This is the first installment of the Capital Lives artist interview series. Capital Lives features work by Bo Chen, Sydney Gray, Sarah O’Donoghue, Brea Soul, Christine Stoddard, and Nevada Tyler.

Bo Chen |  Exhibiting in capital lives from May 30th to July 4th,  2018 at The Stamp Gallery | University of Maryland, College Park | Interview by Kat Mullineaux

KM: Before we get into the details of your work in capital lives, I want our readers to learn a little bit more about you. Where are you from, what is your connection to D.C. and what do you study in university?

BC: I’m Bo Chen, currently fifth year senior majoring in Geographical Science and Atmospheric Science. I am an international student from China and I came to D.C. metropolitan area and the University four years ago.

KM: As an international student documenting social movements and protests in the capital city of this country, do you feel like your perspective is unique? What do you think that perspective adds to your role as artist?

BC: Everyone has a unique perspective in some way. As an international student, being able to experience the U.S. democracy first hand is very interesting. I really feel myself playing two different roles here. First of all, I am not a U.S. citizen, so that sometimes I feel like I do not, or should not, speak too much of American public policy or even public movement going on. After all I do not have a political right in this country and I can’t vote, so sometimes I am acting like an impartial observer documenting what is going on.

However, on the other hand, I am also a global citizen. The world today is so interconnected and “flat”, like what we geographers say, what happens in U.S. will greatly affect the whole world. In this way, I feel like I do have a right and obligation to express my concern. Since I am majoring in Atmospheric Science, I am especially interested and concerned with how America and the world is dealing with science and facts. I am also very interested in many social movements in U.S., as some of the problems and obstacles faced by these social movements is not unique to this country. We have similar social movements going on in my home country too, but probably taking on different forms. So sometimes I am not just an observer, and my photos could have a really strong voice.

KM: As a follow up, how do you approach protests and social movements in the D.C. area in your photographs? What is your entry point?  

BC: Usually when I am documenting protests and any other events, I do it in the “street photography” style. So I treat a protest just like usual street photography session, but with more people and signs. I would roam around for an interesting moment and capture the photograph before the subject realized a photo is being taken and trying to pose. I believe in this way I can capture the true emotion and story of the subject. It is actually easier and more fun doing protest photography comparing to normal street photography, because there are so many emotional people and you never run out of interesting moments to capture, and they never get upset if you take their photograph. I usually do not communicate with a subject before a picture is taken

KM: Your pieces in capital lives blur the borders between documentary and art. Do you work in a documentary format in all your work? What about documenting life are you drawn to, either artistically or personally?

BC: I do not know a lot about art theory but I think the borders between documentary and art is always blurry. I experiment with many different photography styles and genres. I do landscape, street photography and recently portraits involving artificial lighting. I even tried abstract photography. The boundaries among all these genres are very blurry. There are times I do not know which genre folder on my disk to put a photograph into.

When I take any photograph I would always try to make it look pleasing to the eye. This is just a style I like to do, and lot of times I take a photo just for the look. When I am trying to make some personal input in my photographs, I try to make it somewhere available and visible to the audience, but I have taken many photographs that most people just do not get it.

KM: Do you think one side of that coin–art or documentation–is more important? If so, why or why not?

BC: I do believe the art side is pretty important, and sometimes even more important. When you talk about documenting with photography, you are talking about documenting through a photographer’s eyes, and the photographer’s own mind set and intuition make this documentation style photography very personal. One would argue that you cannot create a photograph out of nothing, that you have to photograph a true event that has happened before, either naturally happened or set up, and any photograph is about documentation. However, you can not underestimate the ability, of the person behind the camera, to affect the reality in the photograph. The framing, composition, editing, color grading, retouching and even choosing the subject to photograph, are totally in a photographer’s hand. Some photographers’ works are so unique; you can just tell if a photograph belongs to them.

I think the art and documentation, is always very interconnected, no matter what tool you use. Traditional art forms like painting, could be characterized as documentation. Just a simple example, stone breakers, by Gustave Courbet, is very much about documentation. I would guess if a Leica existed at that time the artist would have probably used it. In addition, modern day commissioned portrait photography, definitely replaced the commissioned portrait painting, but serves more or less the same purpose.

KM: I want to touch on the fact that you are a photographer, for a moment. The medium of photography is unique in its versatility and revolutionary possibilities. What are you drawn to about photography over say, sculpture or painting?

BC: While photography always look easier than sculpture and painting, and it really looks like it Is something you can just do when you just started until it is too late and you are in too deep. I was first drawn into photography mostly because of its tech aspect and the gear part of it. I am not ashamed to admit I am a nerd and I am still a gear head, flooding my apartment with numerous different photography equipment. While teaching myself photography I soon found the camera as a very good tool of expressing myself. Now I would definitely get into painting if I have more time. I am starting to do some watercolor but I am not any good, yet.

I think the easiness in photography really drives me to think more outside of the picture. Everyone gets a phone that has a good camera on it and now there are even AI programs that take the photo for you. I am constantly thinking how I am taking a photograph that is unique and really my own.

KM:  The composition of your images vary a good amount but there is an underlying frontality to several of them–as if you are confronting the audience with your subjects. Is that frontality a stylistic preference of yours or did that commonality just appear as you went along? Why do you think so?

BC: I think many of the feeling of the frontality really comes from my lens choice. I like using a 35mm equivalent lens, which makes you get closer to the subject but still conserves the environment in the background. 35mm lens really gives audience a feeling that they are there at the moment. I could also use a telephoto lens and hide somewhere and take pictures that still have the subject as the same size on the photo but the pictures will just feel very different and even distant in that way. Some of my submitted photos are taken with a telephoto lens or a standard zoom, I think you can see the difference in the frontality with the different lens used.

I probably just got used to the 35mm focus length because I started to like it while using it. I will definitely try other focus length in the future works and see if the frontality style can be carried in to other focus lengths.

KM: What was it like to document these protests? As a student? As an artist?

BC: It is a really fun process documenting protests. Actually these photos come from first two protests I actually went ever as there are not many protests allowed where I am from. I am really looking forward to go on more different protests, demonstrations and parades. And as a student I definitely would support the protest with which I share the same value, but I will definitely go photograph even the demonstrations that has a radically different view point or goal.

KM: Do you have any artists or movements that you would say influence your own work?

BC: In photography I am definitely influenced by the classics like Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa and William Klein. For the portraiture work I am trying to copy and learn from photographers like Lindsay Adler and Annie Leibovitz. Also probably a few hundreds of photographers on Instagram I think worth following!

For Art generally I took only one art history class and got a B-. I am still in a journey to find my own voice and style. I definitely have a lot to learn.

KM: You have a long career and life ahead of you in whatever you choose to do. So, I am curious, what do you want to do in the future, artistically or professionally–or both?

BC: I am currently trying to get into a Ph.D. program in Earth System Science and I want to become a scientist and maybe save humanity form climate change if I am lucky. While I do wish I can go further in my photography not just as a hobby. Many great people multi task and succeed in multiple fields. I would definitely go crazy if I am only allowed to do one thing.

For photography right now I just got a set of studio lighting and I am teaching myself the craft of artificial lighting. I also just got into black and white darkroom last year and I am also experimenting with large format photography. So there is a lot going on for me in photography. I just like to try new things and get inspired this way.

So if everything goes perfectly maybe I will become a climate scientist in the day and photography artist at night. Like bat man, business man in the day and fight crime at night; same thing.

Thank you to Bo for participating in the capital lives Artist Interview Series.

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