Born in 1978, Margot Wallard start photography at 16 years old. In 1997, she realizes a serie about Free Party and organizes many exhibitions in alternative spaces in Paris. Margot Wallard and JH Engström published 3 books together: Foreign Affair (2011) and 7 Days, Athens, November 2011 (2012), and karaoke Sunne all published by Super Labo Edition. In 2012 she started a new project Natten about her relationship with Swedish nature. This project was exhibited in Landskrona Foto Festival in 2014 and Gallery Nabokov, Paris, in 2015. The series was also shortlisted for The Source-cord Prize in 2014, The Leica Oskar Barnack Award and The Dummy Award Kassel in 2015.
Paris –
KT: How did you get into photography? When/what was your first encounter with photography?
MW: Photography has always been important in my family. My paternal grandfather was a pharmacist and a photography enthusiast, so much so that he had his own black & white lab over his pharmacy to indulge his passion. Being little, I always saw my father photograph. He is also the one who gave me my first camera.
At the age of 16, photography became an essential experience for me. It was necessary more than recreational. At that time of my adolescence, I had a deep-rooted need to express my emotions through images. Then it became obvious and I did more than that.
KT: You have published many books – “Foreign Affair” in 2011, “7 Days Athens” in 2011, “My Brother Guillaume and Sonia” in 2013, “Karaoke Sunne” in 2014, including the recent one : ”NATTEN”, published by Max Ström in 2017 which is a post-traumatic visual exploration and an honest attempt to celebrate the concept of LIFE. What do you like about the photographic medium in book format? You have collaborated with your partner JH Engstrom on a couple of book projects. What was the collaborative process between you and JH like (both personally and professionally)?
MW: First of all, I feel that I have really discovered photography through books more than exhibitions. For me, the photobook is one of the best ways to show photography. It’s a very personal opinion. I like the intimate aspect of the book, the object. Later, when I started doing my own books I loved the process. Make a selection, edit a sequence, find a rhythm, tell a story and find a shape to all that in the choice of paper, cover etc. There are a lot of details and decisions to take. It is very stimulating. The exhibitions are the same principle but more ephemeral, less intimate and more thought of as an installation than a narration.
I also had the chance to work with passionate editors and a graphic designer: Greger Ulf Nilson, who contributed a lot to my work. I think JH Engstrom has this same “love” for the photobook. We found ourselves agreeing on this point. Also, we like to work together because we are affected by the same things, even if our approach differs. We are a couple, so the collaboration is personal and professional. We founded a photo school together (Atelier Smedsby). Our working method is very enriching, everyone brings their ideas, we debate a lot and it becomes a real creative process.
KT: Your work is a powerful mix of diaristic approach and hard-hitting photos, ranging from the colourful portraits from “Karaoke Sunne” to your passionate journey in “Foreign Affair” to your intimate and personal work from your ‘NATTEN’ project. On what basis do you select your subjects? How do you decide to get so close to your subject?
MW: I have always had the impression that the subjects come to me more than I select them. I have an autobiographical approach, based on my emotions. My photographic work has always been, in one way or another, linked to my personal experiences with the goal of integrating it into more collective experiences. My creativity is expressed in my experience. It’s my only way of working right now. It wouldn’t feel right to do it any other way. Each project is therefore very “personal” but the subjects are universal: love, death, mourning, isolation. As I turn 40, I am working on a project related to my Pied-noir roots in Algeria. Although the trigger for this project is very personal, what drives me to go down there and to decide to do a photo project is, first of all, a strong curiosity for the other and for this country.
