Kira Gyngazova

Paris, France

Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?

There were two stages to the evolution of my relationship with photography. The first began when I was 20 and I went to live abroad in France. Soon after arriving, I bought a film camera, which would become my silent friend. We would spend many hours together, combing through the city and taking photographs.

Some people choose to write a diary, detailing what they did each day, but I've always felt more comfortable documenting life with a camera. But at this stage the process was completely unconscious; really I was just having fun and exploring. 

The second stage is also connected to traveling. After another 10 years in Russia, I left again; this time for new adventures in Thailand. It was at this pivotal moment in my life that I realized what it was I had to do. Being very inspired by cinema and literature, I found the streets of Bangkok to be full of poetry and visual stories.

As I began to find my passion, I would walk for hours, catching buses to unknown areas and taking photos along the way. Hungry for new images, I probably covered all the city with my steps. Gradually people started to show an interest in my work and it started to become my main focus. My interest in the subject developed as I began to see photography as an art.

What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition?

I believe that if everything we have seen remains somewhere in our subconscious, then it all influences how we form our worldview and define a sense of aesthetic within our artistic vision. For example, if I see an elegant old man in a slightly oversized beige suit standing and smoking his cigarette over there next to a bus stop, then it may trigger the memory of a similar image I saw in an old movie decades ago. We constantly experience emotional nostalgia for something we don't actually remember.

I quite liked what I read somewhere that inspiration is like sedimentation so we need to educate our eyes and ears on complexity. I often use the word «cinematic» to describe beauty, so in cases where I find a moment to be like a still shot from a movie, I tend to capture it. That generally means a nicely composed moment with perfect light and colours which imply stories that lie behind the camera frame.

Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?

I dream to one day see Tokyo and Mexico City. Although they are very contrasting
cities, both appear to be quite magnetizing. In fact I even have a pair of socks that say «Take me to Tokyo» and I am just waiting for the right person to see them :)

I am also very intrigued to visit Mongolia, and pretty much every other places in the world (assuming I have enough time!).

What is your personal relationship to cities, and how do you perceive them as places in general?

I love to think about the cities I've been to the same way as I think about old friends. «Oh, this guy is a complicated, messy and chaotic person- but such an eloquent storyteller! I appreciate him so much» -that's the way I think about Bangkok. Disordered and chaotic, diverse; raw cities that trace the history are not just good material for photography, but their vibrancy nourishes the mind and gives a cultural punch to the face.

This illustrates just how many facets happiness can have and gives new vision to the path our society takes.
In general, I need to be in a big city, big city is my comfort zone. Even being at home in a small room with work, it just nice to be surrounded by labyrinths of possibilities even not using any of them.

What is the driving force behind creation?

I think the fundamental basics of art are based around play. They say that animals play with each other to develop the skills to use in real fights, just like how kids play with dolls to imitate life on a small scale. Art is a logical continuation of this process of life-learning through play, parody, reconstruction and imitation.
I feel myself more real in the world of art than in reality, because it's a play and play is never as heavy or as serious as life.

If you could travel back/forth in time, what advice would you give your younger/older self?

I would tell my younger self that people in their 30s are actually not that old.

What is the most interesting experience you have had while photographing?

Once I was working as an extra in a Thai musical and dressed in a Renaissance outfit. I took my film camera with me but as it was not allowed, I had to be discreet about taking photos. They were never published anywhere beside my Instagram but I cherish them with all my heart.

If it wasn’t for photography, what would you be interested in doing instead?

Realistically, I would make movies—and that is still a plan I have—but in another life I could have been an inventor. I wish I could invent a new colour or a useful tool. A long time ago I wanted to create board games and decorate theatre scenes.

What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?

I am working on some unfinished videos and also producing photo books.  I think photobooks give the most intimate communication with photography.

Thank you, Kira!

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Photography: Kira Gyngazova
Location: Paris, France

Links: Instagram

Paris, France

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