Out & About: Do you call yourself an artist?
Laurence: I consider myself more of a service provider at the moment, because I rarely take photos or videos out of an artistic urge, but rather realize orders. However, I always have a small camera with me, with which I document my everyday life.
“Even if it may not always seem so at first glance, I want to show emotions. I also try to do that with more abstract photos or videos.”
What inspires you?
I am inspired by very different things. In everyday life there are often visually interesting elements that catch my eye and I want to capture, sometimes because it makes me smile, sometimes because it’s just beautiful and sometimes because it has a certain statement.
How did you start?
For my eleventh birthday I got a small camera and from then on I was constantly taking pictures. When I was 14 or 15, I got a small video camera and then started to film for hours, especially in nature.
If you had the chance to study art, would you do it?
My opinion often changes in this regard. On the one hand, it is a great opportunity to benefit from the infrastructure of a university and to answer many unanswered questions in exchange with fellow students and lecturers that might otherwise never be answered. On the other hand, I notice that my interest in a field often wanes when it becomes saturated, which could quickly be the case in a degree program. I also still have the intrinsic motivation to always want to get better, and I wonder if a degree wouldn’t take that away from me.
Do you think a professional training or education would have led you faster to the current state?
Yes, technical, but the most important thing for me is to be able to develop creative ideas or project ideas. I’m not sure if you can learn this in school?!
Do you have an underlying message in your work?
Even if it may not always seem so at first glance, I want to show emotions. I also try to do that with more abstract photos or videos.
Do you earn money from your art?
I have my own photo and video business, however, as I mentioned in the beginning, it is a service and not art.
Do you have any additional sources of income?
No.
How did your first exhibition come about?
I had already taken photographs with friends and we wanted to bring the images to life. So we organized our own first exhibition as a group.
“I notice that my interest in a field often wanes when it becomes saturated, which could quickly be the case in a degree program.”
Do you have any advice for aspiring young artists?
Share with others, try to get out of your comfort zone and as always, there are better days and worse days.
Dear Laurence, thank you very much for your inspiring answers! We wish you all the best on your further career as a photographer.
Interview: Ina Bandixen
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In the interview series “Artists without a degree in art” we have conducted interviews with artists who have no formal training in the liberal arts and who combine different backgrounds. It is important to us to show that the often still elitist thinking in conservative art institutions represents a barricade for many people, for example when discriminatory structures, racist and sexist attitudes, or even financial barriers make it difficult for them to enter art studies. On the other hand, it is also about understanding that life courses do not always follow a linear and clear line, and that detours and backgrounds outside the field can represent great added value. In the series, seven artists answer the same ten questions about their own CVs and how they ended up where they are now. They tell of very individual and stubborn paths to art, which show how diverse the path to professional creation can be.