Andrea Siegl lives in London and works primarily in the field of photography. Her approach is as simple as owning a few cameras, and using them – the urge to take pictures comes naturally and doesn’t involve much, if any, preparation.
What inspires Andrea doesn’t arise from a sensational or commercial view of photography. Intrigued by the neglected and overlooked – things and places in decay or the banalities and beauties of our man-made world, she allures her audience to the unnoticed.
Andrea’s photography residency at KUD Mreža was a first-time luxury, enabling her to be free of daily routine and to engage in a quest to find space, a much missed ingredient in her London life.
The extremes between rain and heat were her first challenge, and to avoid the latter, night-photography became an essential experiment. The former overcome by 10 cents worth of plastic sheet for her camera. Using her mobile phone to sketch ideas, she frequently returned to places of interest, actively exploring on bike and on foot, being alert almost all of her now erratic waking hours.
During these walks Andrea found herself drawn to a large unused factory right next to a thriving shopping centre. The place seemed totally devoid of current human use, with only dusted traces of past activities to be found. Time had seemingly stopped there, with only the soft determination of nature slowly taking over, growing through dilapidating hard concrete.
Andrea spent the rest of her stay documenting her findings and the quality of this space – her excitement, pioneer-feelings, even fear – as if encountering an unknown planet. In addition she enjoyed photographing several events for KUD Mreža.
Andrea has known Metelkova since the late 90’s, and had visited Ljubljana many times before. But now through her residency she was making the place her own. What could be better!
The editing process of the series Fontana (The Fountain), created during her residency, is still ongoing. Parts of it are selected for the Photography show Uncertain States 2010, taking place from 10.-19. November 2010 in Bricklane’s East Gallery, London. The exhibition is also part of Photomonth’10.
Interview Andrea Siegl The video is part of “Uncertain States – a series of photo essays”.