. How I relate to the countryside is significant for what I do. How the countryside has shaped me. Whether I want it or not. The forest, the fields, the hinterland. I’m an old romantic when it comes to these things. It's a lot about projection. I deal with landscape, with upbringing and domestic life, but it’s equally about identity and existence in the end. When I talk about the forest, it's not just about trees, but also about loneliness, belonging and the human experience.
What are you most inspired to shoot?
My everyday life and surroundings.
Are there things that scare you photographically?
To let the light shine in is not that easy. I am afraid of loss, and sometimes I don’t know if the camera helps with that or if photography makes everything worse. Photographs have this unique memory quality, and I'm glad about that. At the end of the day, I'm always happy to get an image because what I photograph is dear to me. But with that comes a distinct vulnerability as well. I'm afraid for what is depicted. The more I can grasp it, the more fragile it becomes. That scares me to a point where it can be petrifying. Nostalgia is both a blessing and a curse.
What are you working on at the moment?
On my life, I guess. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your art is just to live. And I write a lot and want to travel more.
Soeren Baptism's work revolves around concepts and reference points such as landscape, longing and motivation, domesticity and rurality, social habitus and growing up, queerness in the hinterland, as well as the uncanny flip side of all these things. This includes experiences of marginalization, discrimination and exclusion - directly related to rural areas and a working class habitus. The work shows an interest in the social dimension of the land and the forest in their identity-forming significance - especially when it comes to queerness and social outsiders.
What is the countryside doing to its people? Soeren Baptism deals with the countryside. With its beauty and its tragic. With its rot and its magic.
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