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Idō _ Movement
artwork by Athiba Balasubramanian
Striving for balance in these uncertain times with a 3rd invisible element that seems to be teaching us a lesson on priorities, life, and nature.
An inclusive independent journal with a focus on literature & art
Art & Lore
in conversation with visual artist
Taysa Jorge
'Creature'
Anchor 1
TOCC: What is your process like? Do you start with a concept of the imagery you want to produce or do you get sparks of inspiration when on the scene / while post-processing?
Taysa Jorge: I mostly get sparks of inspiration when I’m shooting in nature and later in post-processing is when I end up creating something. Editing takes a big part of my creative process, many times creating something very different from the original picture and doing compositions in Photoshop from different images, sometimes I even need to take extra pictures, specially self-portraits when I need to place myself into a scenery.
However I also can start from a previous concept but it’s not something so usual, it’s more pleasant and easy for me to go out and observe/photograph things I like and let one thing lead to another. But it all depends on what I want to transmit, I try to don’t force myself to do a certain thing so sometimes I don’t feel the need to create something from a picture, instead I just like it how it is and post-processing only helps me to create an atmosphere that reflects what the image makes me feel.
How do you go about staging your pieces and choosing the settings for them? Is location scouting an important part of your process?
I spend a lot of time wandering around, discovering new places, getting into weird roads and isolated places but I'd call it only "scouting" since I don't feel I'm looking for a location, I feel like I'm just exploring and I probably would do the same if I weren’t a photographer. I think the work I create is in part just a result of my curiosity and something I love to do, which is to get lost in nature.
Most of your pieces are set in sweeping natural landscapes and feature a lot of flora and fauna, making your work feel feral - unbound and boundless. Can you tell us about your relationship with nature and how it influences your work?
I grew up on an island so nature has always been a big part of my leisure, it has always inspired me and I feel I find myself when I’m in it so it just expresses spontaneously in my work. At the end I think we’re the result of many things that influence us like what we continuously see and think, even unconsciously, and in my opinion if you’re an artist and you connect with your true self in order to create something that truly comes from you those things just find a way to come out and show up in your work.
'The Crow'
'Moments Before Night Falls'
'Blue Hour Wind'
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The work I create is in part just a result of my curiosity and something I love to do, which is to get lost in nature.
As an artist, do you find that myths, legends and the very art of storytelling play an important role in serving as inspiration? If so, are there any fables or folklore that you are particularly fond of or influenced by?
I think myths and legends can be absolutely a great subject for inspiration but it isn't actually what personally inspires me. I'm a very curious person, I like to wonder about things, discover my true self and, for example, philosophize about life and psychology has always been an inspiration for me, as much as spirituality in recent years.
The space between what I see and what I know as reality and what I actually feel is what inspires me, I feel like it’s a space where things are missed out and I think that's where my work stands, if that makes sense. Also magical realism books and movies are a source of inspiration to me, everything that brings me more questions than answers, and makes me reflexive, especially about mysteries of life, inspires me.
On a more technical note, your colour grading is sublime and really enhances the emotion of each piece. Do you stick to a certain palette or do you enjoy experimenting and pushing the boundaries?
Thank you so much. I have preferences for blues and colder tones but I like to play with every color. I try to stay true to my creativity and let it express without stick to a certain style but at the same time I try to be cohesive and relevant so it’s difficult to me to find the balance sometimes but I feel like both things can coexist and both are important, specially to be true to my creativity and don’t impose myself rules about how my work and style should be and what kind of colors I should use because depending of the moment of my life, what I’m being inspired for or experiencing I feel like creating more with some colors and elements than others so it’s important to me to feel free to do it.
At the same time it’s usually talked about, and I agree, about the importance of having a style but in my opinion it has more to do with finding a guiding thread that connects the whole body of work than sticking to a certain palette or kind of images.
'Climbing Trees That Reach The Moon'
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Everything that brings me more questions than answers, & makes me reflexive, especially about mysteries of life, inspires me.
Your work feels mysterious and features figures and natural elements in a mythical manner. In particular, a few of your pieces feature ethereal orbs of light. Can you talk about what they symbolize?
Yes, I started introducing them in my pictures some years ago after reading about spirituality and learn what consciousness means, from a point of view of seeing ourselves and everything that surround us as part of the same thing and understanding consciousness as something that is in everything, something we can't see but we can feel, for example, in my case, a feeling of belonging when I look a starry sky or a sunset, these light balls are a visual representation of that feeling, the universal consciousness.
That was the initial concept from a series of images I created in that time but little by little the use of these light balls as much as other kinds of lights I add with Photoshop has not a concrete meaning but to enhance the meaning or atmosphere of the images itself.
We at TOCC feel that visual art and wordless storytelling can have just as much of an impact. Do you intend your photographs to have a narrative of any kind? Does each piece have an essence that it tries to convey to the viewer? If so, what would you like for them to take away?
Yes I like to create meaningful things as much as the pieces individually as the whole body of work, it’s what makes me feel fulfilled and would love to make people feel hopeful if possible and at the same time wake up in them deeper questions about life but that’s not my goal. At the core what I want is to share a vision, my vision, and be as genuine as I can doing it, and doing it from my heart, that’s what’s most important to me and if it inspires someone else somehow it’s a gift.
Taya Jorge is a self-taught visual artist based in Canary Islands. She discovered photography as a means of artistic expression in 2015, interested in the connection between human beings and nature her aim is to create sceneries that make viewers disconnect from the daily routine and wonder about deeper topics such the meaning of life, ones existence and the unknown.
Links: http://taysajorge.com/links | Instagram / Twitter: @taysajorge
'Vegetation'
'Chasing Light'
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