Fiona Segadães Da Silva
How did your series Aimez-vous l'orage? come to be?
Three years ago, I was deeply involved in understanding and accepting my emotions. This research followed a specific period of mourning where I had stopped my photographic practice for a while. When I started my photographic practice again, it was almost a vital need. Already working from texts written by my great-grandfather, many links resonated between his words and my images. In fact, this series was therefore a circuitous way to create a bond between us.
Were there any challenges that came up while working on this project?
I think it was accepting the feeling of vulnerability that pushed me to want to make images.
What do you want the viewer to take away from this series?
I am deeply inspired by the concept of saudade and also by intergenerational transmission. In this project, I tried to create a dialogue with my great-grandfather Herminio. It’s a common melancholy and a vulnerability that we share the central point of the project.
Describe your creative process in one word?
It’s certainly: psychic.
What motivates you to pursue image-making?
I prefer images to words, gestures and moving bodies reveal more clues than words. I guess that's why I'm very sensitive to photography. Having grown up in a difficult environment, my photographic practice allowed me to take a step back, to build myself as an individual and it is sometimes a tool that I use to find meaning. The practice of photography is cathartic, it's a way of reclaiming reality, an attempt to create a place and to exist in a different way and not just through my social condition.
The images of others are also a source of motivation for me, the way they grip me, carry me away, relieve me. I think I'm just in love with the images and it pushes me to do my own.
What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?
Survivance des lucioles by Georges Didi-Huberman.
What advice would you give to people just starting out in photography?
When you just started your practice you need to have a lot of fun and then believe in your ability to progress!
What is your favorite music or podcast to listen to?
Currently I’m into PNL’s group music.
How do you take your coffee?
I’m more of a chaï latte kind of person :-)
To view more of Fiona’s work, visit her website.