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Interview with Claudia Phares for 2021 ILFORD CCP Salon

Photography by Claudia Pharès

Claudia Pharès is a French-Canadian of Vietnamese-Egyptian background photographer. Claudia's art practice includes photography, sculpture, installation, performance and video.

Motherwork (2021)

What's your name and background?

Claudia Pharès: My name is Claudia Pharès, I am French-Canadian of Vietnamese-Egyptian background. I moved to Australia in 2005, where I was working and travelling around as a nurse. Since then, I’ve settled in Melbourne where I pursued a Fine Arts Degree (Major in Photography) and completed a Masters Degree in Fine Arts (2019) on "Strategies: An Artist-Mother's Maintenance Manifesto".

Is this the first time you have participated in Salon, and what is the story behind your submitted works?

CP: I have participated several times in the Salon. Over the years, different ideas evolved depending on what was happening at the time in my life. Motherwork is about speaking out about the invisible labour behind mothering.

What inspires you to take photos?

CP: I like the challenge to convey an idea when I make photographs. I see a photograph as a cipher embedded with layers of sensations and memories.

Hold (2019)

How do you prefer to shoot and using what genre of instrument?

CP: It really depends on the project and my resources. For this current submission, I used a digital SLR and shot in a studio. Previous photo series involved shooting outdoors on film from which I printed the final image in a darkroom.

Has your use of social media changed or influenced the way that you create, share and view your work?

CP: Social media has helped disseminate my work internationally and finding like-minded artists. I tend to share new works sporadically unless it is to promote an exhibition.

Home Works (2020)

Which is stronger to you the influence of people or the influence of place?

CP: The influence of people is stronger than the influence of place: it is through the people’s history that you find out about the places that influenced them.

If you could quiz one photographer about their method, who would it be?

CP: Cindy Sherman.

For more of Claudias work visit www.claudiaphares.com or follow Claudia on Instagram @claudia_phares.

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