Allison Minto

Conversation with Allison Minto

Why do you use photography as a medium to express your visual message?

I'm a visual learner. This particular visual language engages and excites me better than any other medium. You know --- I hate rewatching the same movie but I can somehow always linger and return to the same photograph any time.

What is your first memory of how photography changed your way of seeing?

I would say my family album. It played a huge role in how I understood myself and the people in the photograph. It was the only visual place where I could find people who looked like me.

It is because of the family album that I respond to history, representation, and community in a photographic way. I believe the archive is a testimony to how we exist and it leaves me reimagining past, present and future Black narratives.

Why is place so significant in your work?

I consider it field research.  It's essential to my practice.  It influences where I photograph or encourages me to reimagine a new space. Landscapes with historical significance evoke different emotions. When I'm out in the land, I always find myself waiting for it to lead me in a direction -- waiting, listening and observing all that's around me.  Sometimes that can mean not taking the photograph at all while also informing the next photo I take.  The sensorial experience at a location is part of the process.  The style of my work is determined by the relationship I have with my body to the land, objects, and archives at the moment I encounter it.

Memory in the mind can be fragmented. How do you continue that conversation when looking at archival images?

Imagination is key when I approach archival material. There's going to be missing information. My method begins with a journey of speculation about my family history. I'm paying attention to what's left and how I respond to what's in front of me. I delve into the details of the objects, domestic interior spaces and images, extracting elements that serve as sources of inspiration for the work. It could be anything from the lining fold in a photograph, to how light falls on my grandmother’s couch, or revisiting the place where the photograph was taken. Imagination --- you gotta have it!