“Wallifornia”—what kind of passport do you need to enter?
The only passport necessary to enter “Wallifornia” [California + Wallonia] is to open your eyes to this imaginary surrealist country that surrounds us. I admire my photographer colleagues who take 20-hour flights around the world and come back with fantastic stories. But all I need to do is open my door and I’m already in Wallifornia.
What appeal does Wallifornia hold for you?
The team at the Centre Culturel de Liège/Les Chiroux, where my exhibition Voyage en Wallifornie is currently on display, helped me formalize the definition. The unlikely mixture of serious self-mockery, quirky conviction and braggadocio make up—although we might never be able to define it—a kind of “Belgian” spirit, and in particular a Wallonian spirit. In this respect, we can mention the heritage of Surrealism in this small artificial country at a crossroads between big ones, with a national identity cobbled together from contrasting ways of living together, landscapes, histories and mentalities.
Do you have plans for a journey to “Flanderfornia”?
Of course. Flanderfornia will certainly be one of my next trips. There’s absolutely no reason to put borders up, and I know that Flanderfornia is filled with treasure. Many artists from Flanderfornia have showed us the way.
Photo vs. video—is your heart torn between the two?
Both media allow me to express myself but I start with video. It’s a very stimulating world and I plan to develop more and more projects with moving images.
What draws you to a subject?
I like people who “take the stage.” I especially like whatever passion it is that drives people to become cheerleaders, wrestlers and soldiers. Some people do yoga, others wrestle. I modestly try to immortalize them.
You recommend both readings and travels. Duras and who else? Wallifornia and where else?
For reading, Roland Barthes’s Mythologies, especially the chapter about the theatre of wrestling. For travels, I would recommend a cruise dedicated to Luis Mariano like the one I took with 300 senior citizens for my project Happy Pappys – The Cruise, which will be on display this summer at the Biennale in Marchin. There’s something magical about dancing to Luis Mariano with an 80-year old grandma at four in the morning.
Do you photograph what you experience or what you see? Pure, sober, clear, framed, tender, posed—is it fair to say that’s how you live?
I’ll refer back to the old truth about this point: “the world is not made up of what we see, but what we are.” My life is simple, and my photographs are probably a reflection of that.
From studies in political science to photography—what happened?
Photography is the extension of the political and social sciences. It allows us to ask questions about the state of the world. What happened was the need to express myself in order to make room for those who don’t have enough as it is.
What makes a good photographer?
A good photographer is a good artist. They should stir emotion with their work.
What are your ambitions? What are your dreams? Are they the same?
My only ambition is to keep taking pleasure in my personal projects and with my collective, the Collectif Caravane. I dream about my next projects: folklore in Wallifornia and Wallifornication. And I dream about the discussions I would have in heaven (or hell) with the photographers I admire.
Why do you take pictures?
To make time to travel and meet people. Like Diane Arbus’s philosophy, the camera is a kind of passport that allows me to go to someone and say, “tell me about yourself and tell me the story of your life.” People like it when you take an interest in them, and this way seems like a reasonable one.
Who is the ONE photographer?
Richard Avedon with his series The American West. That IS photography.
Read the full article in the French version of L’Oeil.
http://www.collectif-caravane.com/anthony.html
EXHIBITION
Voyage en Wallifornie d’Anthony Anciaux
Galerie Satellite
Du 14 février au 12 avril 2015
Cinéma Churchill
Rue du Mouton Blanc
20 4000 Liège
https://galeriesatellite.wordpress.com/anthony-anciaux
