Guantanamo, If The Light Goes Out - An interview with Edmund Clark
24 September, 2010
by: Loredana
Ahead of Edmund Clark's exhibition, Guantanamo, If The Light Goes Out at Flowers Gallery and the release of his book under the same name, Loredana talks to the photographer about his experience of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.
Directly addressing ideas of incarceration and control, photographer Edmund Clark has spent his artistic career photographing sensitive issues through the use of stark, controlled photography. For his latest series, Clark travelled to the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay to photograph the prison camp, as well as the spaces reserved for the community that work there.
In a fascinating twist on Clark's already unusual photography, the artist has also photographed the homes of ex-detainees once imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. Clark has made a point of intermixing the photographs of the three areas in the book and exhibition in order to to disorientate the viewer and evoke interrogation techniques. These photographs make you think, sit back and assess your stance on the situation.
What made you want to photograph Guantanamo?
It was the idea of what it was like to go through a process of dehumanisation... looking at the domestic spaces of people that have been through that kind of experience and re-identifying them through the normality of domestic space. We all have somewhere that we eat, sleep, wash, relax so I find that interesting. What do they look like? What would you expect? You know the bedroom of someone that's supposed to be a threat to human civilisation – what's that going to look like?
In your book you mention how you were heavily censored by guards who examined your work and were able to delete anything they wanted. How did it feel to be censored like this?
It's a very full-on experience – working in Guantanamo is a really pressurised time. It's a constant process of negotiation. You start at five in the morning and go all the way through and then you literally have to sit down for two to three hours to go through all these pictures.
Even though Clark photographed the homes of ex-detainees and had numerous meetings with them, there is no portrait of any of them in the series. The closest thing to a portrait is a photograph of a ex-detainee's wrist band, which includes a portrait-sized photograph.
Why didn't you include any portraits in the series?
I find that a lot of photographic portraits, you're not really saying anything. All that's going to happen is that the viewer's preconceptions are going to bounce back at them. Some of the ex-detainees wouldn't have taken part if I wanted to photograph them. I was absolutely adamant that this wasn't journalistic; I just wanted to work in their homes.
I also think if I produced a set of portraits of ex-detainees from Guantanamo, most of whom are of Pakistani, Middle Eastern, African origin, I think a lot of people would look at those and say, “ooh look that's what a terrorist looks like”. The portraits would be completely dehumanised. They wouldn't actually say anything about the individual – the spaces are much more evocative.
Did you ever get any sense of the effect the base, or atmosphere in general, had on the people that work and live there?
What I find interesting about the naval base is that it is small town America. It is cut-off living behind a big razor wire fence. It is literally a microcosm. As a non-American I was struck by the motifs – the reflections of spirituality, of militarism and icons of American culture – the cartoon simplicity that we associate with American culture. I felt I could see a lot of the mindset post-9/11 which in a sense maybe led to that knee-jerk reaction of retribution and revenge.
Did you ever feel you were being fooled in any way?
You can never really believe anything... that's true with most prisons. It's what they're not telling you that's the thing. They do try and steer you down a certain path, like going on the food preparation tour, meeting the guards and talking to the guards, going to the show cells rather than the real cells...
What do you think you've brought to the debate about Guantanamo?
I don't think there's enough debate at the moment. Hopefully I have in a sense re-humanised some element of it because a lot of the imagery I've seen of Guantanamo does just contribute to those stereotypes – depending on what side of the fence you're on. I hope just by doing something unexpected it will help people think of the subject again. And I hope that people that do look at the work get a sense of the experience...
Do you think there's a problem with the way the media have handled covering the issues surrounded around Guantanamo?
I think it's been very hard for the media to handle. I don't see that they could really do much other than perpetuate stereotypes..
How do you think the photographs will be judged?
Some people will look at the work for what it shows of the present day. It's still a very live political issue because the place is still open, particularly because Obama said he was going to close it. It was the first public declaration he made when he became president.
I hope you can get a reaction to the imagery without knowing that much. They're about people that happen to find themselves by chance in an odd 45 square miles of Cuba and the significance of that place. It's about the experience of people caught up in an event.
Guantanamo, If The Light Goes Out is being shown at Flowers East from the 15th of October until the 13th of November.
Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here for things to do in London.
Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...