SUN EDITIONS INTERVIEW: SASKIA WILSON

Saskia Wilson's Australia glows with an inviting warmth indicative of the freedom, joy and calm she experiences within her environment and its seasons.

She spoke to Sunroom about her limited edition print collection exclusively available through SUN Editions, a new curated online photography gallery by SUNSTUDIOS Australia.

Ngarigo Country by Saskia Wilson | Available exclusively through SUN Editions

What motivates you to pick up a camera?

I have found a medium for creating that not only brings me great joy on a personal level, but that at its best, has immense potential to create social, cultural, political and environmental change.

Which lessons or shoot experiences have resonated most, or impacted the way you work in photography?

In terms of technique, something that felt like a light bulb moment was seeing Aletheia Casey speak about a particular series of hers photographed in Iran. She only shot in that blue light before sunrise and just after sunset. It sounds simple but it made me realise that even the decisions you make about when to shoot can form part of your technique, aesthetic and visual language.

In terms of developing personal documentary projects, three very simple but very important questions were interrogated during a workshop with Corinne Noordenbos that I have found immensely helpful: why this, why now and why me.

Lutruwita by Saskia Wilson | Available exclusively through SUN Editions

What can you tell us about your SUN Editions imagery and why you've chosen to present this collection?

All of the landscape images have been taken while hiking and/or travelling in Australia.

Traditionally I feel that the Australian landscape is often depicted through a colonial lens, showing a harsh and inhospitable environment that needs to be tamed and/or conquered.

Instead, I hope this series evokes in an audience some of the freedom, joy and calm I experience when immersed in our natural environment.

Lutruwita 2 by Saskia Wilson | Available exclusively through SUN Editions

The work you've included are landscapes – but they form part of a much wider portfolio which includes fashion, portraits and still life. What role do environmental images play with in your many visual areas of interest?

I enjoy photographing landscapes because it is a way to preserve and capture the affection I have for those places: the smells, sounds, climate and seasons.

I feel particularly inspired when experiencing something for the first time so I am constantly seeking out environments that offer this kind of diversity and variability. Luckily in Australia we have this in abundance.

What have been your most meaningful moments in your career or practice to date?

Teaching participatory photography workshops with young people from diverse backgrounds feels like the most meaningful application of my skills and knowledge. Hearing from any viewers of my work that they have been in some way moved is also hugely validating.

Ngarigo Country 2 by Saskia Wilson | Available exclusively through SUN Editions

Is printed work still important to you in a digital era?

I learned how to take photographs shooting on film and printing in a dark room so seeing my work in physical form feels like completing the last and perhaps most important step in the process of photography.

I never tire of seeing my work in print, either in the pages of magazines or on the walls of peoples homes.

Saskia Wilson's collection is exclusively available through SUN Editions: own exclusive fine art prints by Australia's leading contemporary artists. A new curated online photography gallery by SUNSTUDIOS Australia.