5 Mins with JC Candanedo
JC Candanedo is a photographer based in London who’s series ‘Brexiters’ explored the ideas surrounding the characteristics of the ‘leave voter’ in the UK referendum. Photographing different people each with their own idea of what the leave voter looked like, JC has created a collection of beautiful portraits with a deeper understanding to the images and the situation of Brexit.
Hi JC, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in photography?
Hi guys, first of all I would like to thank you again for publishing my work and for all the love.
I was born in Panama to a Catalan Family but in my early 20s I moved to Barcelona where I lived for 14 years. After leaving Catalonia I lived in New York and then Sydney for a little while before establishing in London for good, where I have lived for the past four years. Before becoming a photographer I used to be an IT project manager for almost 20 years but I never really liked my career. Working in IT always made me feel like a fish out of the water. It wasn't until I became 35 and saw myself rapidly approaching 40 that the idea of switching careers came to my mind. I just couldn't imagine myself doing something that I disliked for the rest of my life. That's when I decided to study photography and start my own business.
With your project ‘Brexiters’ what gave you the idea to make a project based on the UK leaving the EU?
While I was watching the analysis of the results of the referendum on TV I noticed that the media was portraying the Leave voter as someone with a lower level of education, who lived in rural areas of England and who was mostly white and over 40. But to me it seemed like too much of a simplification to say that 17 million people who voted against staying in the European Union matched that profile. That's when I decided to make a series of photos where I would ask British people to impersonate someone who they thought or who they knew had voted Leave. This way I would have the opinion of the people from the streets rather than the image that the media was portraying.
Your portraits in this series have a cinematic, story-telling style, is this your preferred way of shooting? Is there a set style to your work?
When I decided to shoot these images I wanted them to look as if we were looking at them through the telly. You could say that I always like to tell stories through my work. I don’t like photographing people just because, I always need a backstory. Obviously that cannot be the case all the time, but if I have creative control I will always tell a story with my photography. It's funny that you ask about my style as I am at that point in my career where I feel like I haven't found my style yet. But definitely story-telling would be part of it.
You have quite a varied European background; did this influence the want to photograph the scenario that would separate the countries you call home?
Yes, part of my mixed background is European and that definitely influenced my decision to make this project. It was mostly out of shock from the results of the referendum. But I tried really hard not to influence my subjects while I was taking
their portrait. They knew where I was from and my background but I made it clear that the project wasn't about me but about their opinion of the topic.
The country became rather divided; in your opinion have these photographs helped give a bit of light relief to the topic of Brexit?
I believe that, if anything, these photos help the viewer see that there is not a stereotypical profile of the Leave voter. We all know someone who voted to leave that does not match the profile that we were given. And as you can see, every single one of the sitters had a completely different image of this voter than the rest, which goes to prove that their image was oversimplified by the media.
You mention the media influenced a lot of opinions about people who voted to leave. By showing a multitude of ‘stereotypes’ do you think people may change how they see the ‘leave voter’?
I agree. To me what was most interesting about this project is that I started out with an image of the Leave voter and ended up with a completely different opinion of the whole matter. And I’m not trying to say that I agree with the Leave voter or that I’m happy with the results of the referendum, especially since I'm being negatively affected by their decision, but I can see now that there were some people who had really good reasons to vote the way that they did that had nothing to do with ignorance.
What have the reactions of the public been like to this project?
In general, it has been very positive. From a political perspective, whether someone voted one way or the other, people seem to like my approach to the subject. I have been told that the obvious thing would have been to pose the subjects according to my own believes or conclusions rather than to ask the subject to show me their own views of the issue. And from the photography perspective, I have gotten a lot of praise for the style in which I chose to shoot the portraits. I have only had two people harshly criticise them. One thought that it was insulting the way some of them were impersonated; the other one thought that the images looked amateurish and badly composed. It feels really good to cause a reaction in the viewer.
Did using volunteers help distance you from projecting your own feelings towards the Brexit situation onto your photographs?
Definitely. And that was my whole idea. By asking strangers to pose for me I avoided casting my own opinion on the person that I was photographing. Had I chosen to photograph someone who knew me and my background or who knew my opinion of the matter then the portraits might have looked completely different.
This project has been about showing the image of the voter rather than the personality. Is it possible that the ‘stereotypical’ people you photographed truly exist or that it delves deeper than that?
I am not a fan of stereotypes. I think that the complexity of the human being and their personality makes it impossible to come up with cookie cutter profiles to explain our
behaviour. There is for sure someone like the person the media described but that is just one end of the spectrum. As you can see from the impersonations of my subjects there are as many possible profiles as people who voted Leave.
You photograph in a way where the sitter is perceived to be at ease. Is shooting portraits your preferred photography process?
It is! When I started out as a photographer I did not know exactly what I wanted to photograph. Photography is such a diverse field… I tried travel, food, product, street photography… But soon into my career I realised that I enjoy working with people and that the stories that I like to tell through my work talk about the issues of which I’m passionate about: diversity, discrimination, inclusion, immigration, racism… So people are undoubtedly at the centre of my work. I work in portraiture and fashion.
Is there a favourite portrait from this series of yours? Would you continue a project on the developing situation?
I don’t have a favourite one, but I think that “The Anglomaniac" is the one that explains our current situation the best. We all love the UK and in these times of uncertainty we are trying to figure out what the future holds for all of us. I think it would definitely be interesting to continue exploring the topic, especially contrasting it with the situation that it's been lived in the United States.
Have you got any future personal photography projects in the works?
In my head I have named 2017 the year of the Body Image. I am currently working on a photographic series where I explore the male body at different ages.
Thanks!
See more of JC's work on www.greypistachio.com and inside the Europe Edition
