WHO? My name is Nana Kofi Acquah. I was born in Elmina, 200 metres from where the first slave castle was built in sub-saharan Africa. I grew up in Tema and Accra, and at age 12, I fell in love with poetry, and painting shortly after. I discovered photography when I worked in advertising. I took off as a commercial photographer but quickly realised I could do more with my photographs than sell soap and sex.
Interviews
Kristin Van den Eede in Conversation with the Women of UP
The way I approach photography has changed quite drastically over the past years. I started out rigorously adhering to all the rules of traditional street photography, but I ended up feeling too restricted by them. I do like candid moments and I will never do a lot of post-processing, though. I love the idea that a photo is a bit like a fingerprint of reality, and even though I have influenced it a certain way by selecting a particular moment, framing it a certain way, reacting to it, I still like the sense that it’s a slice of life that I cut from reality and stored in my camera.
Interview with Mena Sambiasi
WHO? I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1979. During my childhood and teenage years I spent many hours in front of the TV watching movies and TV shows. I went to a technical high school and studied advertising and ironically the only subject I ever avoided was photography.
Interview with Sandra Hernández
WHO? My name is Sandra Hernández. I was born in Mexico City and grew up in Querétaro, a colonial city (UNESCO Heritage) located in the center of the country. Almost fifteen years ago I moved to Canada and for nearly ten years I lived and worked in Quebec city. Soon after I lived in Colombia, and for the last four years I have been living a nomadic life, between Mexico (my base), Canada and my trips.
Interview with Reuben Radding
WHO? I grew up in a family of classical musicians in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and in a sense I guess i did follow in their footsteps, but my own path was in rock, punk, and experimental musics. I moved to NYC in 1988 in search of the “authentic” life. D.C. had always felt to me like a transient place that had no real indigenous history or traditions worth paying attention to. It was more museum than melting pot, and everything felt very sanitized and knowable. Arriving in New York, particularly in that time, felt like stepping into a vivid movie that I could be a participant in, as well as a witness to, 24/7.
Interview with Debrani Das
WHO? Hello, this is Debrani Das, a passionate street photographer and a homemaker from India. Born in a small town of West Bengal, I have lived in several places as my father had to travel a lot. Finally Kolkata became a place which I call my hometown.
Interview with Youngjae Lim
WHO? My name is Youngjae Lim and I live in NYC. I was born and raised in politically the most conservative city, Daegu in Korea. But thank God, I left my hometown right after graduating my high school and turned out to be a progressive.
Interview with Thanos Thiriou
WHO? I was born in one of the most visually interesting suburbs of the chaotic capital of Greece. I like long walks and believing that nothing’s ever as it seems. I’m constantly searching for stillness in everything; for some sort of calmness that probably can’t be noticed at first sight.
Interview with Ariadna Lasser
WHO? My name is Adriadna Lasser, I’m 33 years old and I am an Argentinian photographer. I live in Buenos Aires and I have been photographing since I was 7 years old. My first big love was the cinema, but the idea of working with many people gave me some sort of anxiety. After studying Art- the course was quite theoretical- for a while I realized I needed something more hands-on to express myself.
Interview with Vitor Damasio
WHO? Born in São Paulo, in 1994, I started photographing when I was 21 years old, when I sold an old video game to buy a camera and photograph parties and earn some money, which ended up not working very well. I decided to continue shooting, I come feeding this with references like the Brazilians Gustavo Minas and Carlos Moreira, and other references like Alex Webb, Trent Parke and his partner Narelle Autio, and Graciela Magnoni.