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Madison Magazine
Nov 22 2014
>From Madison to Nagorno Karabakh
By Katie Vaughn
In Lands in Limbo, an exhibition opening in December at the Madison
Museum of Contemporary Art, Narayan Mahon takes viewers to
Trandsniestra, Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh and other unrecognized
countries. Given the captivating looks the photographer offers into
everyday life in these unique places, it might be surprising to learn
that Mahon calls Madison home.
Mahon kindly answered a few questions about his work, style and the
experience of putting together Lands in Limbo.
How'd you become a photographer and what brought you to Madison?
I came to photography when I was doing my undergraduate degree in
international studies in North Carolina. I've always been interested
in different parts of the world and I loved traveling and I found I
really liked photography as a way to document what I was experiencing,
like a visual diary. From that I realized I wanted to try and make
photography my career.
A woman brought me to Madison ... or more like I followed her here ... and
now we're married. I don't think I've ever lived in a city that I have
loved so much--well, maybe ten or eleven months out of the year!
How would you describe your photography style or aesthetic?
I'm not good describing my photographic style. The first photobook I
ever bought was Alex Webb's Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds, and I think my
style has been influenced from that first encounter with complex but
clean compositions, these images with a lot of information in them and
beautiful color ... not that I always achieve that, but it's the
aesthetic that resonates with me most.
You've shot for the New York Times, USA Today, ESPN, Dwell and Rolling
Stone (and Madison Magazine), among others. What are your favorite
types of assignments?
My favorite type of assignment is one in which I learn something new.
And that's what I love most about being a photographer, that in a
single week I can photograph a scientist, a baseball player and a
politician ... or a potato harvest one week and the next week
lumberjacks. It's that kind of diversity in assignments I enjoy most,
no matter who the assignment is for.
What is it like having such an international career while living in Madison?
The international part of my career began before moving to Madison and
that aspect has certainly slowed, but now I shoot more regionally and
nationally, and I love that. I really enjoy shooting things that mean
something to the people in the community in which I live and being a
part of the community. That's something new since moving to Madison
and something I wouldn't trade for more international work ... not that
I wouldn't pee my pants for a shoot in South America in February or
March!
Tell me about the Lands in Limbo project. What is it and why did you start it?
Lands in Limbo is a project about five unrecognized countries,
Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh, Northern Cyprus, Transnistria and
Somaliland. These countries that have broken away or seceded from
other countries by means of civil war. These are countries that have
essentially won their civil war, secured the borders they claim, built
their own governments, some more democratic than others, have their
own military and passports, print their own money and provide some
semblance of social services. Yet despite being effectively sovereign
and independent, these countries remain unrecognized by the
international community. The project aims to explore what life is like
in a country that isn't an official country.
When and where did you take the photographs for this project?
Abkhazia is in Caucasus region on the Black Sea, bordering Georgia
(the country from which they seceded), and Russia. Nagorno Karabakh is
in the southern Caucasus region, between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
just north of Iran. Northern Cyprus is the northern half of the island
of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. Transdnistria is between Ukraine
and Moldova. Somaliland is the northern third or so of Somalia,
bordering Ethiopia and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. I started
photographing this project in the winter of 2006, beginning with
Nagorno Karabakh.
How are the photographs for Lands in Limbo different from your other work?
I think the only difference between Lands in Limbo and my other work
is content and scale. Lands in Limbo is a very large project that
attempts to look at a broad range of issues, from national identity to
isolation. My other work is much less ambitious!
What was the experience like working on Lands in Limbo? What about it
surprised you or what did it teach you?
Working on Lands in Limbo was a big challenge for me. In many places I
was watched with a suspicious eye, people thinking I was a spy! I was
detained once in Transnistria and three times in Abkhazia, and near
the end of my time in Nagorno Karabakh the Minister of Foreign Affairs
asked me to leave. The former Soviet states have such a pervasive
culture of distrust and paranoia that it can be hard for a foreigner
to explore those areas freely.
Personally, my views of self-determination have changed since working
on this project. Before, I thought, "Well, of course a group of people
should have the right to govern themselves as they wish" ... but I
released that liberal ideal when it came into conflict with my other
strongly held liberal ideal of multiculturalism ... and I would think,
"Well, of course we as a country should try to resolve cultural
differences and find a way to live together." "Stronger Together," to
steal the recent slogan from Scotland's referendum on independence.
And that is something I believe more strongly than I did before this
project, that we are all stronger together despite our differences. So
in the end, I think I came out of this project seeing multiculturalism
as something greater than self-determination. Of course, we are only
stronger together as long as everyone has the same privileges and
treated equally. So I suppose there are conditions to that!
In a practical sense, working on Lands in Limbo was very frustrating.
The logistics and costs of traveling to these places can be a big
hurdle and complicated. Most of the time I didn't have the funds to
shoot when I wanted to or for as much time as I would have preferred.
Lands in Limbo was my sole focus for years and that was also tiring,
trying to get the work out into the world was challenging when most
magazines are only interested in the news hook and not the context of
the conflict or situation.
What are you most looking forward to in Lands in Limbo being featured at MMoCA?
I'm really excited about this upcoming exhibition at MMoCA, primarily
to contribute something to the Madison community. The original goal of
this project was to show people a world they might not know much about
and I am really grateful to have the opportunity to do just that at a
such beautiful and prestigious venue as MMoCA.
What do you hope people get from seeing your work?
If just one person says, "Huh, I had no idea these places even
existed," that's enough for me.
What are you working on next?
My next project is a photographic interpretation of Aldo Leopold's
Sand County Almanac.
Lands in Limbo runs December 6-March 15 at MMoCA. For details, visit
mmoca.org. For more information on Narayan Mahon and his work, visit
narayanmahon.com.
Photos of, from top to bottom, "Square, Tiraspol, Transnistria,"
"Store, Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh" and "Black Sea, Abkhazia," by
Narayan Mahon and courtesy of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
http://www.madisonmagazine.com/Blogs/Artscape/November-2014/From-Madison-to-Nagorno-Karabakh/
Nov 22 2014
>From Madison to Nagorno Karabakh
By Katie Vaughn
In Lands in Limbo, an exhibition opening in December at the Madison
Museum of Contemporary Art, Narayan Mahon takes viewers to
Trandsniestra, Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh and other unrecognized
countries. Given the captivating looks the photographer offers into
everyday life in these unique places, it might be surprising to learn
that Mahon calls Madison home.
Mahon kindly answered a few questions about his work, style and the
experience of putting together Lands in Limbo.
How'd you become a photographer and what brought you to Madison?
I came to photography when I was doing my undergraduate degree in
international studies in North Carolina. I've always been interested
in different parts of the world and I loved traveling and I found I
really liked photography as a way to document what I was experiencing,
like a visual diary. From that I realized I wanted to try and make
photography my career.
A woman brought me to Madison ... or more like I followed her here ... and
now we're married. I don't think I've ever lived in a city that I have
loved so much--well, maybe ten or eleven months out of the year!
How would you describe your photography style or aesthetic?
I'm not good describing my photographic style. The first photobook I
ever bought was Alex Webb's Hot Light/Half-Made Worlds, and I think my
style has been influenced from that first encounter with complex but
clean compositions, these images with a lot of information in them and
beautiful color ... not that I always achieve that, but it's the
aesthetic that resonates with me most.
You've shot for the New York Times, USA Today, ESPN, Dwell and Rolling
Stone (and Madison Magazine), among others. What are your favorite
types of assignments?
My favorite type of assignment is one in which I learn something new.
And that's what I love most about being a photographer, that in a
single week I can photograph a scientist, a baseball player and a
politician ... or a potato harvest one week and the next week
lumberjacks. It's that kind of diversity in assignments I enjoy most,
no matter who the assignment is for.
What is it like having such an international career while living in Madison?
The international part of my career began before moving to Madison and
that aspect has certainly slowed, but now I shoot more regionally and
nationally, and I love that. I really enjoy shooting things that mean
something to the people in the community in which I live and being a
part of the community. That's something new since moving to Madison
and something I wouldn't trade for more international work ... not that
I wouldn't pee my pants for a shoot in South America in February or
March!
Tell me about the Lands in Limbo project. What is it and why did you start it?
Lands in Limbo is a project about five unrecognized countries,
Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh, Northern Cyprus, Transnistria and
Somaliland. These countries that have broken away or seceded from
other countries by means of civil war. These are countries that have
essentially won their civil war, secured the borders they claim, built
their own governments, some more democratic than others, have their
own military and passports, print their own money and provide some
semblance of social services. Yet despite being effectively sovereign
and independent, these countries remain unrecognized by the
international community. The project aims to explore what life is like
in a country that isn't an official country.
When and where did you take the photographs for this project?
Abkhazia is in Caucasus region on the Black Sea, bordering Georgia
(the country from which they seceded), and Russia. Nagorno Karabakh is
in the southern Caucasus region, between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
just north of Iran. Northern Cyprus is the northern half of the island
of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. Transdnistria is between Ukraine
and Moldova. Somaliland is the northern third or so of Somalia,
bordering Ethiopia and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. I started
photographing this project in the winter of 2006, beginning with
Nagorno Karabakh.
How are the photographs for Lands in Limbo different from your other work?
I think the only difference between Lands in Limbo and my other work
is content and scale. Lands in Limbo is a very large project that
attempts to look at a broad range of issues, from national identity to
isolation. My other work is much less ambitious!
What was the experience like working on Lands in Limbo? What about it
surprised you or what did it teach you?
Working on Lands in Limbo was a big challenge for me. In many places I
was watched with a suspicious eye, people thinking I was a spy! I was
detained once in Transnistria and three times in Abkhazia, and near
the end of my time in Nagorno Karabakh the Minister of Foreign Affairs
asked me to leave. The former Soviet states have such a pervasive
culture of distrust and paranoia that it can be hard for a foreigner
to explore those areas freely.
Personally, my views of self-determination have changed since working
on this project. Before, I thought, "Well, of course a group of people
should have the right to govern themselves as they wish" ... but I
released that liberal ideal when it came into conflict with my other
strongly held liberal ideal of multiculturalism ... and I would think,
"Well, of course we as a country should try to resolve cultural
differences and find a way to live together." "Stronger Together," to
steal the recent slogan from Scotland's referendum on independence.
And that is something I believe more strongly than I did before this
project, that we are all stronger together despite our differences. So
in the end, I think I came out of this project seeing multiculturalism
as something greater than self-determination. Of course, we are only
stronger together as long as everyone has the same privileges and
treated equally. So I suppose there are conditions to that!
In a practical sense, working on Lands in Limbo was very frustrating.
The logistics and costs of traveling to these places can be a big
hurdle and complicated. Most of the time I didn't have the funds to
shoot when I wanted to or for as much time as I would have preferred.
Lands in Limbo was my sole focus for years and that was also tiring,
trying to get the work out into the world was challenging when most
magazines are only interested in the news hook and not the context of
the conflict or situation.
What are you most looking forward to in Lands in Limbo being featured at MMoCA?
I'm really excited about this upcoming exhibition at MMoCA, primarily
to contribute something to the Madison community. The original goal of
this project was to show people a world they might not know much about
and I am really grateful to have the opportunity to do just that at a
such beautiful and prestigious venue as MMoCA.
What do you hope people get from seeing your work?
If just one person says, "Huh, I had no idea these places even
existed," that's enough for me.
What are you working on next?
My next project is a photographic interpretation of Aldo Leopold's
Sand County Almanac.
Lands in Limbo runs December 6-March 15 at MMoCA. For details, visit
mmoca.org. For more information on Narayan Mahon and his work, visit
narayanmahon.com.
Photos of, from top to bottom, "Square, Tiraspol, Transnistria,"
"Store, Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh" and "Black Sea, Abkhazia," by
Narayan Mahon and courtesy of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
http://www.madisonmagazine.com/Blogs/Artscape/November-2014/From-Madison-to-Nagorno-Karabakh/