Interviewed by Ana Osorno

Ana Osorno: Tell us a little bit about yourself, and what made you start pursuing photography?

Carmen Daneshmandi:I grew up in Crossroads, Washington and spent my childhood in the Seattle suburbs. I went to school in a small college town in Washington state where I attended Western Washington University. Originally, I really wanted to go to a big art school in New York, but am glad I started in a small town because it gave me more time and space to figure myself out creatively. When I was at Western I really focused on getting a solid creative foundation, so I took photo classes, fabric workshops, printmaking classes, and more, all of which have been important to my image making. I eventually transferred to Seattle Central Community College where I finished my photography studies, and I moved to New York two years after graduating.

Ana: So when did you realize you wanted to do photography full time?

Carmen:I knew from a really young age that this was what I wanted to do. I got into photography when I was 14 and I took an intro to the black and white darkroom class which I loved. But even before photography, I’d always focused on different means of creative expression, and did a lot of poetry writing, and spoken word slam performance. A lot of my earlier creative work from has influenced my current work such as the poems, written work and collages that I incorporate into my images. Additionally, I started working at a camera store when I was 15 years old and I wouldn't say the seven years I worked at the camera store were what gave me a real foundational understanding of cameras and photography - it was more of a job that helped financially support those bigger goals and gave me an understanding of how to work with and communicate with different people and personality types in relation to needs in photography at a very young age. Many of the skills I picked up at that job are part of my self awareness and social abilities I bring with me to set whether I am talking to the makeup artist, creative director, model, etc.

Ana: What has your path post grad looked like?

Carmen: After graduating, I spent a couple of years freelancing in Seattle while living at home and saving up as much money as possible. Eventually, I met one of my best friends in Seattle when I took his portrait for a project and he ended up becoming my shoot stylist before we decided to make the jump to New York together. We began by coming to New York for small networking trips to promote our work before moving here full time. Once I arrived in the city I was doing a lot of model test shoots and studio work to start getting my work out there. I eventually got a job in the photo studio at Saks Fifth Avenue, while also continuing to freelance and do my own personal projects on the side. Coming to New York was huge for me and I was able to make a lot of connections and grow as an artist. You definitely have to take advantage of what the city offers. I would go to all the shows, galleries, and artist talks I could find and personally introduce myself to the photo editors who would give me some of my first magazine gigs

Ana: How has living in Barcelona and New York shaped your work?

Carmen: Well, I got to Barcelona in kind of a crazy way. In 2018, I was living in a small town in Spain called Zaragoza. My sister who is four years younger than me told me that she was thinking of moving to Spain to do a teaching program and she asked me to come and be her roommate. So she got placed in Zaragoza and I ended up moving with her. To be honest, the city was fine but it was not what I had expected. But I took advantage of my time there and the low cost of living and was able to go all over Europe and back to New York (before Covid) and keep doing work. But when Covid hit, I knew that there was no market or industry for what I wanted to do in Zaragoza so I decided I had to move to either Madrid or Barcelona. I fell in love with Barcelona and knew that I would be inspired here. I am definitely still getting acclimated to being here as I start the process of furnishing my apartment and diving back into my work.

Ana: What has been your favorite project to date?

Carmen: Image banking and scanning are huge parts of how I work. When I take an image, I usually know instantly what I want to do with it. I have these containers filled with broken pieces of ceramics and melted wax from candles that I have collected over time and that I am constantly incorporating into my work, and collaging with the images and scans I make. I really like to personally collect the items I use in my work, whether it be the sea glass on the beaches in Barcelona or the melted wax from my candles.

At the moment, I wanted to get back to creating and reintroducing my work to people so I decided to take this idea I had for a while to make a decolonized calendar zine with some select and unseen new pieces of work and personal writing and sell it on Instagram to make some money during this unstable time. But the best part was getting back into collaging, designing, doing research, and printing the work.

Ana: How has Covid changed you as an artist?

Carmen: Financially, it has been really difficult. Being unable to go on set or not working gigs has made it hard to keep supporting myself. I have also been far from my community, family, and friends back in Seattle and New York., That has definitely been the hardest part. But what has been positive about it is that I was able to spend the first quarantine in Zaragoza, and it was the first time I was forced to fully be there full time and I was able to get a sense of the community,see neighbors, and connect with people I had never met before. I began to take portraits of my neighbors from my balcony and make collages of my work. It was really important to me that this place which I had not given the actual time of day to, and had originally disliked, taught me the importance of community and connection.

Ana: When it comes to your photo style and this project, were you influenced or inspired by any other media or photographers?

Carmen: A fashion photographer I love is Viviann Sassen. I also love Jim Goldberg and the way he sketches on his photographs, and the storytelling of Carrie Mae Weems. Additional photographers I love include; Wolfgang Tillmans, Shirin Neshat, Carmen Amaya, Kahlil Joseph, Helmut Newton, Juergen Teller, Duane Michaels, Jamel Shabazz, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Malick Sidibe, John Stezaker, The Surrealists, Dadaism.

Some media that has inspired me are these found objects,“ready-mades” throughout the city. When I first got to New York I was documenting the trash stamped into the street, and the things I found throughout the city.

Ana: What equipment do you use to create?

Carmen: Honestly, I will shoot with whatever is available to me. When I was working at the camera store for years, I saw all types of customers with all types of gear and it is truly what you do with it. People used to ask what the best camera or product was and I would have to say that it just depends on what they want to do with it. The most important thing for me is how the colors turn out, and I know I can always edit it afterwards.

Ana: Your work is very collage heavy, often interweaving bits and pieces together, what do you hope your work does?

Carmen: My work is definitely mixed media and collage based which intersects with my previous interest with poetry and writing. I would say that my work is constantly evolving and informing me of what I am capable of doing with this role and in this life. In my work I make sure there is thoughtfulness to the colors I choose and the items I bring in.

I am very interested in expanding on my creative practice with photography, and bringing my interests in mixed media and collage into physical spaces through design and object. I’d like to explore my love for culture and community as part of physical space as well (maybe with a community or cultural center/cultural bread breaking food, sharing space or workshop + art gallery etc). I also hope to one day spend time in Iran connecting with the artist communities out there, and making work close to that part of my roots - I was supposed to go shoot a portrait in Tehran for a special project commission, but 2020 also ate those plans up! One day!

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