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As part of Inside>>Out, join Magnum photographer Sohrab Hura for a workshop over 5 days in Tirana, Albania between 21–26 April 2024.
What to expect:
Sohrab described his ideas and intentions in the text below, which we decided to use as it is as it conveys in an honest way what you can expect from taking part of this workshop with him:
“I’ll be honest. I have a very awkward relationship with photography. Sometimes I’m absolutely in love with it, mostly it frustrates me to no end. I started photography because I was not in a good space and making photographs and knowing and feeling that they had touched someone, made me feel like I existed. Just for a moment, but it was enough at a time when I felt completely invisible. But over the years as I grew as a photographer that feeling of love slowly become a feeling of love-hate, as I hope it is for any relationship that is alive and constantly changing. I had to figure a way out to keep at it. I’ve made photographs, Photobooks, films (many of them out of photographs), sound work (also some of them out of photographs), I’ve been drawing and of late I’ve started painting as well. While it may all seem different at first, they are all connected in a way that they are drawn from photographs, at least in part if not in entirety. I don’t think I would have been able to do any of it if I had not been the photographer that I am. I think my main work is really of editing. I see that in whatever I do. And this editing process is never fixed, my work always grows forward in a non-linear zig-zag manner. It expands and then I shrink it down and then over time I expand it again and then shrink it again and that it how it goes. In a world where there is a growing expectation to fix meanings, I’m interested in unfixing meanings within my works.
There are many other photographers here who are way better than me at giving workshops that involve photographing every day so I’d suggest all the other mentors instead of me if that is what you’re looking for. I think can be of use to those of you who might want to take the chance of re-looking at an ongoing long-term body of work. I’ve often felt stuck especially after whatever it is that I’m making has aged a bit and got some form. That part of the work feels the hardest to me because I feel unsure about how to add more to what is already there. Because at some time point everything starts to feel the same. If you’re stuck for similar reasons or any other and are open to allowing me to look at all the unseen parts of your work: the larger archive, peripheral materials, ideas that you’re curious about but are worried might feel stupid (nothing is stupid) if you were to put it out, then I might be able to work with you.
I hope to have this workshop feel more like a retreat than a workshop, a pause that is needed. I’d want to use all the material that you have and start from scratch and see where you work might be able to go. So while we will try ad retrace your steps and see how far we get you will have to be open to finding unexpected turns from the original intent and direction. In the end it is your work and your call but my role is to try and open up as many threads as we might be able to find during those workshop days. I will of course share my own process on the first day: my photography in general, but I will also screen a few short films that I had made, talk about my book making process, the shift to drawings and paintings and take you through the dilemmas and inflexion points that helped me to take my work further.
This workshop is definitely not going to be of a mentor-mentee kind because that would imply that I have all the answers. I don’t. I’ll be more of a guide. Everyone will is encouraged to participate in the discussions because sometimes it is easier to learn to ‘see’ when it isn’t your own work. The more material you are able to bring, the more I’ll be able to help you.
Please do not limit yourself to only your edit. Because your edit is only an extraction of how you have been searching and moving through your work. The more you let me in how you have been organically moving through in your work, the clearer a perspective it gives me on the edit you’ve made. So please feel free to get on your computer your entire archive of the work IN LOW RESOLUTION. In addition, if you’re able to get 300 to 500 or more small prints that will help a lot. We will lay these prints out on the floor of the workshop space and then look for different patterns which will be the potential directions that could emerge from your archive. Since this is the only (but an extremely important) role that your prints will play, please DO NOT WORRY about the quality of those prints. Keep them as cheap as possible, you’re already spending a lot of money. Any other material related to the work like book dummies, film, sound, drawings, exhibition ideas and so on are going to be helpful additions.
My hope is that even though we will focus on a single long-term body of work, the workshop will be give you something for your process in general as well.
Thank you
Sohrab”
Book
Click here to book your place in this workshop. A 425€ deposit is required at the time of registration.
The workshop fee is 1,700€, payment plans available (we offer the possibility to pay in 2 installments).
Payments in 2 installments available until: 31 January 2024
Contact
If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact us: education@magnumphotos.com
