May 14

May 14 FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER BARBARA COLE

Art, Creative People, Culture, Interviews, Photography, Wellbeing

When digital photography began overshadowing the traditional film she loved in the 1970s, Cole sought to preserve her own painterly aesthetic, merging the past and present in a pioneering body of underwater photography that she continues to expand today. Her underwater photographs—sometimes combined with decades-old film or shot in her own pool—offer timeless visuals about romanticism and the nature transformation.

Barbara Cole is a Toronto-based fine art photographer. She began her career modeling for a local newspaper out of high school before becoming their fashion editor for the following ten years. Her early start in fashion and self-taught practice informs her intuitive photography that shifts between tradition and invention. The underwater photography for which she is most known began in the 1990s out of her own pool, where she continues to experiment and deepen her body of work. Cole has held numerous exhibitions all over the world. Her work has also been extensively commissioned internationally for corporate collections.. The documentary series Snapshot: The Art of Photography II, features an episode devoted exclusively to Cole’s photographic practice. Cole is also a vocal advocate for mental health, working with organizations like Change Direction, and using her photography and platform to create open conversations about her own experiences in the hopes of pointing to important resources.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

I’m never sure where or how I’ll suddenly find inspiration. I’m fairly confident that it will happen when I need it to, though. In terms of photography, one of my inspirations is Sarah Moon. When I first saw the work she was producing in the 80s and 90s, I understood that photography could be very painterly. That is what I’ve strived for throughout my career ever since.

Tell us about your creative process.

My creative process is a living thing. As my work evolves from one series to the next, the key is to always stay busy. It’s much harder to work from a dead stop.

How has this pandemic affected your creativity and how do you see the world moving forward?

Pre-covid my work was exclusively figurative. As an artist you need to keep working, so as lockdowns took place, my series evolved to still life with the caveat that I anthropomorphized my still life flowers. So I still felt I was working with people, in a way, by giving them human names and personalities.

You are an activist of mental health, what are some of the issues you explore with your work, and what are the questions you hope people ask in regards to this topic.

There is a certain darkness coupled with the beauty in my pictures. I hope that people will be attracted to that complexity. I deal with isolation, loneliness, and serenity primarily to bring people closer to recognizing their own emotional wellbeing by relating to mine. There’s tremendous strength in recognizing the darkness and self-actualizing your beauty in spite of it.

How do you see the art world and do you think it needs to change, if so how can it be improved.

I look at it the same way I look at my underwater work: it always has the capacity to change and evolve and it should.

What does wellbeing mean to you?

That is a great question and one that people should probably ask themselves more frequently. I suppose if I’m not agitated, feeling like lashing out at the world for no apparent reason, that’s a great start. I don’t like to be too “scheduled” and forced into doing things I don’t like. If it affects my mental health, I feel it’s an easy call for me to take a step back.

Every morning, I like to ask for help to get through the day. Asking for help is a way to find some humility. Every night, I give thanks for that help. If I miss a day, then I know I’m off the beam on some level. It’s a good indicator that I need to regroup.