Project update
Photography
First steps
Posted by Elise Notseck
Why do you participate in Artists@Work? What do you expect from this experience?

I take part in the Artists@Work project because I want to create a social photographic series that will draw attention to a particular situation, to one of our society's issue; A@W is a way to explore and build things throughout several months. It’s a also a good way to exchange with other photographers and receive useful advice about our work. I expect to acquire more experience, to meet interesting people and to progress both as a human being and as a photographer.



Explain the main thematics of your project

My project is about drug problems, volunteers’ engagement and more globally city policies. I intend to depict, evoke and show the particularities, the atmosphere and the functionning of a specific place. I want to talk about something that is hidden from the public space, and question why hidding it is a real necessity for the city. In concrete terms, I’m going to develop a series of pictures about a special « drug consumption room », where drug users (addicted people mostly) are welcomed and helped when they need to get their fix.



Explain the different stages of production of your work
  • The first stage is a key one for my project; it's the most difficult one; : it consists in contacting the people that manage this « drug consumption room », in meeting them and get their approval for the photographic series. It's what I'm doing right now; I have send several emails, I've seen some people who work there but I haven't got a reply yet.
  • The second one will be a transtion ; I will get to know both the people who work and those who this « drug consumption room », and being accepted as a photographer. I will also take photographs of the surroundings, because the room is located in a neighborhood where a lot of drug consumption have been taking place for years, in the streets or in public toilets.
  • The third one will consist in taking photographs inside the 'drug room".
  • The fourth one will be the selection and editing of all the pictures.

 



Explain the choice of the title

I haven't chosen a title for the series yet; I think it will depend on the photographs themselves, on who I meet in the drug consumption room and so on.