The thought-provoking work of Theo Gould

The London-born, Lisbon-based photographer Theo Gould explores what it means to be black in Western society. We ask him about this process, the collaboration with FUBUNATION, and their iconic exhibition at the V&A museum in London.

PHOTOGRAPHY: THEO GOULD

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
”My work is about connection. I see my work as a bridge between the subjects and the audience. It is my firm belief that the human race has much more connecting us than dividing us. My aim is to find the humanity in each person with the aim of bringing us closer together.”

HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR PARTICULAR STYLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY?
”The honest truth is that is was through a lot of trial and error. I first discovered photography when I was living in Columbia. Being in a place where I neither spoke the language nor understood the culture meant that I had to find new forms of communication. In lots of ways, I used my camera as a passport into people's homes and their lives with my very limited Spanish as a backup. I'd ask as much about their lives as I could, before taking their portrait as a memento of our encounter. As both my language and photography skills improved, so did the complexity of my work. Although the basic principle would stay the same throughout. I really believe that the more you know about a person, the better photographs you can take of them.

TALK ABOUT YOUR PROCESS. WHAT GOES INTO PREPARING FOR A SHOOT?
”I tend to shoot projects rather than small-scale campaigns. There's a lot of research that goes into learning about the subjects. Research starts with reading, but then evolves into conversations about the project and the people who will be depicted in them.”

YOU HAVE COLLABORATED WITH THE CHOREOGRAPHY GROUP FUBUNATION FOR THE “BLACK IS…” SERIES. HOW DID YOU MEET THEM? “I worked with (the founders) Rhys and Waddah on a project last year. They were choreographing a dance performance for a group of seniors that wanted to honor their loved ones who had died from COVID. My role was to take photographs to go alongside the performance. Towards the end of last year, they got in touch and asked me if I would do part of their new project. We've been working together ever since.”

HOW DID THE “BLACK IS…” SERIES COME ABOUT?
”Both of the guys from FUBUNATION and myself are from completely different parts of the African diaspora. They and I come from very different creative disciplines, yet we were able to find common ground for us to work within. Part of the reason I think this work is so powerful is that it transcends both dance and photography and can be understood by people from multiple cultural backgrounds. My intention with my process is to always find a deeper level of understanding.”

DESCRIBE THE PROCESS BEHIND THE V&A EXHIBITION? IT’S BOTH A PERFORMANCE AND A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION.
“When this show was created by the museum, my ambition was to create a series of photographs that went alongside the performance that would both add to and compliment it. I wanted to catch both the rawness as well as the delicateness of the performance within each photograph. Some things work well in the performative setting. Some work better in the exhibits. This was a case of filtering the different aspects into creating a strong series of photographs.”

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE BEST REACTIONS TO THE SHOW?
“I was thrilled by the reaction. People from all different walks of life, different ages, and different cultural backgrounds, many of whom were not represented in dance or photography praised the work for being both powerful and beautiful.I think the biggest compliment came from one of the curators at the V&A who actually said that they wanted to take the photographs into their own collection. I believe that process is just starting.

WHAT DO YOU THINK NFTS CAN MEAN FOR PHOTOGRAPHY?
“I welcome all new technologies that advance artistic expression. I find NFTs particularly interesting as most images we see on a day-to-day basis tend to be digital images. As a photographer that works almost exclusively on digital formats, it seems like a very natural area to publish my work. I also love the idea that my work can be seen and owned in the metaverse from anywhere in the world. I think, over time, we'll come to recognize photography is the bridge from the metaverse to our core reality. Even from a strictly financial point of view, NFTs offer photographers the ability to earn into the future with their work, which obviously almost never happens in the traditional market.”

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THE MOST RIGHT NOW?
“I've just finished my project ‘Next’, which depicts people like myself who are either bi or multiracial and helps to process our experiences being not one thing or the other, basically. I'm currently researching a new project that traces where and how our food, over the many years, has moved across borders and through cultures. This is something I've wanted to do for a very long time. Food is the strongest connector.”