SITUATION #53

To celebrate the book launch of Superficial Images (Spector Books, 2016) the Zurich-based photographer Peter Tillessen spoke with publisher and author Jan Wenzel from Leipzig. “Superficial images are superficial. They are seldom planned. They happen,” states the photographer laconically on his website, intentionally remaining ambiguous as to whether he is referring to the internalized process of taking a photograph or the review and selection process that is part of a publication. Continuously circling and engaging with certain themes and imagery, Tillessen uses his camera to make references that go far beyond the meaning and significance of the individual image. Random ideas and themes are grouped together; various images and series are brought into relationship along the way, engaging in a dynamic of attraction and repulsion and ultimately coalescing in an overarching personal and photographic narrative. Consistently making use of distorting contrasts, the photographer produces a distinctive yet quiet voice of doubt as to how photography creates meaning.

More about the book: superficialimages.info