Interview: Kari Wehrs - Shot
“Bob”, © Kari Wehrs
What if you grew up fascinated with the preciousness of photographs as objects spurred on by the photo albums of your grandmother’s familial collections? What if, now as an adult, you were shocked and concerned for the fact that your mother had decided to willingly carry a gun, while also seeing an ongoing torrent of gun violence in the national news cycle? Perhaps these types of personal events might manifest themselves in informing a project using memory and the love of historical photographic processes. This is exactly the result of the combination of process and intent in photographer Kari Wehrs’ outstanding portrait project, Shot.
Wehrs has produced this thought and conversation-provoking collection by stepping out of her comfort zone and approaching complete strangers in the field to make their portrait posing with firearms. These gun enthusiasts out actively target shooting find that she has set up her darkroom tent nearby with all of the tools, chemistry, and camera necessary to produce wet plate collodion tintypes. These one of a kind photographs are the result of discussions of guns and gun ownership in our modern age, yet harken back to the American Civil War when soldiers would pose for portraits in uniform with their weaponry.
Another unique aspect in this series of note is the option that Wehrs gives each person in the project - would they like to take the completed tintype and use it as their target? Some do and some do not, but this part of including further participation from the subject only broadens the conversations taking place, and results in both the hand of the photographer and the subject becoming a part of the final image. It also gives credence to the term “shot” as both the act of photographing and of leaving bullet holes in the plate itself.
A closing passage in Wehrs’ artist statement reads, “I view this project as a method to investigate and provoke both personal and collective consciousness. How might we need to re-consider this time in our history? When do/did our rights become our burdens? How do we want to think of our social or political opposite, and how might crossing uncomfortable boundaries potentially lead to positive change? How do we freshen the all-too-often predictable “gun debate”, and instead pursue an exchange to reconcile our differences and move beyond our current impasse?”
This project was recently chosen as a juror’s choice at the 2020 CENTER Awards by Dr. Rebecca Senf, Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography & the Norton Family Curator of Photography at the Phoenix Art Museum. The resulting attention and press brought this work to us and has resulted in the following interview with Kari Wehrs about both her creative process and this work specifically.
INTERVIEW
“J” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
“Rebecca” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
Michael Kirchoff: Before getting into specifics about your work and process, I’m wondering what your earliest motivation to pursue photography had been. Was there a particular person or event that sparked your curiosity?
Kari Wehrs: As a child and into my young teens, I was always interested in looking at my grandmother’s family photo albums. I’d settle on a few pictures and look at them with a magnifying glass. The details were little “discoveries”. It was an experience to sift through the pictures, ask her questions, and listen to stories. I was also interested in the materiality of the objects. Of course I couldn’t articulate my intrigue at the time, but in looking back I think these experiences were crucial to my understandings, questions, and desires for photography.
MK: It appears that you are predominantly looking to make work using historical processes, with an emphasis on tintypes. What is it about older photographic technologies that has attracted this attention?
KW: I appreciate the slowness and the almost meditative mindset that I fall into when I work with historic processes. Tintypes serve as a one-of-a-kind object and I enjoy the element of chance that accompanies each exposure.
“Sarel” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
MK: Lightening round! In addressing silver nitrate stains…Gloves or no gloves? Apron, overalls, or old clothes?
KW: Gloves! Often times older clothes or things that I won’t care if they have stains, or that won’t show. It’s strange but I typically don’t get stains on my clothing, and I’m the messiest and get silver stains on my hands and arms through the process of cleaning up at the end of a working shift!
MK: I must admit that I had seen images from your body of work, Shot, previously, and been quite intrigued by the images I was seeing. You were recently recognized by the CENTER Awards, and that was when I knew I had to speak to you about this work. Can you give us the backstory for what prompted you to start this impressive project?
KW: This project is the result of a confluence of influences. References to gun use and violence from the national to the personal level (including my mother telling me that she began carrying), experimentation with a prior set of photos which resulted in a mentor shooting at an image that I had made, a challenge from another mentor to make work about “something that scares you”, my admiration for historical photographs, and tons of critical feedback and support from mentors, peers, and family. Looking back, it’s difficult for me to separate one instance from the others, because they truly all added up and had a way of presenting themselves to me.
MK: What is the general consensus of those you ask to sit for a portrait? Are most of them receptive to the idea or are they suspicious in any way?
KW: Most people are willing to take part in the project but I do get turned down once in a while. In cases where I am turned down, there is little conversation, so I can’t truly say that it’s because folks are suspicious, though I have gotten that impression a few times. I am turned down once in a while because the photo process is slow and will take a dedicated amount of time, and some people don’t want to use their time that way (after all, I am interrupting their target practice session).
“Vince, Dan, and Stephen” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
MK: I absolutely love your idea of letting each person have the opportunity to shoot their own portrait. It does seem a bit morbid in some way, but at the same time, the participation from them is fascinating to see in how they have a direct impact on the final look of each image. Was this the idea from the outset, or did it come about while in the field?
KW: This was the concept from the beginning. My intention was subversive, though this act – or lack of it – also speaks to ideas about agency and control. There is a mirroring of concepts in the project with the larger topics that are often associated with gun culture, use, and ownership.
MK: I’m wondering if you have any particularly interesting stories or people you encountered while making this work?
KW: In 2019, I met Aaron. When I first approached him, he was with a large group and as I began working with another person for a portrait, Aaron stood back and remained reserved. He didn’t really speak up but the group conversation circled around the love and pride that these men had in gun ownership, and it also touched on politics and notions of what “the other side” thinks or feels. As the group dispersed, I asked Aaron if he would like to participate in the project. We worked our way through a couple of images, and with a successful portrait made, we ended our session by saying our thanks to each other. (This is a common ending to these sessions, which has been a revealing aspect of making this work, as sessions tend to end in an exchange of gratitude.) Aaron turned and began walking away, but after a few seconds he turned back to me and said “I think there’s something that you might be interested in knowing”. He explained that he doesn’t particularly feel like he belongs on one political side or another, and he realizes that is often an unpopular opinion to share, but instead he has placed his strong belief in God as a way that we might move beyond the current divisiveness in our country. I was so moved by this interaction! Not because I agree or disagree – but because he had understood that I was truly interested in connecting and in an exchange of ideas, and he was willing to share his voice.
“Aimee and Mike” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
MK: There is a distinct correlation of this work to the historical portraits made with the same process during the American Civil War. With the current ideological climate towards gun ownership and the potential for a new civil war of sorts happening, was this in your mind as the portraits progressed? One can only assume that this must have been a very eye-opening experience for you.
KW: Absolutely, yes. I thought about this relationship in the work in many ways. For example, we are not in an actual civil war, but we have experienced culture wars at what many feel is an unprecedented level.
MK: Is there a goal for this work that revolves around the conversation of gun ownership in America?
KW: Certainly, but also around divisiveness more broadly. My main goal is that the work is provocative. I also feel that context is important (personal, cultural, and historical).
MK: Do you feel any influence in your work that might be derived from somewhere else in the art world? Music, literature, dance, or sculpture maybe?
KW: There wasn’t a specific influence, though in working with tintypes for a significant time prior to this project, I felt a built-up desire to push the “objectness” of the photos even further. I wanted them to be more sculptural in form - and then yes, Shot was a form of achieving this. Additionally, I created a set of individualized cases for some of the smaller and earliest photos from this project. These are a more modern version of the historical tintype cases and included cut-outs for areas in the plate that had been shot, allowing the plate to lay flat within its case.
“Neco” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
“Alex” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
MK: I notice that you also do some teaching at the Maine Media Workshops + College. I assume this is in alternative/historical processes? How does being an educator inform or direct your own work?
KW: I love this question! The Maine Media Workshops is a magical place and even though I engage there as an educator, there is so much to absorb that I continue to learn from others and from my students. Year after year, the workshops experience is one that feels full circle – so much that I would say it is now an integral part of my creative practice!
Since 2012, I have taught adult and young artist courses, and I teach in a range of areas. The last few summers I have worked with Maine Media to run a course titled “4-week photo school” with young artists, ages 14 -18. We cover a wide range in the month-long course! We begin with digital image creation, learning Lightroom software, and making pigment prints via Epson printers. We then move on to analog photography, beginning with silver gelatin film and making our own print enlargements in the darkroom. After that we go further back into time with learning the wet plate collodion process (resulting in tintypes) and we experiment with a very large cyanotype mural on fabric and with small unique cyanotypes formed from digital negatives, hand altered, and/or photogram techniques! Some time is spent in a studio setting using props, working with models and lights, and we go on daily field trips to a variety of locations.
Being an educator keeps creativity alive. It reminds me to spice things up once in a while, break my own rules, experiment, and continue to be curious and thoughtful. I am continuously moved by my students’ work and through the expression of their thoughts and voices!
“Jamie” from the series Shot © Kari Wehrs
MK: Concerning creativity and the projects you take on. Do you feel it is better to create work that fits a particular style for yourself, branch out and try new things, or better to simply leave yourself open to possibilities that happen organically?
KW: Trust your intuition and pay attention to your life and investigate your concerns/questions.
MK: How do you see the visual arts, photography more specifically, changing in our new pandemic-infused world? Have you experienced any changes that you feel you will hold on to from now on?
KW: I think that a hybrid of possibilities for teaching and for sharing photography will be more accepted after this, and I am open to trying out these options, but I have not yet personally determined to settle into one thing or another based on the pandemic.
I have enjoyed more virtual events lately – both being a featured artist and as a viewer. It’s wonderful because an artists’ reach can extend far beyond just the folks who can be in the room. Though I think like all things, momentum can swing so far in one direction, that we shouldn’t forget about the other direction. I’m not sure there is a substitute for engagement in person. In less than 1 full year of adjusting our lives to the pandemic, I already see the stress and the negative side-effects on my students. I see that they long for engagement in ways that cannot fully be done at a computer screen.
MK: With either the Shot body of work or something new, is there anything coming up from you that we might have to look forward to?
KW: More to come on this in the future, but I’m dreaming about Shot, the photobook. I’d love to keep you posted as I iron out the details.
MK: Yes! Please do. Thank you for your time with my questions, Kari. This is fascinating work and I’m glad I’ve been able to learn more about it.
GALLERY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kari Wehrs is a photographer and educator currently living in Tempe, AZ. She attended Arizona State University for her MFA in photography and graduated in the Spring of 2018.
As a child, Kari spent hours flipping through her Grandmother's family photo albums that dated from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. The photographs were compiled neatly, often with handwritten notations, which suggested to her that they were precious objects. Wanting to see the details of each image, Kari often examined the photographs with her Grandmother's magnifying glass. She found the idea that time could be recorded and "held" in photographs to be truly fascinating.
Originally from Minnesota, Kari attended the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse for her undergraduate education, and soon after attended the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, in the fall of 2007. Kari has been associated with the Maine Media Workshops + College in Rockport, Maine, since 2008, and has been a workshops instructor since 2012.
Kari has a deep interest in the techniques, technology, and history of the photographic medium. While embracing multiple methods in her own work, her most recent series is portraiture employing the 1850s wet plate collodion process (tintypes).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Kirchoff is a photographic artist, independent curator and juror, and advocate for the photographic arts. He has been a juror for Photolucida’s Critical Mass, and has reviewed portfolios for several fine art photographic organizations and non-profits in the U.S. and abroad. Michael has been a contributing writer for Lenscratch, Light Leaked, and Don’t Take Pictures magazine. In addition, he spent ten years (2006-2016) on the Board of the American Photographic Artists in Los Angeles (APA/LA), producing artist lectures, as well as business and inspirational events for the community. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief at Analog Forever Magazine, Founding Editor for the photographer interview site, Catalyst: Interviews, Contributing Editor at One Twelve Publishing, and the Co-Host of The Diffusion Tapes podcast.
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