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Exploring the wonder of life (and death) through art: an interview with artist Mark Kessell
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Grace From Indifference, Serial No. 1264, 2002 © Mark Kessell
For some us, being all that we can be is much more than simply a cool recruiting slogan for the U.S. Army.
As many of those in the art world know, life is simply too exciting, fascinating and wonderful to limit ourselves to exploring and experiencing it through merely one medium or mode, a single fashion or passion, or one dreary profession.
Yet, somehow, a lot of us end up getting stuck within the prescribed narrow paths of our forefathers—birth, childhood, a loss of innocence, college, marriage, children, a mortgage and a cushy, unchallenging corporate job to pay for it all.
However, inevitably the diurnal pings and pangs of ennui and dissatisfaction prod us into falling off the edge of complacency and into the unknown. So, that some of us decide to bravely go where most common men would not go in pursuit of their true calling.
Many of the those in the fine art world who I have interviewed over the last couple of months exemplify this yearning to escape. The curator of photography at the Brooklyn Museum, Patrick Amselem, was half way through medical school when he decided to be an art historian instead; fine art dealer Brian Clamp was studying to be a mathematician, when he realized he too wanted to study art history; and although Korean artist Hyung Koo Kang had gone to art school, he then married, had children and ultimately had to forfeit his aspirations as an artist to in order to meet his obligations by working at a secure and steady job. After ten years of suffering however, he decided to return to his true calling.
Likewise, artist Mark Kessell practiced medicine for 7 years in Australia prior to learning his craft and becoming one of the few daguerreotype photographers in the world today.
Mark received his MD from the University of Western Australia in Perth in 1980 before moving to NYC and earning his MFA from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in 1997.
Recently, Mark was one of the eight winners of the first Hearst 8X10 Photography Biennial, an international competition that identifies and promotes new and emerging photographers.
I spoke with Mark about his transition and his work at his home and studio in Manhattan on Monday, April 6. Following are excerpts from our conversation.
What was it like being a doctor and how did it influence your evolution as an artist?
I didn’t really enjoy being a doctor. But I came from a medical family—both of my parents are doctors. So, initially I simply followed the path that had been blazed before me.
However, I did discover that being a doctor was like being a detective. And being that I have always been fascinated by life, eventually, my medical training would serve me well as an artist.
Admittedly, I didn’t think I could be an artist. I used to write, but I never thought that I could be visually creative.
At first, I was limited to only looking at art and merely dreamt of being a National Geographic photographer.
After seven years I decided to leave my medical practice in Australia and came to New York to study art at SVA.
Ultimately, I ended up integrating my former life as a physician with that of my new life as an artist because most of my work has a biological or scientific focus and all of it is directed to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human, what our relationship is to the planet, and who are we.
My work includes series about the development of personality, the lifecycle of the human species and, most recently our biological and emotional relationship to animals.
I am particularly obsessed with animals, because we are just animals ourselves, after all. There is evidence that other animals are just as self-conscious as we are, and so I’d like to explore that realm of understanding as well.
Why the daguerreotype?
While studying I became interested in the daguerreotype as a medium for expressing ideas about identity, predominantly because of its uniqueness, and its ability to reflect an image of the viewer while displaying an image of the subject.
I began my work as an artist using the daguerreotype, a photographic process with a surface so reflective that the viewer necessarily sees him/herself in the image. The medium is unique – I can never make two the same - and conveys an impression of dimensionality that appears to extend, just out of reach, behind the plane of the image. It is a perfect metaphor for many of the ideas which intrigue me.
My work encourages viewers to reflect, sometimes literally, on who we are and how we came to be that way. What are our origins? How different are we from other animals? Is it possible to understand another person? Or ourselves even?
As I grew to love the medium I sought ways to create something original, new techniques to bring the daguerreotype into the 21st century. Although I started out wanting to change it somehow, by ignoring the rules I discovered I could at least stretch the limits of the creative process.
What would you like to explore next as an artist?
I’d like to explore the human life cycle—from birth to death, that which lies between two darknesses.
I believe that every human being shares so much in common with others and yet each of us is utterly unique.
My work seeks to explore a number of questions: What is the source of our endlessly variable individuality? What drives the development of personality from newborn to adult? Are we without identity at birth? Do we actually have a clear identity as adults? Which of our perceptions about others, and more importantly about ourselves, are an illusion?
In particular, I’m looking to photograph the first breath, birth, because it’s an amazing thing and having done so twice already, I know it to be one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as an artist.
Many women do not get to see the moment of birth, so I would love to show them that special moment through my work, to communicate the sense of wonder that occurs.
I’ve already taken photos of two births, but ultimately I’d like to make daguerreotypes of ten different babies, so that my body of work represents the full spectrum of humanity.
Beyond birth, I am also looking to capture the final moment at the other end of the spectrum, because I want to show that not only does every human being have a mother, but we all die alone, as well.
However, the latter is a very sensitive subject, especially in the U.S. American people don’t “die”—they just pass on or they’re no longer with us. In Australia and other parts of the world we simply accept dying as a part of the natural course of life. In America there is an obsession with youth, and so death simply doesn’t come easy.
Thus, I think it will be much harder to create this part of the project here in the States, and ultimately I may have to go elsewhere to do so.
For more information:
www.studiocyberia.com
Artists & Photographers | Curators & Dealers Howard Greenberg |
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