A Corner of Home Elena Cremona
A CORNER OF HOME
Elena Cremona
Published 25 May, 2020
In the days that have passed and the days that are to come, we'll all be spending more time indoors. A Corner of Home collects photographic studies and new works made by artists in their immediate environments; small snapshots of the impulse to create.
Edited by Trine Stephensen and Joanna Cresswell
1. Where are you living at the moment and how has that environment shaped you creatively? Can you tell us about a favourite detail of this place and why?
So my living situation is actually kind of all over the place – I was meant to be in California right now, but obviously that got cancelled, so my friend thankfully took me in at her place in Leytonstone, London. All of my other stuff is in Berlin. I'm currently living in her late mother's artist studio at the top of the house, with a mattress on the floor and beautiful artwork surrounding me.
It's super inspiring living so minimally (when I say minimal, I mean that what I packed in my suitcase to go to California – about 4 shirts, my camera equipment and some trousers) is all I have with me, and honestly, I don't really need much more than that? So I guess in that way, it's made me rethink what I need for myself to be creative, and how much of my other stuff I don't need at all. It's also really made me thankful for having a garden and flowers all around me. I live a 5 minute walk away from Hollow Ponds too and I'm SO thankful that I can pop out and be surrounded by grass, marshes and trees. I really need nature around me to feel inspired (granted, I would have much rather been surrounded by rocks and the Redwoods in California, but I will take what I have, haha). My favourite thing about where I am right now is the amount of light I get in my space, and the fact that I can lie in the garden and soak up all the sun!
2. How have you looked at the materials of home differently in the past weeks? Are there parts of it that have revealed themselves to you in new ways?
I guess you could say that I have started looking at my laptop differently. It is now a portal into being able to shoot people remotely through FaceTime (WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!). I have also started embroidering old trousers with all the hands I've been shooting. My friend's late mother's artist studio is filled with thread and needle, so how could I have not picked it up and rethought my processes as an artist.
3. Tell us about how you’ve been using photography lately? What are you making or putting in front of the lens?
I'm putting a lot of strangers in front of my lens (when I say lens, I mean the FaceTime portal – but also, I'm shooting them through my actual lens, lets not bypass that). I'm shooting my housemates a lot too, a lot of myself in the mirror, my hands in different places, people from outside my window, and lots and lots of roses (there's a giant rose bush in our garden FILLED with flowers).
