*Between debates*, Cambridge, Massachussetts, 2023

Words and Images by Dawn Kim

How did you develop this series?

I was never interested in making portraits until I came across August Sander’s Painter’s Wife, (1926). It's a portrait of Helène Abele with her dark hair, slicked back, dressed in white, made of parachute pants and a ribbon-thin black tie topped with a cigarette gripped in her teeth. I love the way the darkened room cocoons the white curve of her billowed body, soft and casual, which juxtaposes her glowering eyes—her presence pierces through the surface of the image. I attempted to recreate this photograph with a friend and was largely unsuccessful. The act of recreating this image sparked my own questions around portraiture, which set me off on to make more portraits.

I started by photographing people I know, but I found my companions too accommodating. I think they tried to present themselves to my camera in the ways that they thought that I wanted. I turned to strangers to see what it looks like to closely observe another person, unburdened with familiarity.

What challenges came up during this project?

The reality of photographing passersby with a 4x5 view camera means that the time constraints are determined by the subjects' patience.

I once tried to make a portrait of a group of young boys who seemingly had all the time in the world. While I was focusing through the ground glass, one boy changed his mind and biked away, which dominoed into each boy opting out for the picture. I have no idea what shifted in the air. They all fled, leaving me in the dust with my darkcloth clinging on my neck like a sad cape. It was my small fear, realized.

Describe your creative process in one word?

Attention

*Horticulturalists under Bourgeois,* Bentonville, Arkansas, 2023

What inspires you to pursue image-making?

For me, making photographs is the most pleasurable way of trying to understand the world.

What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

I recently went to a screening of Haig Aivazian’s short films, which are collaged from varied bits of media—advertisements, cartoons, news, social media, sports. He uses familiar imagery as shorthand to unpack complex ideas. I’m thinking of one film, “All of Your Stars Are but Dust on My Shoes,” where he points to light and darkness as a policing tool and injects humor to emphasize the gravity of the matter. I love the way he so fluidly uses the language of everyday imagery to think about larger ideas.

*Two artists*, Camino Del Real, Mexico, 2023

What advice would you give to people just starting out in photography?

To slow down and really LOOK at the photograph they’re making, to visually organize the environment in such a way that feels intentional. It's hard to do.

What is your favorite thing (podcast, album, audio book…etc.) to listen to?

I can always listen to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. I love watching the YouTube versions of the varied live performances which emphasize the physicality of the piece.

How do you take your coffee?

With some milk.

Kim’s exhibition More Than I Could Ask opens April 28 at The Penumbra Foundation.