Irene Cruz
Irene is photographer and video artist in Berlin. We talked about magic in photography, her passion for the blue hour, body language and much more.
Image left: © Julian Wiskemann
Thomas Berlin: Hello Irene, nice that we can do the interview. You are a photographer, videographer and video artist. Have had or participated in over 350 exhibitions and have been in the art business for years. I'm looking forward to an exciting interview and would like to start with you in your role as a photographer.
The photographs of you I know show young women in Central and Northern European landscapes. The delicate body of women in warm skin tones is emphasized in the rather cold light in the landscape. Can you understand my perception? How would you describe your style?
Irene Cruz: Hello Thomas! Many thanks for this opportunity of sharing a bit more about my work with your audience!
I usually take my photographs during blue hour. The first time I came to Berlin in August 2011 I fell in love with this northern European dim-blue light. Afterwards, I spent some time in Sweden, where I began lay the groundwork of my artistic output. At first, I started with self-portraits and then I was ready to photograph other people. I love this contrast between the warm skin and the cold landscape, I think it is one of the most recognizable features of my work.
If I had to describe my work within a conceptual framework, I do artistic (mostly nude) photography that does not intend to be especially erotic. I am interested in treating the body as nature, the human being as part of the mother earth system.
Thomas Berlin: Since you come from sunny Spain, I find it interesting that you, as a location, choose rather calm, cool and wet landscapes and at the same time the light acts like a state of suspension between day and night. There's something magical about that. What makes this mood attractive to you? Or why do you give your pictures this mood?
Irene Cruz: I believe my photographs are a reflection of my inner world, my sensitivities, my desires, my thoughts. Oftentimes they represent a positive solitude, born from a very deep place in me, of utmost purity. Through them I learn to discover myself. I work almost on a therapeutic level on the themes that move me or that I’m drawn to in some way. They are an internal reflection of what I have to live externally.
Thomas Berlin: Is the magical and calm also important in your life? Are you also a rather dreamy person or would you separate the description of this facet of your personality from the image statement?
Irene Cruz: My works are a mirror of myself, I can't lie, they strip me off of any proverbial mask I may wear in social situations. One day I did the famous Jungian Archetypes Test, and after answering more than 70 questions it came out that I am exactly 50% introverted and 50% extroverted. I fully recognized myself on the result and it somehow made me feel totally at ease. Astrologically speaking, (may I?), My sun is on Gemini-Cancer cusp, which I interpret as: in social environments I am super Gemini, I love being with around others and meeting new people, talking, learning... but inwards I am more of a cancer, I am water, I am emotion, I am pure sensitivity. And I think that my photos represent more that part of me.
Looking at the “big picture” I would say that when I create, I am in this emotional universe, and when I present my works, I host my exhibitions or I am on social media, my extrovert energy is at its fullest.
© Irene Cruz
Thomas Berlin: Often there are no faces to be seen in your pictures. Often it is the legs and feet under the dress that stimulate the viewer’s imagination. Can you say something about that?
Irene Cruz: Body language is very rich and varied. I think trying to communicate things without resorting to facial expressions is a way of universalizing feelings and emotions for me. I explore in detail all that legs, hands, and backs can express, I’m always drawn to it. And I try to find beauty and expressiveness especially in those parts of the body.
Thomas Berlin: As a photographer, do you have a “mission” or a basic concept with which you can describe your work in general?
Irene Cruz: My mission would be managing to express what my place in the world is, to be able to inspire or make others reflect.
On the other hand, I also contribute my photography and my vision to other people's projects. When I work as a director of photography in movies, it's a bit like that. I have to materialize through images the story that someone else has created. For me, having the ability and the opportunity to do that is beautiful.
It's also very nice when I do my work... that intimate connection I get with the person I'm photographing. I want to explore the photographic medium, I want to leave a mark in the world through it. My photographs are like my offspring.
Thomas Berlin: I noticed that you also take analogue photos. What part does film photography have in your work and why is it important to you?
Irene Cruz: Analog photography makes me think more about the shot, it forces me to work in a much slower and more contemplative pace. I love it because I always prefer to work with my hands and have tangible control. Here in Berlin I am part of a photographers’ collective (Fotoklub Kollektiv) in which we have a laboratory, scanners (Imacon)... and that allows me to be in control of the whole process, which is extremely important to me.
Since I bought my first medium format camera, a Fuji GW690 III, I tend to prefer to work with this camera, as it also allows me to produce large format prints.
Thomas Berlin: Could you create your analog look also digitally? What does analog photography really provides you that you couldn’t get or wouldn’t want to do digitally?
Irene Cruz: That somehow ties in with what I was trying to communicate in my previous answer: the process, working with your hands... controlling the whole process… if for whatever the reason it's not possible for me to work with analogue photography, I’ll replicate the same look in post-production for aesthetic coherence, but for me it doesn't have the same energy or the same magic feeling.
Thomas Berlin: With which film format (135 vs. 120 vs. large format) do you mainly shoot? What is your favourite film?
Irene Cruz: I mostly shoot in 120 film, my favourites are: Lomography Purple 400, Portra 400 and Cinestill 800t, which give my images a cold aura. In 135 film, I am crazy about the revolog ones, I find “Revolog-Cosmos” absolutely amazing.
© Irene Cruz
Thomas Berlin: With which camera and lens would you be able to do most of your shootings?
Irene Cruz: Fuji GW690 III with Fujinon 80 mm 3.5 and Hasselblad 500c (this one is a new addition to the family) and Nikon FA (My dad’s old camera, actually) with the 24mm 2.8 & 50mm 1.4.
I also shoot a lot of instant pics with instax Mini (Lomography). And digital, I own a Nikon d800 with 25-70mm 2.8 or Sony alpha 7III (that I use mostly for video)
Thomas Berlin: I often notice that the analog origin of a picture is particularly emphasized. That means, this picture does not speak for itself, but the origin ennobles it. Weird, isn’t it? How do you see the analog trend in photography?
Irene Cruz: I actually notice it in terms of the energy that an image emits. However, I think that a photograph is not better just because it is shot on film. I can be moved by a photo taken with a mobile phone, with a pinhole camera... the most important thing is the eye of the person taking it. The technique is part of the process and just a personal choice for the language that each photographer uses.
For me personally, analogue photography has that “wait” factor, between taking the photo and developing it, which is magic. It’s the joy and anticipation of finding out what the results are, and my inner child just loves that.
Thomas Berlin: How has your photography changed in recent years? And how would you like to develop further in the next few years. Do you have specific projects you want to realize?
Irene Cruz: I always have projects to carry out; in fact, right now my language is changing radically. I am intervening my physical photographs with paint. Four years ago, I created a series that merged photography with painting, with my dear friend, artist Victor Alba. I have been learning a lot from him these last years. So, following those steps I decided to develop a project with that direction in mind. In fact, I have just been awarded a grant (from the CEART) to make this work a reality.
I am combining digital and analogue photography with acrylics and oil paint. I am exploring chromatism and the colour language of photography (RGB) compared to that of painting (CMYK) and questioning the art world, why some art mediums are valued over others. I paint with light; I photograph with paint. Ambitious, I know, but working on it.
© Irene Cruz
Thomas Berlin: You market your pictures through galleries, right? How has buyer demand developed in recent years? What is particularly in demand and what is less?
Irene Cruz: The market is changing as the times are changing. At the beginning it is true that I normally sold small format photos, and now my buyers are going for larger sizes. I am also gradually becoming better known and my new collectors now are also buying larger formats. However, I always try to make affordable books so that anyone can have something made by me, regardless of their income.
Thomas Berlin: Let’s come to your other two professional topics: Can you please describe what videography and video art are and what the difference is?
Irene Cruz: For me, when I started dabbling with video art it felt more like my photographs in motion, accompanied by sounds of nature. On the other hand, videography feels more generic, it's like when someone hires you to record a video, but the idea is not really yours. I see it as more general utilitarian medium: “technique developed by a person who knows how to make videos.”
Thomas Berlin: Does your photography benefit from the fact that you also produce moving images? Where do you see opposites and similarities to photography?
Irene Cruz: In many of my projects I combine photography and video art in order to offer a greater richness in the concepts I want to express. Ultimately, the videos are always born from the photography and the initial theme, granting the whole work with a wider scope.
Thomas Berlin: How do you market videography and video art? What kind of customer groups or clients do you reach with it?
Irene Cruz: There are times when I work on demand, and for that I usually agree upon a budget with the client for the commission. In the case of video-art it is more complicated, I usually make little box sets with prints, additional material, extras... the art market is not completely ready to commercialize video, although of course there are specialized galleries and collectors who are more favourable towards this medium.
Thomas Berlin: Which historic and which contemporary photographer impressed you most?
Irene Cruz: Historic: Doisneau. I am very moved and inspired by his photographs
Contemporary: Mona Kuhn, I love the delicate and warm way she treats nude photography, she is such an inspiration for me!
Thomas Berlin: These are interesting insights into your artistic world. Can we talk a bit more about yourself? How did you actually get into art and what led you to take photos.
Irene Cruz: For as long as I can remember I have had the need to create, to paint, to draw, I was the typical quiet girl who was happy with a box of coloured pencils.
All my life I have expressed myself through the artistic-photographic language. I think it is much more ingrained in me than the Spanish language itself. I could not live without images, without all this blue universe that characterizes me.
The first photographs I took were inspired by my father. On all the trips I made with my family, he made slides, which he then projected on a wall. It seemed magical to me, I also wanted to have that superpower, and with that genuine curiosity of the little girl that I was, I started to imitate him. On my fifth or sixth birthday I received my first camera, a semi-automatic analogue Nikon. And since then I haven't stopped taking pictures.
© Irene Cruz
Thomas Berlin: You moved to Berlin from warm Spain a few years ago. What was the reason to move there and what is the reason to stay in Berlin?
Irene Cruz: I simply followed the path life led me to, and took the chance to come here. Of Berlin, I fell in love with the blue light, its aura of freedom, and the lower rents (8 years ago, of course). At first, I came to stay and try it out for 3 months, but it I've ended up staying here, without realizing it, a big chunk of my life. I feel at home. I love Berlin, I have a great family of friends, my photography collective, my gallerist Luisa Catucci... endless forests and lakes to take pictures of… and, turns out I’m just a 3-hour flight away of my country!
How does the photo and art scene in Germany and Berlin differ from Spain?
Irene Cruz: In Germany I feel that we artists are well regarded and considered as contributors to society. In Spain I often had the feeling that we weren’t valued at all, I usually didn’t even had work, and unless you’re well known people think of it as just a hobby. And you have to end up working on something else, marketing or advertisement, a day job. If anything, I think I started to be valued in Spain when I came here.
It’s true that in Spain I know a lot of art lovers, there are a lot of people who value it, who understand it, who enjoy it, and it’s wonderful, I always come back for them... but from the powers that be never seem to support the system enough.
Thomas Berlin: Besides the visual arts, what do you like to do privately or as a hobbyist?
Irene Cruz: I love reading, I’m an avid learner of all kinds of things, from quantum physics to astrology. I enjoy cooking, I read about nutrition … I’m a very curious person. I love doing sports, especially swimming or cycling. I love learning languages (ja, ich kann Deutsch!). I enjoy a good chat, flea-markets, of course cinema. As a child I loved horseback riding above everything else, but I have gradually given it up.
Thomas Berlin: Do you want to say something else?
Irene Cruz: When I wake up every day, I set myself a professional and a personal goal. And it is very important not to leave behind the personal over the professional. I've come to realize that you don't need to work until you die and put your personal life aside. You have to treat yourself well and stop beating yourself up (this advice comes from my own hard-earned experience).
You can see more of Irenes work on her website and on Instagram. Feedback is welcome here.
Images: © Irene Cruz