8 D FEATURED ARTISTS ESTONIAN ADVERTISING/FASHION MARKET MUST HAVE DEVELOPED VERY QUICKLY SINCE INDEPENDENCE. HOW HAVE YOU WITNESSED IT’S DEVELOPMENT? WELL ALLYOUNG PHOTOGRAPHERS AT THAT TIME WERE SO ENTHUSIASTIC AND PERHAPS STUPIDLY RADICAL. FOR EXAMPLE I REMEMBER WRITING AN ARTICLE ON FASHION TRENDS AND WROTE “ OK GUYS, IF YOUR GIRLFRIEND PUTS PINK LIPSTICK ON BEFORE YOU GO OUT TONIGHT THEN STAY AT HOME BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!” SO I JUST MADE UP FASHION TRENDS BUT THAT PUBLICATION RECEIVED MANY COMPLAINS FOR WHAT I WROTE. BUT NOW YOU HAVE TO BE AWARE NOT TO OFFEND, WHETHER IT BE THE USE OF THIN MODELS, SMOKING ON CAMERA WHICH IS NOW TABOO. A DIRECT COMPARISON IS THAT SEVEN YEARS AGO I PHOTOGRAPHED AN ESTONIAN POP ARTIST CALLED KIWA. HE HAD PRODUCED A PAINTING OF COCA COLA BUT SMEARED COLA JUST TO LEAVE COCA. BACK THEN I THOUGHT NOTHING OF IT BUT WHEN I CAME TO REPRINT IT RECENTLY I WAS AWARE THAT IT COULD BE A REFERENCE TO DRUGS AND COULD I PUT THIS ON MY WALL BECAUSE IT COULD BE SEEN THAT I CONDONE THE USE OF DRUGS. I FEEL I NEED TO ANALYZE EVERYTHING THAT I DO. SO BASICALLY THE INDUSTRY HAS BECOME A LOT MORE CONSERVATIVE AND EVERYTHING IS QUESTIONED. DO YOU THINK THE SAME COULD BE SAID FOR THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY? I JUST THINK THAT THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY HAS COMPLETELY LOST ITS IDEALISM. ADVERTISING AGENCIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING INNOVATIVE AND INSPIRING CAMPAIGNS, THIS IS THEIR MORAL OBLIGATION BUT THEY ARE NOW INFLUENCED BY BUDGETS. WHEN THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION HIT THE ESTONIAN MARKET THEN THE REACTION IN THE AD. AGENCIES WAS THAT, WHY DON’T WE DO IT OURSELVES? AGENCIES HAD MAC WORKERS THAT WOULD USUALLY DO LAYOUTS ECT. BUT THEY WERE NOW DOING IT THEMSELVES. THEIR PHOTOGRAPHIC SKILLS WERE OBVIOUSLY INFERIOR SO THEY WOULD SHOOT EVERYTHING ON A WHITE BACKGROUND THEN MONTAGE THE IMAGE IN POST-PRODUCTION. THE ESSENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY HAD BEEN TOTALLY LOST.
I READ AN ESSAY ON THE ESTONICA WEBSITE (THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ESTONIA) WHICH STATED THAT ESTONIAN ART PHOTOGRAPHY HAS FALLEN INTO A SLUMBER IN THAT IT HAS NO CONTEXT COMPARED TO 90’S ART PHOTOGRAPHY WHICH WAS VERY MUCH THE DOCUMENTARY OF POSTSOVIET OCCUPATION. WOULD YOU AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT? WELL NEWLY INDEPENDENT ESTONIA WAS A VERY FAST MOVING AND AMBITIOUS COUNTRY. THE RATE OF CHANGE IN THIS COUNTRY WAS PHENOMENAL SO DOCUMENTATION WAS EASY. EVEN IF YOU WERE NOT A VERY SKILLED PHOTOGRAPHER THERE WAS VISUAL STIMULATION EVERYWHERE YOU LOOKED. BUT TOWARDS THE END OF THE 90’S MORE CONCEPTUAL PHOTOGRAPHY BECAME POPULAR. THE SKILL OF PHOTOGRAPHY CAME SECOND TO THE IDEA. I REMEMBER GOING TO GALLERIES AND VIEWING THESE REALLY SERIOUS PHOTO STORIES AND THINKING WHY ARE YOU A PHOTOGRAPHER, WHY AREN’T YOU AN ART CRITIC OR SOMETHING? THIS LEADS QUITE NICELY TO MY NEXT QUESTION, WHICH REFERENCES THE FORE MENTIONED ESSAY STATING THAT ESTONIANS IN GENERAL REJECT PHOTOGRAPHY AND CINEMATOGRAPHY AS AN ART FORM. HAVE YOU BEEN WITNESS TO THIS? IT’S VERY MUCH ABOUT GALLERY AND MUSEUM CURATORS AS TO WHAT THEY WANT TO SHOWCASE. ESTONIAN IS SUCH A SMALL COUNTRY AND THERE ARE SE FEW CURATORS THAT WHAT IS EXHIBITED IS VERY MUCH DOWN TO THEM AND THEIR OPTIONS OF WHAT ART IS. A THIRD OF THE ESTONIAN POPULATION ARE RUSSIAN BUT MY EXPERIENCETO DATE HAVE BROUGHT ME NO CONTACT WITH RUSSIAN ADVERTISING OR FASHION PHOTOGRAPHERS. ARE THERE ANY PREVALENT RUSSIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS IN ESTONIA? NO. I DO NOT KNOW OF ANY. AND ONLY A COUPLE OF RUSSIAN FASHION BRANDS HAVE SURVIVED. THIS IS MAINLY DOWN TO THE INFLUENCED OF WESTERN CULTURE AND THE INTRODUCTION OF WESTERN BRANDS, WHICH ESTONIANS ARE VERY EAGER TO CONSUME.