Random Excellence: Vanessa Winship

Vanessa Winship, Untitled, from Imagined States and Desires, A Balkan Journey

By far my favorite photographer of the past six months or so is the lavishly talented Vanessa Winship, a British photographer who has worked mostly in the Balkans, mainly Bulgaria and Turkey. I've bought both her books, Sweet Nothings and Schwarzes Meer (Black Sea). The latter especially, available only from Amazon Germany, is just wonderful. (Enter "Schwarzes Meer" or "Vanessa Winship" in the search field.) The reproduction quality is very good, and the book is a treasure, a much better way than the web to see the work. You can get a pretty good idea of her work and her concerns from her website, however. I find myself returning to it again and again, although I feel an almost visceral desire to see her original prints at exhibition sizes. The website never seems to work quite right for me, so some patience might be required.

Winship seems to be a spiritual descendant of Koudelka. She's one of those rare photographers whose work obliterates the bulwarks between documentary honesty and exquisite personal art ("between chronicle and fiction," as she says). A big hat tip to Stan Banos, who first clued me in to this photographer and her superb work.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Guy Batey: "An exhibition of prints from Sweet Nothings is on at Host Gallery in London at the moment. Even better than the book."

Featured Comment by Mike C.: "I know how annoying (and how beside the point) these "if you like X I'm sure you'll love Y" comments are, but I'm going to do it anyway...ff you like Vanessa Winship I think you'll love Marketa Luskacova, whose book published by Torst is still available, beautifully produced, and full of astounding work in that rich Koudelka vein. I've been on a mission to make her work more well known ever since I got a copy of Pilgrims, another astounding book (some of the images in there are better than Koudelka).

"But now I'll go and have another look at Vanessa's work, which I agree is very good."

Featured Comment by Judith Wallerius: "Her pictures are wonderful. I was lucky enough to hear and see her speak at the Lumix Festival in Hannover, Germany last year. For her presentation she showed her pictures while reading personal texts about how she grew up, and it was incredibly poetic. You can see the whole lecture at the festival's website (short introduction in German, 40 min. video).

"The festival went over a couple of days and many of the photographers who were invited to speak also stayed to listen, and watch. At some point I approached her to tell her how wonderful I thought her work and presentation was. This is not something I'd usually do, partly because I'd wonder what it could possibly mean to someone as accomplished as Vanessa Winship when some random audience-member comes to tell her how great her photos are. But as I was really touched by her work I seized a quiet minute to tell her so, and I was lucky. The quiet gentleness so tangible in the photographs is there just as much when you meet her in person. She very gracefully accepted my compliments and we talked for a while, and I was happy to see that she is not someone impressed by her own success but instead reflective about her work, sometimes even unsure, trying to reach people with her photographs and searching to inspire others with what she does. She certainly inspired me, and telling from the stunned silence at the end of her presentation, everyone else in the audience, too.

"I remembered that encounter when I read the post in January about how it's not always a good idea to meet your heroes because they might be jerks. Definitely not true here. Of course I can't claim to know Vanessa Winship from one short meeting (and don't know what she's like in everyday life) but from all I can say the work rings very true of the artist that created it."

Comments

[CharlieH]

Strangley, I would love to see some color work from her. Can the Balkans really be so bleak? Looking at Winship's work makes me feel like the people there exist in another time and another dimension. Thanks for sharing. ch

[Andrew]

Great find! Thanks.

[Anton de Young]

Couldn't agree more. I discovered her work about three months ago and I had the same reaction as you - Koudelka. But of course, she's her own artist and her projects are just stunning. I just recently ordered Sweet Nothings. Thanks for the tip about Schwarzes Meer.

[mikeinmagog]

Horizontal scrolling. I don't think I've seen that before. It works for me.

Even her less evocative images, the unpeopled ones, have a way of pulling the exquisite from the inconsequential.

Powerful stuff.

[Anton de Young]

Couldn't agree more. I discovered her work about three months ago and I had the same reaction as you - Koudelka. But of course, she's her own artist and her projects are just stunning. I just recently ordered Sweet Nothings. Thanks for the tip about Schwarzes Meer.

[Doug Brewer]

thanks for the tip, Mike (and, I guess, Stan). The first thing I thought when I read this post was, and this may be something to address in a whole entry, what do you look for in a body or work, what makes you say, whoa, this is special?

[robert e]

Wow.

[C. Wade]

Wow, I'd never heard of her; she is wonderful!

I love finding new photographers whose bodies of work I can explore...thanks!

[Charles Maclauchlan]

Wow Mike! What a find. Thank you.

[Miserere]

Thanks for the tip, Mike. The photo you put up is certainly wonderful--I clicked on her website immediately.

A somewhat related comment: It must be nice to shoot in a country where you don't get arrested for taking photos of children.

[Carsten Bockermann]

Wonderful photographs! Her webdesigner isn't quite as good at his job....but maybe that's on purpose as the user interface of her website gets so much in the way of enjoying the pictures that I eventually ordered the book...

Carsten

[Rod Tuach]

Sweet Nothings is beautiful, quiet, book of portraits. Good that you noted this photographer's work - and, no, I don't know her.

[D. Krzywonos]

This woman, similarly to Helen Levitt, seems to inhabit a different plane of existence. Thank you for showcasing her work today.

[Derek Stanton]

A video interview with Vanessa Winship (in English, after the first 20 seconds)
http://www.photographie.com/?pubid=105022&secid=2&rubid=8

She does name Koudelka as an influence. Along with HCB and Brandt....

Her blog:
http://vanessawinship.blogspot.com/

[Rob]

Good find. I've ordered it already.

[John Sartin]

Fabulous! I love the rural school girl photographs. Thank you for posting this.

[Judith Wallerius]

Her pictures are wonderful. I was lucky enough to hear and see her speak at the Lumix Festival in Hannover, Germany last year. For her presentation she showed her pictures while reading personal texts about how she grew up, and it was incredibly poetic. You can see the whole lecture at the festival's website (short introduction in German, 40 min video):

http://www.fotofestival-hannover.de/index.php?id=81&L=1#c956

The festival went over a couple of days and many of the photographers who were invited to speak also stayed to listen, and watch. At some point I approached her to tell her how wonderful I thought her work and presentation was. This is not something I'd usually do, partly because I'd wonder what it could possibly mean to someone as accomplished as Vanessa Winship when some random audience-member comes to tell her how great her photos are. But as I was really touched by her work I seized a quiet minute to tell her so, and I was lucky. The quiet gentleness so tangible in the photographs is there just as much when you meet her in person. She very gracefully accepted my compliments and we talked for a while, and I was happy to see that she is not someone impressed by her own success but instead reflective about her work, sometimes even unsure, trying to reach people with her photographs and searching to inspire others with what she does. She certainly inspired me, and telling from the stunned silence at the end of her presentation, everyone else in the audience, too.

I remembered that encounter when I read the post in January about how it's not always a good idea to meet your heroes because they might be jerks. Definitely not true here. Of course I can't claim to know Vanessa Winship from one short meeting (and don't know what she's like in everyday-life) but from all I can say the work rings very true of the artist that created it.

[Dolphin]

I bought her signed book sweet nothing from foto8 to pacific island in last year. : ) Yes, it is a great photobook. Stronly recommond to buy her photobook.

Endorse another photographer- Mr Wong Ting Hua, who also shooting a pacific island over 50 years, existing some early images from island.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thwong-tw/

[Dave Fultz]

Spec - tac - ular.

Dave

[erlik]

"Can the Balkans really be so bleak?"

Oh yes.

"Looking at Winship's work makes me feel like the people there exist in another time and another dimension."

Oh yes.

It's an area that went from one kind of feudalism before WWII to another after WWII, during the Communism. After the Communism fell, the cities started really building towards modernity. But the countryside in many cases remained the same as it was during the early 1900s. Or at least as it was 50 years ago.

Go outside cities and you can feel like you fell through a crack in time.

An excellent photographer and excellent photos.

BTW, the first several photos in A Balkan Journey 2 look like Serbia - those with Gypsy brass bands, Zid smrti (Wall of Death) and Ortodox liturgy.

[Guy Batey]

Her website seems to have just gone down, though there's a simpler older version at http://vanessawinship.co.uk/index.html

[Roger Dunham]

I would 2nd Mike C s comments on looking at Marketa Luskacova s work as another under appreciated Czech photographer. I had the pleasure of meeting in Prague about a year ago and seeing a portfolio of her work in 16x20 prints. She worked directly with Koudelka both before and after his famous 68 coverage of the invasion . She is a remarkable photographer and well worth an interview .

(mike if you could share my email with MikeC I would appreciate as I have some nice photos of Marketa reviewing her prints with a group of workshop attendees .....at Peter Turnley s prague workshop. )

Roger Dunham

[G]

Fantastic. Extraordinary. Thank you.