Sanna Charles / 36 / London / Photographer & image maker
For the first exhibition in our BADASSFEMALES series we are showing work by London based Photographer Sanna Charles. Badass certainly befits this photographer who has been photographing metal fans throughout her career. Culminating in her brilliant homage to slayer fans, the book God Listens To Slayer, available through Ditto Press. This project, When Death Comes Only Good Deeds Count, is an celebration of death, and in turn life. We are exhibiting 3 prints from a much larger series which can found here. Prints are available to purchase on our webshop here.
We caught up with Sanna to chat about life, death and all things metal…
Tell us a bit about the prints you are exhibiting..
The 3 images I’m showing at Printer of Dreams are pages from volume 1 of my fanzine When death comes only good deeds count. Each page in the zine is a narrative that is connected to my own past and my obsession with images of death and gore. I used to draw a lot, mostly doodles and copies of death metal artwork but I stopped for whatever reasons, so by combining these old illustrations with selected negatives from my recent archive, which are then scanned, printed and photocopied, they breath again and start to tell another story. Though death is the theme I think they are hopefully critical of life.
How would you describe your approach to making art?
I work spontaneously and follow my instincts, I find when I do this and don’t think too much about the outcome the best stuff happens. I also sit on things for a long time and I start a lot of projects that may not see the light of day for years but occasionally I return to them. I recently found a box of old writing and drawings that I had forgotten about, this happens quite a lot as I’m a bit of a hoarder, but now I’m planning on doing something with them, possibly for volume 2 of my zine.
What do you do when you’re procrastinating?
Watch cartoons.
How/When/Where do you do your work?
At the moment I’m working on projects a lot at home, I don’t have a studio but I have space enough not to need one. If I’m shooting then I’ll work on location. I also print at work where we have a black & white darkroom.
How do you earn the rent?
I work as a photography technician at a secondary school in east London, I also help out with the organisation of the Portman Gallery which is attached to the school. Sometimes I work in a bar, sometimes I actually get paid to take photographs.
In five years time you would like to be…
Working (photographing), travelling, writing, drawing, collaborating.
In five years time you will be…
Working (photographing), travelling, writing, drawing, collaborating.
Final words of advice…
Don’t discard anything, especially sketchbooks, doodles, notes and ideas on scraps of paper…that shit might be gold in 5 years time. Follow your instincts and your gut. And don’t think you need the newest equipment, get good with what you’ve got.
At the moment I am…
Over stimulated:
Reading…
I’ve got about four books on the go:
Albers and Moholy-nagy: From the Bauhaus to the New World
The Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks
Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson by Clive Scott
The Truth of Revolution, Brother: An Exploration of Punk Philosophy by Situation Press
Listening to…
Henge: S/T (their debut album) / Gnod: Infinity Machines / Cirith Ungol: King of the Dead
Watching…
Metalocalypse / Mr. Pickles / Rick & Morty
Looking at…
Photography: Saul Leiter’s colour work and Berenice Abbott’s Documenting Science work. Abstraction is the great escape.
We can find you at…
sannalcharles@gmail.com
www.sannacharles/tumblr.com
