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Tanya speaks - We Are OCA

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Tanya speaks


You have already heard Maggy Milner talking about Tanya Ahmed’s work. At the start of her exhibition in Sheffield Mark and Elizabeth got Tanya to talk about her work.The exhibition closes this Saturday, but there are still two places available on the study visit this Friday.
Personally, it was a pleasure to meet Tanya and talk to her about her work and I look forward to future student exhibitions.


Posted by author: Genevieve Sioka

12 thoughts on “Tanya speaks

  • Thank you Gareth for this fantastic video.
    Thanks to Tanya too for her great input on her work. Not only I’ll be able to put a face on the avatar but also the voice. Lovely to meet you Tanya. Congratulations again!!!

  • It is very helpful and interesting to view this video and get more background to Tanya’s project from her own perspective. This has added more depth to my understanding of the work; particularly the insider view and the interconnectedness that is shown in the set of images.
    On a different point, I really liked the style of the video and the completely unintrusive nature of the interview process – well done!

  • Thanks for this video. I’ll echo two thoughts from Yiann and JDNS, one is that it was a beautifully done interview, different angles, and somehow made me feel like I was part of a small group having the chance to talk to Tanya.
    The other, to add to what Yiann said, very nice to hear the further context of Tanya’s work. Recently I’ve been reading on the photographer, viewer and the audience relationships, and here it adds context to the work.
    Best of luck Tanya… would you be giving an exhibition back home as well?

    • Thanks Dewald, another exhibition? We’ll see what happens but let’s concentrate not his one first 🙂

  • This whole experience has been amazing and it has been wonderful to meet everyone involved, they have all done a brilliant job and been exceptionally nice. Thank you also to all the students taking the time to follow and comment on the various posts of my work, I feel like I have a new set of best friends 🙂 Yiann, JDNS and Dewald, I’m glad you like the video, Mark has done a lovely job, but Yiann I am pretty sure (and really hope) that that is not my normal voice 🙂

  • Excellent video which adds just that extra bit to bring the Exhibition even more to life for me. I’m so sorry I can’t get to it. You speak with such enthusiasm and respect/regard for your neighbours Tanya – it shines out from you and this can only have added to the power of your images. Congratulations again.

    • Thanks Catherine, hopefully we will get to see some reports from the student day which will make us feel as though we were there, maybe a video even? Anyone taking their camera?

  • As someone just beginning the PWDP module and hence occupied with photographing his locality, a rural street, I found this video helpful as well as being a good introduction for tomorrow’s visit.
    What interests me about re-photography is the contrasts that exist between the two times pictured. There seems to be no deliberate attempt on Tanya’s part to emphasise this by, for instance by rephotographing the same places from the same point of view, rather it is about the general atmosphere of the place which appears to have changed for the better.

    • I wrote about rephotography for my level 3 essay. I did take one photo, a street view, that later I realized was in Davidson’s foot steps, it gave me a thrill when I realized it. However, I really didn’t want to go round looking for Davidson’s footprints, I was more interested in my own. I wanted to see whether time and my insider status made a difference to the subject matter and the resulting photographs despite being in a very tiny geographical area. If I had limited myself to trying to restage Davidson’s images I might have got a superb lesson in understanding his subject and technical choices and yes we would have seen easily observable changes but I don’t think my voice would have been there at all. The way I did it was to try to understand his work through comparison with my own. For example, how and in what numbers were children portrayed by both of us- this is one of the biggest differences between us and relates to both our gender, our age and experience in the street. I hope you are enjoying photographically discovering your street 🙂

      • Thanks for your response Tanya.
        Perhaps re-photography is not the right word to use for describing your work. I can understand you not wanting to “follow” Bruce Davidson since although it might be a learning experience, it might result in something second hand.
        Instead, you have brought your own view of the area into focus.

        • yes, photographing my street is proving rewarding and the research I have done in a local heritage centre has helped to give it some direction.

  • I would echo all the comments about the quality of this video – the filming, editing and questions, as well as the humility of Tanya’s responses. Think the respect for the people in the photos comes through very striongly – in the interview and in the images themselves. This is photography with research PARTICIPANTS, as opposed to just photographic SUBJECTS. Congratulations Tanya.

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