Unterwegs

Fotograf Ari King im Interview

Shinjuku, 2015

Fotografie Ari KING | Interview Dzenana MUJADZIC

Für den finnisch-britischen Fotografen Ari King ist das Reisen nicht bloß ein Hobby zum Sammeln neuer Eindrücke. Es ist für ihn vielmehr ein Motor, der ihn psychisch und menschlich voranbringt. Seine offenbar angeborene Rastlosigkeit, die ihn nie zu lange an einem bestimmten Ort verweilen lässt, sieht Ari als einen für ihn essenziell wichtigen Antrieb zum steten Perspektivenwechsel und Selbstreinigungsprozess. Wir haben ihn gefragt, in wie weit sich all das auch auf seine Arbeit auswirkt.

 

Sweden, 2016

Chapter How do you like to travel and why? What does traveling mean to you?

Ari King Driving is my favourite way to travel. I like the dramatic changes in landscape and environment that you experience and the freedom of access to pretty much wherever you want. I admire the car as an object, the futuristic container of metal and plastic that provides mobility,warmth and music. It’s a pleasure to be able to move around and explore so independently with the ability to stop and experience all the places between point A and B.

 

Shibuya, 2015

Chapter Where does it take you, not only physically but also mentally?

Ari King The process of a journey and its use of technology, the mundane repetition, its beauty, its anxieties, it transforms your mindset. I think the new events you experience along the way can rewire your brain. It gives you time to think. People aren’t supposed to be in one place for too long. The environment you are in can condition you quite quickly. Traveling into nature definitely offers me some sort of spiritual cleansing and I crave it if I’ve spent too much time in a city, it’s an effective way to reset.

Chapter You seem to follow your inner sense to capture moods that are invisible to the human eye — what is your photographic approach?

Ari King I try to look out for a combination of unusual light and locations or surface textures. I’m interested  in how certain locations or objects can carry a certain mood or tension. I enjoy middle of nowhere infrastructure as much as majestic natural environments. 

 

Dreamhack, 2015

 

Chapter How did your style evolve and what is your main influence?

Ari King It feels more comfortable for me to let things evolve naturally and try not to be influenced consciously by any specific thing. I absorb quite a bit of film, documentary and music. Obscure sub-cultures and outsiders inspire me. I prefer reality to fantasy. I have interests in anthropology, our relationship to machines and the human impact on the planet.

 

Street light, 2017

 

Venice, 2015

 

Skyline, 2017

 

Lava Fields, 2012

 

Snow, 2016