Lecture Series at Plymouth University

MARCO BOHR

This is an image from Marco Bohr's Website http://www.macobo.com/

From the Series Observatories

Marco Bohr is a German born Photographer who studied in Canada. His Lecture at the University was inspiring. Both his work and narrative held my attention, and at the end of his deliberation I felt energised by what I had seen and heard.

He began with work from his No Ball Games series shot in Glasgow. This was an observation on children growing up in an impoverished area of the city. It was the relationship, as Bohr saw it, between the architecture and the subjects. The architecture was brutal and yet the subjects, the children, were as imaginative, curious and playful as any you would find in any city, rich or poor. The imagination does not diminish because of poverty, in fact it shone through even though the children had very little to work with.

It was refreshing to see work that was not pretentious or perfect. Bohr was very humble in his address, he was willing to share work with us that he considered was not his best work, but a process of experimentation and learning of his craft. His later work, shot for his BA, he said, was work that was not from him but from someone else. This work reminded me very much of Gursky.

However as he developed as a photographer his work began to express his individual style. He showed us his most recent work, shot in Japan, this was amazing. It showed a considerable number of layers, it had depth and insight, and from his earlier work I could see the process that had enabled him to reach this more recent work. It became obvious to me that the process is indeed more important than the final outcome and that without the process, there will not be a final outcome.

I am now much more inspired, excited and motivated about my own work. I had lost the meaning of what I am doing, but now feel that Marco Bohr has rekindled my enthusiasm. This is something that I am celebrating. I realise once again that I need to actively interact with my own working processes. I had known this, but I had temporarily forgotten it.

Bohr's work of observing people who are observing, I find fascinating, as I too have spent time observing either other observers, or what is being observed.

It was very satisfying to listen to an Artist talk about thier work with such passion and insight. The interesting narrative that accompanied the images for me, was an important factor in the enjoyment of the work. I am glad I was there.