ANITA
IN CONVERSATION
I first met Anita Barry in two thousand and twenty when she was in the process of launching her clothing line, L' Autre Atelier. We instantly connected through a shared love of fashion and an appreciation of a number of houses. Since then I’ve continued to follow Anita’s work over the years and have kept a close eye on her recent portraiture work born out of the launch campaign for L’Autre and her passion for photography.
There is such finesse in Anita’s photographs and the ability to create work that’s understated in a world saturated with noise is unique. Anita has this ability to make imagery look unedited, effortless and modest when in fact it’s been meticulously considered. She has an eclectic taste, and an unbelievably calm demeanour which makes you feel disarmed in an environment where you are shooting. Spending time with her is a luxury, it’s rare to find great listeners or people that present an atmosphere for you to feel like you can be heard. I caught up with Anita last week to discuss what inspires her, how she got into photography and her journey so far.
INTERVIEW BY STEPHEN COX · Photographs by anita barrY
SC: I think we first met in 2020, it was right before COVID, wasn't it? Back then you were launching your own clothing line, tell me a bit about that.
AB: Yes, the clothing line - So, my background is in fashion, and I studied womenswear at Edinburgh College of Art. In 2017 I was living in Abu Dhabi and I started designing when I was there, going back to my roots. It felt like the perfect time for me to be doing that, to be doing something I love.
I was taking a lot of inspiration from my surroundings, and predominantly the light, it felt like a lot of abstract things were going on. I designed my first collection, and then started having it produced in London. I moved back in 2019, having shot the collection and all the pieces, we met when I was putting together ideas for the website.
I remember shooting the collection and the photography elements of it were always really, really important to me. We had a very similar aesthetic when we met but then obviously COVID happened, and sort of put a bit of a dampener on what I was doing.
SC: I was looking at your collection the other day, firstly it’s timeless, it’s also an extremely minimal capsule collection where the pieces can interchange, one thing that stood out to me was the use of pleating. I feel like pleating has gotten huge recently with the likes of glassware, homeware and of course fashion, perhaps it’s frequency illusion but right now I can’t stop noticing creases everywhere.
AB: All of the pleats actually came from the original research. I was taking photos in Abu Dhabi and was fascinated by the light. I was fascinated by the shapes created from the man-made structures and staircases under the very strong sun from the desert. I was interested how these shapes were changing – the shapes were so bold and abstract but moved throughout my daily routine. I would pass the same staircase four times a day and there would always be this really bold shadow, I like this idea of transient temporary arts created by the combination of nature and man-made and one particular staircase was the inspiration that led on to doing the pleats.
I don't necessarily go by trend, I just go by my own creative process, everything is always minimal but with something a bit different about it. I think I have the same aesthetic with design and with photography. I'm a minimalist.
SC: I'm sure you expected me to come on to this because they tie in so well, but you shot your own campaign for the clothing line, tell me a bit about how you got into photography. I hate this expression, but for lack of a better term tell me how you learned your trade?
AB: Firstly, I'm always learning I don't think you ever stop… always keep growing! In terms of my story, for me It goes right back to before I started studying. I remember being at college doing my portfolio to apply for art school. At the last minute, the college were going to review all of our work before they were sent off to where you were applying. I'd made this sculpture, and it was a bit rubbish. For whatever reason I remember photographing it - I don't really know how it came about but I photographed it and then chopped all my pictures up, collaging them together and completely changing the shape of it. I ended up with a few boards of this in my folio. I remember the tutor going through it and then just being like "Where did all this come from?" - Anyway, they thought it was successful, they liked it. It was a bit of a risk, but I was 17 years old and just trying stuff out, I guess that's when it first appeared properly.
I then did photography in my foundation year, which I really enjoyed. I went in to do fashion and at the time whenever we were doing projects a starting point was always photography for me as well as an ending point. I would always be photographing things, people, just all sorts of different movement and then translating that into my pattern cutting and into final designs.
You know it was always a passion, it was just something that I really loved to do. Both design and photography, they kind of go hand in hand for me, it's the same thing. After art school, I worked in the fashion industry. And then, before COVID-19 I came back from Abu Dhabi and hired a really interesting girl in a nice studio space, and I shot it (the L’Autre launch campaign). I really enjoyed the process - In fact, I loved it.
During COVID everything was put on pause. It was my husband who said to me, "You know you've always loved taking photos. I see just how much you love it and how much of a passion it is. I don't know why you don't pursue that more." I think, because it wasn't my degree I was like, "Can you do that? I don't know..."
SC: I’ve never come from grades, or certificates and part of me feels like in this world at least, some of that stuff is bullshit, I regularly suffer from major imposter syndrome but I do feel like if you are passionate and willing to learn you can make up for the missing letterheaded paper… I don’t know, kind of fake it until you make it?
AB: I think as long as your heart is in it and you're willing to learn and willing to grow as you're doing it, as well as being true to yourself about something that you love, then the imposter syndrome starts to go… At the time, I had my images from my campaign and from my collection, my label. I just started an Instagram, contacted one of the modelling agencies in London and asked if they had any new faces and were looking for images. They said "Yes." I used a spare room in my house, which has since become my studio space and it became a very frequent thing, shooting in my house and meeting a lot of really, interesting people. I love interacting with people, that was one thing with the design, you didn’t meet as many people.
SC: In my notes I've written that when I met you, I felt as if you've got this sort of aura about you that instantly makes people feel comfortable, at least, I felt that way, which made the process of shooting feel so effortless.
AB: That's so kind. Thank you.
SC: I’m in love with your work and you know I’m passionate about minimalism. I don’t mean this at all in a negative way, in fact quite the opposite but you create images where everything is meticulously considered, almost in a perfectionist way, yet the final edit is so understated, it looks effortless…
AB: I'm not into heavy retouching. A huge element of a photoshoot is the connection with someone. Maybe also because it's in my house, there always needs to be a personal element. I always want to capture someone the best I can, I want to capture who they are. I never have a preconceived idea about someone before they come here. I've got ideas of the direction I want to go in, but until I meet them, I'm interested in the person and I try to capture something about them.
SC: Looking at your work, there’s a lot of black and white, what inspires that?
AB: The collection I designed was all black and white, it's just a feeling I have about monochrome. I like things that are minimal and sometimes I prefer just to minimize other things that are going on in an image.. I like the cleanliness of black and white. As I say, I don't follow trends necessarily, and I think that black and white is timeless. It's clean.
In saying that though, there are certain times where somebody will come to see me, and I know when I meet them that black and white just isn't the way to go. I can't really explain exactly why, but with certain people, whether it's down to just aesthetic or character or something else, black and white isn’t the right way to go…. I do shoot everything in color unless it's Polaroids. So, I always have options. But I like the kind of stillness of black and white it can be so powerful.
“I always want to capture someone the best I can,
I want to capture who they are”
SC: I know you say you don't follow trends, but you just mentioned Polaroid, at the moment I see film everywhere, it's massive and used in a bunch of current campaigns. I've spoken to a few people about it recently, to the extent where they’ve told me photographers, they know now exclusively shoot film.
AB: I would love to shoot more film, I like the authenticity of it and the process. If I had the space I could see myself in a small dark room in my house, experimenting. Sometimes I look at post-production more in an experimental way. I'd love to move into film at some point. Not because it's considered to be a trend, but just because it has a beautiful aesthetic. With digital you can delete and retouch. I like the idea of having something set up and having limited shots to take it, so it has to be done well.
SC: I think the word perfectionism is thrown around so much, you can give yourself to much time to think about something and you can almost over-think yourself out of it. I guess with film, you don't have that luxury, or curse perhaps? What you’ve got is very finite.
AB: It's good to be outside of your comfort zone and I think if you are a perfectionist then it's good to allow yourself to be free of that. Things happen with film - I've got a 1960s Polaroid camera, and you never really know what the results are going to be, it’s really exciting seeing unexpected results or even happy accidents.
SC: Big cliché here…all photographers need to hide behind cameras, there’s no pictures of you? Why is that?
AB: I quite like to keep a low profile in some ways I just like my work to speak for itself. That's the reason really, I don't feel that I need to be out there on social media myself. I'm very much about my work. I use social media as a portfolio space, and I don't think it's necessary to have myself being portrayed. I shoot other people and my focus isn't on me.
SC: Finally, Any words of advice for anyone?
AB: I'm going to try and answer this without sounding contrived, but I think, and I'm saying this advice from my own experiences in life and also from having met a lot of people, and having intimate shooting time with them, but I think it's important that you always stay true to yourself.
I don't have any more to say than that. I think that there's so much in the world that can skew your view of who you are. The pressures of social media, I meet a lot of young people, I know that it's a lot of pressure to put yourself out there but as long as you just stay true to who you are.
“it's important that you always stay true to yourself. I don't have any more to say than that.”
I think well-being and mental health are very important. That’s the advice I would give. It's very simple but that's all I would say. Minimal like my work.
To view Anita’s instagram click here. To view Anita’s profile here.
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