MANUELA SAAVEDRA

Mar 10

Manuela Saavedra (1994), Colombian photographer born in the city of Cali, located in the west of the country. He currently resides in Bogotá, where he has dedicated much of his time to taking photographs on the street.

When and where did you start photographing?

MS: I was always surrounded by cameras because my family really liked to take photos to have memories of family outings. When I was a little girl, it bothered me a lot to have my photos taken because I didn't like posing for the camera and having to fake a smile, but I was intrigued by the device and I liked being the one taking photos. At sixteen I started taking pictures with a greater notion of what I was doing and no longer just holding the camera for the sake of using it. At that time I was already very interested in street photography, having Cartier Bresson as a reference, but I did not dare to do it myself. I was scared to go out and face the world like that. It wasn't until a long time later, when I finished my studies in Buenos Aires and moved to Bogotá, that with a bit of acquired confidence, I began to go out with my camera. Since then I have not stopped going out with it, and sometimes I don't even use it, but I like to wear it as a charm.

Who (is) has (have) been the referent of your photography?

MS: One of my great references is Diane Arbus, I admire the simplicity and humility with which she approaches the photographic apparatus, I also like her clumsiness. I feel that, like her, I am clumsy with my photographic work. Other photographers I keep coming back to are Alessandra Sanguinetti and Lora Webb Nichols with their intimate insights into other people's worlds. With Lora in particular, I was moved to see her enigmatic photographs of a small town in America at the turn of the last century.

What do you want to communicate with your images?

MS: I want each person who sees my photographs to feel free to experience them in ways that are different from how I conceived them, which is why I sometimes try to move away from established notions I have of the 'correct' photo so as not to direct the viewer's gaze always to the place that caught my attention. I like the noise, the more information a street photograph uploads, the more space there is to live it.

What does street and documentary photography mean to you?

MS: I think they very simply mean connection. Street photography is immersive, you are breathing the street with each capture, it keeps you active and present in the moment. Documentary photography is the connection with others, not just the environment as in the street. In the documentary the barrier of shyness is broken and for a few moments a sharing takes place between the photographer and the subject, it is a very warm experience. When someone allows you to enter their world, empathy arises.

How are your life experiences reflected in the symbolism we see in your photographs?

MS: The fact that most of my photos are taken in the country where I grew up allows me to link them to my childhood memories. For some, the clown-shaped garbage can that you see in one of my photographs may be a novelty, however, for me, it is the clown from the square that was close to my grandparents' house where I went to ride skates