Melissa Baksh spoke with renowned photographer Chris Duffy ahead of his highly anticipated exhibition ‘The Duffy Collection’. His astounding prints will give viewers a peek into the life of David Bowie, through a selection of never-before-seen photographs.
As the son of legendary Brian Duffy, an innovator of documentary fashion photography during the 1960’s, Chris nonchalantly tells me that ‘it was an extraordinary time, but when you’re brought up in it it’s never very extraordinary. Michael Caine popping round for a cup of tea, or John Lennon…it was just normal. I don’t think my dad ever thought of his career as anything other than him just being a tradesman. Everything today is so celebrity driven, everyone is very aware. I think it was quite naive in those days’.
Despite his father’s prestigious career, Chris rather surreptitiously worked his way into the photography industry from the bottom, making coffee and sweeping the studio floor. ‘It was just another job really; I think it’s a very recent recurrence where photography is elevated to this new level of being art, which it never was before. It is partly to do with the transition to digital media; in the analogue period, what you saw through the lens was what you got out on the print. Today, you can create something completely different. That power has shifted away-what matters more is if you know about Photoshop. To me, modern photography is a tool; it is a means to another end, you can’t view it in the same way as analogue, which is to do with what I would call ‘aesthetical dynamic’, a moment in time. If I take a photo on my IPhone, where does it exist? You can’t touch or smell it, so it exists in a kind of strange world. And there’s no reality in it. When I get that picture back I don’t know what I’m looking at: is it a photograph, or a composite of many other elements thrown in? Digital media extends the envelope of believability. I’m not knocking it, but it’s just different’.
‘The Duffy Collection’ marks the 40th Anniversary of Bowie’s iconic Aladdin Sane album cover. So the question burning on my lips was, what is the man himself like, beneath the stardust? ‘Bowie has always been very astute in understanding other people’s talents, and he utilised many people in his career and taken from them to develop his own look and sound. I think he probably identified with my dad as someone who was very creative, talented and challenging as well. I guess their relationship was born out of a mutual interest in the way that both their minds work. For me, he was just another person from the pop business coming to the house. I think he had a duel personality, onstage and off. He knew exactly what he was doing and executed it in a very clever way. We tend to create these mysteries around people, well; in fact, they create a mystery around themselves. And we read into it and think that they’re actually something other than normal.
There are rumours that after the announcement of the ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition currently showing at the V&A, Bowie himself unexpectedly attempted to distance himself from it. This struck a rather discordant note with me at the time and I take the chance to ask Chris a bit more about it.
‘it’s quite narcissistic to be seen to be involved in something that glamourizes and adorns you. He allowed them access to all of his material and of course he was involved with it on that level. I think it was inevitable that he would distance himself from it and I think it’s a smart move. It leaves a space open for everyone to build their own interpretation. He is mysterious and that’s what people love. It’s like being a magician; if you show someone the trick, the trick’s not interesting anymore; it’s the mystery that matters. Bowie builds a mystery about himself and he keeps perpetuating the myth and interest. He understands the market; he’s been doing it a long time.’
Chris, like many, prefers to shoot film, describing the whole process as a ‘way of life’. The serial snapper confessed: ‘I love just walking around and taking pictures. Every time you take a great picture you get a buzz, and that buzz is like drug, really. I suppose I’m just a graphic drug-addict, you could say.’
So, after delving into tales of the past, I probed into Chris’ visions of the future, and where the future of fashion photography lies. ‘In the end, it always has a disposable quality about it, it doesn’t last forever. It’s of the moment, and it’s very transitional. Everyone is constantly trying to achieve a different look. That said, every now and then someone comes along and does something that you never expected. I mean, Jimi Hendrix came along and produced a completely new sound which was out of the blue and it was revolutionary, so maybe we will have another Alexander McQueen, who will produce something quite extraordinary. It’s interesting; over a period of time, if you’re in the thick of something you can’t see the change – it’s only about 20 years later when you distil it, you can separate the wheat from the chaff. With fashion, it needs twenty years to look back on and say it really was interesting; we really did make innovative changes.’
On that note our conversation winds to a close, but not before find out Chris will be attending the Launch of The Duffy Collection this week at the White Cloth Gallery.
Photo: Copyright Brian Duffy