Darkrooms Uncovered - Manuela Thames

A peek into a photographer's mental creative darkroom

What does your creative ritual look like? Do you have specific habits or conditions that spark your creativity?

If I get sufficient sleep, I love getting up early. The times before everyone else's day starts have become sacred to me. I wasn't always a morning person (especially when my kids were little), but I think I have come to appreciate how my mind works in the mornings. I love to read and write or simply think and drink my coffee. I like to get everything on a piece of paper that needs to be done, and I like to write everything down that I want to do creatively. It is often in the morning that I write for my Substack, for example. Another time that almost always helps to spark my creativity is taking a walk. Some people like to run; I like to walk. It truly helps.

When you're feeling creatively blocked, what's your go-to method for breaking through?

I try to not pressure myself. Easier said than done, I know. But I think times of feeling blocked creatively are completely normal. I don’t think as artists we can rely on feeling inspired all the time. As artists we need to learn to show up to our creative work whether we feel inspired or not: take one picture, write one sentence, just do something. Rick Rubin talks about structure and discipline combined with play and surprise. As much as we need to keep showing up, something that can get us out of a creative rut is embracing play and surprise in creativity. We have to unlearn our adult way of thinking/working and nurture a childlike curiosity that then can lead to trying something new without worrying about the results. Playing while embracing mistakes and surprises is a great way to breaking through a creative block.

Describe a moment when your creative perspective shifted dramatically. What triggered it?

When I read “Art and Fear – Observations on The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It changed everything about my creative process and was very freeing. It made me realize that the true reward of artmaking lies in the process itself. The struggles of art making are real, and they are real for all of us. This book helped me to shift my focus away from the rewards of art making onto the process with all its imperfect and failed pieces. He says that failed pieces are essential in helping you find your own work. "You make good work by (among other things) making lots of work that isn't very good, and gradually weeding out the parts that aren't good, the parts that aren't yours."

What recurring themes or elements do you find yourself naturally drawn to capture?

With everything I do, whether photography or writing, I aim to express what it means to be human in this world. My work explores themes around grief and loss, generational trauma, as well as the notions of belonging, connection, human resilience, and the mysterious beauty existing in the face of suffering. I am fascinated by people and their stories and by nature, and the connection between those two. I use various photographic techniques, for example multiple exposure, to express the complexity of life in an attempt to honestly portray that life is very challenging and very beautiful, often at the same time.

What non-photographic influences (books, music, films, etc.) most impact your work?

Music and poetry are very important in my life, and I take huge inspiration from both. But what interests me more than anything else are people and their stories, whether I read about them in a memoir or study a photographic, personal project on a website. I look for honesty in both, writings and visual works. I am interested in the complexity of being human and all the layers that make us who we are. I find inspiration in books, music, nature and a lot of times in one-on-one conversations.

What photograph of yours feels most personally revealing, and why?

I can’t think of one photograph, but my series titled “Trauma” feels the most revealing. You can find it on my website, read the full statement and see my favorite image from the project below. This series consists of black and white self-portraits using long exposure. I then manipulated the prints through tearing, and adding white string, tape and dust to them, then rephotographing the results. In short, this series explores themes of brokenness, struggles of loss and grief, and my personal experience with generational trauma. My grandparents and parents both experienced significant trauma as children and young adults, including trauma due to World War II and its aftermath. Understanding the connections between my parents’ upbringing and the effects of that on my life has taken years of research, therapy, and perhaps above all, the processing and reconciliation that comes through artistic expression.

Find out more about Manuela Thames

Website: www.manuelathames.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manuelathames/

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