Adrian Fisk, 42, photographs and captures images of the human spirit. After graduating with a degree in photography he moved to London where he spent the next five years documenting youth counter-culture against the 1990s socio-political backdrop of environmental protests, illegal raves and anti-globalization. He also recently lived in India where his work provided an anthropological and political visual analysis of South Asia during a unique period of growth. We got a chance to speak with Fisk.
Elan: You’ve documented the youth from Europe to Asia, what inspires you about this demographic?
Adrian Fisk: I think it has something to do with the spirit of possibility. You only have to look throughout history to see that so often it is the youth that are the force for change, whether that is within a political, cultural or more recently environmental context. I spent much of the mid to late 1990’s documenting youth counter-culture against the socio-political backdrop of environmental protests, illegal raves and anti-globalization movement. I never seized to be amazed at the vision, dedication and sheer motivation of the young people involved in these movements. More often than not there is a tendency for the older generation to pour scorn and accuse the younger generation of naivety, being simplistic in what they believe the world could be, but it is the dreamers that can change the course of our lives and I want to capture these people in photographs.
Elan: Having lived in Delhi for 8 years, how did you see the city transform and how did that influence your work?
AF: Delhi was a great city to live in but a challenge on many fronts. When I was first there in 2003 there were so few places to go and relax in terms of social environments like cafes, bars and restaurants. Around 2006 the realization that the Indian economy was careering forward became clear by the amount of new places opening up across Delhi. It seemed like every week a new nightclub or restaurant would spring up. It was a great time as you could feel a palpable sense of excitement that the young Indians were realizing that finally their time had arrived. For so long it had been the West’s cities that had dominated the global landscape from a modern socio-cultural point of view, but slowly that is shifting, and cities like Beijing, Istanbul, Dubai, Sao Paulo, Cape Town and New Delhi are more relevant then ever before. However there is still a very long way to go for New Delhi to become a truly progressive modern city as the recent Delhi rape case showed.
I didn’t really photograph Delhi much in my early years but from around 2008 – 2010 I could see I was in a fascinating position of witnessing all sides of life in the city and therefore worked on a series I titled ‘Dilli old, Dilli new’. This body of work all shot on film using a simple old compact camera aimed to show a city caught between a dream and a nightmare. The photographs were an intimate portrait of both my relationship with Delhi as well as that of a city going through a period of great change. The work showed us a mega urban mass that uniquely juxtaposed beauty, opportunity and desire against frustration, darkness and inequality. A capital that trades idioms in fleeting moments revealing the strange coexistence of those that have, and those that do not. A city that is both old and new.
Elan: You have a series called iSpeakGlobal, which is supported by the United Nations Population Fund. Can you tell us about it?
AF: Never has the opinion of the world’s younger generation been so important or influential. Our world is changing at an unprecedented speed from the tectonic economic shift from West to East, global financial instability, political revolutions and a warming climate. 54% of the world’s population is 30 years old or younger. What do they, the global majority, make of these changes? What do they think about the future? What matters to them? At this critical moment in history, iSpeakGlobal will give a voice to the planet’s young people, cutting through the stereotypes to illuminate the hopes and fears of a generation. It will be unprecedented visual survey of the world’s youth. In each picture the subject holds up a piece of paper on which they have written anything they want. By doing this they can directly communicate their hopes, fears, concerns and dreams to the camera and therefore to the world. Having already completed iSpeakIndia and iSpeakChina which have been seen by more than 18 million people, I now want to know what the Zeitgeist of the worlds younger generation is, and therefore intend to take the series onto a further 23 countries to complete iSpeakGlobal.
Elan: You’re work is so rich and each image tells a story. What’s one message you hope to communicate through your work?
AF: My work is complex in that there several levels by which it communicates and therefore I think it’s hard to pin it down to one message that I hope to convey. But if there is an underlying theme it is a wonderment of existence, not just of human life, but all life.
Elan: What advice would you give to aspiring photographers?
AF: The beauty of digital cameras is that it costs nothing to take a picture, so shoot as much as you can. Like the athlete who runs every day, you need to do the same with taking photographs. There are lots of websites you can show your work and if you pursue it hard, have a talent, people will begin to notice your pictures. But it should be noted that never has the photography business been so tough as it is today. Right now it is going through a process in which all media is becoming digital and conventional magazines and newspapers simply don’t have the money to pay photographers. The market is flooded with young photographers all hoping to make a living from their hard work. This is not to put any aspiring photographers off the idea of trying to enter the professional photo world, it is simply to make it clear you are trying to break into an exceptionally tough business and it’s good to know this first and not be blinded by the romance of becoming a photographer. I am a firm believer that like anything in life, if you really believe you can do it, then you will do it.
Find Adrian Online:
https://twitter.com/iSpeakGlobal
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