I was born in Argentina and lived there until 1996. I lived in Singapore for more than 20 years (my three daughters were born there) and I lived 3 years in New York. Before the pandemic I used to have a semi nomadic life. I moved from Argentina to Europe and Asia to pursue my photography projects. I love learning languages. I speak Spanish, English and French. I have been studying Chinese and Japanese for 12 years and I recently started studying Arabic. Learning languages helps me understand better the cultures of the places I visit, and clearly, it helps me to get a little closer to people.

“From a very young age I have had a particular interest in cameras. Touching them without knowing how to use them ; looking at them as if they were a work of art”

When and where did you start photographing? Who has been the reference for your photography?

SSH: From a very young age I have had a particular interest in cameras. Touching them without knowing how to use them ; looking at them as if they were a work of art. I remember that I had an obsession with observing the world around me: I looked through the windows of buses or trains and I would paused the scenes in my eyes using the window as a frame. So I can say that my main interest at that time was pure observation of the world in the street ; of the immensity it had to offer me. My love for cameras was on the rise, and even though I don't consider myself a camera connoisseur, no purchase or gift has surpassed so far the feeling of holding a new, or used camera in my hands. After the birth of my three daughters, an interest in serious learning arose, and there, in Singapore where I have been living since 1996, I took my first photography course with a local photojournalist. Ken Donovan Tay created a very didactic class for beginners and every time I bought a new camera, he tailored a course to teach me how to use it. That was around the year 2000. From that moment, until now, the camera began to be a companion, a “safety blanket” that I carry with me at all times.

“Learning languages helps me understand better the cultures of the places I visit, and clearly, it helps me to get a little closer to people”

When I moved to New York in 2007, I did a street photography course at ICP. The course was interesting but I didn't like my photos. For that reason, I decided to save the camera and transform it into “mixed media”. When I returned to Singapore in 2010, I dusted off my camera and went outside again. A couple of years later I participated in a workshop with Nikos Economopoulos from the Magnum Photos agency and then a succession of about 7 more that helped me find my style, a direction, know what to look for. I didn't go from looking at other people's work much before I started shooting. I still feel illiterate in this area, but I do have particular admiration for Henri Cartier Bresson, Nikos Economopoulos, Joseph Koudelka, Graciela Iturbide, Sergio Larrain, André Kertész and Jason Eskenazi, among others.

What do you want to communicate with your images?

SSH: Before taking the photo, I have nothing in mind other than the particular feeling that leads me to do it. Usually it's a scene that for some reason or another I find it worth saving. Sometimes I anticipate it, I have the feeling that something is going to come up. Others are images that are already in front of me, others I see potential in the place and I stay. But I do not seek to know what I can communicate. I like to know what that image makes the viewer feel. I love the free interpretation that it can provoke.

What does street and documentary photography mean to you?

SSH: I think that the style I am looking for in my photos is a mixture of both, and I would also add artistic photography. I wander the streets and that's where I get inspired, observe and take most of my photos. If I have a documentary project, I try to use creativity to give it an artistic touch and make it as spontaneous as possible. I always have the camera with me, so my "targets" can hang around strangers, someone I just met, family or close friends. What matters is the photographic opportunity that they inspire me. A photo can have all these characteristics: street, spontaneous, artistic and documentary. Some of my projects tell a story, but I don't always look for photos that "illustrate" it.

“But I do not seek to know what I can communicate. I like to know what that image makes the viewer feel. I love the free interpretation that it can provoke”

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

SSH: I don't particularly see any symbolism in my photos. I can say that many times what leads me to take the photo is a situation that draws my attention because of how different it is for my culture. I love traveling the world, especially reaching places totally unknown, new to me. That virgin place for my eyes. Smells, sounds, images and languages are a combo that makes me aware of how lucky I am to have all those tools at my disposal to inspire me. But I can also say that in the circumstances of my life that did not allow me to travel or have that white cloth in front of me, photography helped me as therapy and pushed me to reinvent myself to find the way around it and create something completely different in familiar terrain. Like I said before, my camera is my security blanket. Always with me wherever I go, following a project or creating a new one.

Do you remember your first exhibition / publication? What motivated you to publish your documentary and street photography work?

SSH: It was hard for me to gain enough confidence to show my work. Around 2008 I had a group show in Singapore but today I look back and I don't like the style I had at that time. I have been invited to some interviews and part of my work has been published on social networks and in some group exhibitions, but I am not looking for opportunities to make myself known. I have a website, an account on Instagram and Facebook. I do weekly posts and it makes me happy when someone discovers me out of nowhere, in that spontaneous way like my photos. I believe a lot in "serendipity" and in the twists and turns of life. I'm not very good at moving so that my work goes beyond my IG account. That is why I thank you, Retina Latin America, for having invited me to show my photos through this medium.

SILVIA S. HAGGE

MARCO RAMÓN / ATOQ

ARIADNA LASSER