Barcelona’s Amaia Gomez, who goes by the name Suzie Quattro, is shifting her focus to street photography, but I’m still drooling over this selection of studio portraits, in which small startling details give the female figure a fresh perspective.
What else do you do besides photography?
I started a Bachelors in Fine Arts program at the University of Barcelona, and I finished two months ago in the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. I spend most of my time studying and analyzing different movements of the modern age, and the differences between them, especially in painting and photography. I’m also interested in psychology, mostly in Freud’s theories of the subconscious and automatic writing. I used to employ this knowledge in my own work.
What does beauty mean to you?
Art in general, and photography in particular, is a method for discovering my own thoughts and feelings. Whenever I photograph someone’s expression out in the street or in the studio, there are times I don’t acknowledge things that are happening in these photographs. Only after I develop them do I realize that they are the sum of all parts that make who I am. And when I see this, I feel like I’m getting to know myself better. Photography is not decoration, it is something much more emotional. So the meaning of beauty to me is the truth in discovering myself a tiny bit each day.
What movies and books come closest to representing your point of view?
Any movie by the Cohen Brothers. From Blood Simple to Burn After Reading. But the movie that comes closest to representing my outlook on life is probably Jules et Jim by Francois Truffaut. As for books, maybe Jack Kerouac’s or Allen Ginsberg’s poetry.
What music are you listening to these days?
Just before I came to Boston I felt my life needed a change, I knew my work needed to develop and focus in a drastically different way. So I decided to take a road trip with a friend to increase my familiarity and firsthand knowledge of the American life, and to take pictures on the streets. He introduced me to lots of amazing music while driving to California. Music from bands like Why?, Islands, The Helio Sequence, The Notwist, The Unicorns,
