Most of the imagery present in LoosenArt is extracted from the series entitled "Study", a work in progress project born in 2015. Even these, such as those of the previous series "Prelude", are images that contain a significant diary component..
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Photography gives me the opportunity to stop time, look closely at my everyday surroundings, and examine them carefully in terms of form and content. – M. Kukic
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Madeleine Kukic works in the visual arts since 1994, ever since her graduation from the School of Fine Art and Design St. Joost, in the Netherlands.
Madeleine Kukic's images have been published in several magazines. Her work began to attract significant public attention through "Prelude", a series of photos through which the photographer explores with nostalgic view the meaning of being children today and what it meant in the past.
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Most of the images presented in LoosenArt are taken from the series "Study", an ongoing project born in 2015, even these, such as those of the previous series "Prelude", are images that contain a significant diary component, representative of the photographer's daily life. Photography is for Madeleine Kukic a medium through which to contemplate the daily life, closely observe the environment to which it belongs examining carefully forms and contents which are part of it. Therefore, the work of Madeleine Kukic is the outcome of a meeting between an intimistic, poetic photograph and an analytical one, able to grasp the formal and semantic aspects of her experiences and thus opening an important dialogue with the author's emotional world.
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L.A.: Hello Madeleine, how and when did you become interested in photography?
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Madeleine Kukic: I’ve watched my father take photos since I was a child. He devoted himself to photography in his spare time. As a child, seeing him take photographs or watching him sort and mount slides was to me the most normal thing in the world. For a long time, I thought this was something all fathers did. He gave my older brother a Russian Lubitel camera once, and I remember being quite jealous of it. I also remember I was always looking at his light meter. I was fascinated by all those little numbers. I remember thinking that someday I wanted to know what they meant and learn how to measure light. I must have been around fifteen when my father gave me some black-and-white film and his Minolta reflex camera. He explained to me how the camera worked. By the time my first roll of film was full, I was hooked.
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L.A.: What does photography mean to you or what is your statement as a photographer?
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Madeleine Kukic: I feel a constant need to record my amazement at what I see. Just like a poet, I try to capture a feeling or an atmosphere in my work. I find photography ideally suited to this because while it’s directly related to reality, it also offers so many opportunities for representing my own personal reality. For me, photography has become an important means of expression.
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Untitled #3 "Study"
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L.A.: How do you choose what or who to photograph, what are you looking to capture?
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Madeleine Kukic: I focus on my everyday surroundings in my work. I photograph what captures my attention and moves me, no matter how simple. There is a comforting beauty in the everyday, and by photographing this beauty, I can embrace and enlarge it. And I can share it with others.
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L.A.: What kind of relationship you have with your subjects? What's your degree of involvement with what you are shooting?
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Madeleine Kukic: Because I always shoot photos close to home and focus on what is closest to me, I'm very much involved with my subjects. For example, in my analog series Prelude, I photographed my children at moments that reminded me of my own childhood. These are often universal, and others recognize them as such. But my involvement also runs deep when I'm photographing still lifes or nature, because these are never just things or places but are always connected to an atmosphere or feeling I remember. Photography gives me the opportunity to stop time, look closely at my everyday surroundings, and examine them carefully in form and content. Some of the photos here are from my project Study. This is an ongoing research project to gain more knowledge into, more understanding of, and more connection with the world around me through photography.
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L.A.: Do you have a favorite shot in this series? If so, which one and why?
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Madeleine Kukic: I can’t say I have a favorite, but of course the photos of my children are very special to me. Many of my photos tap into a memory that makes me smile. I think that the combination of photographs in my diptychs results in an interplay between the photos, and I find this fascinating. I take photos every day, but am very rigorous when I make my selection. The photos I choose to exhibit are my favorites. So, no – I love them all equally well.
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L.A.: What are your future plans/projects or aspirations?
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Madeleine Kukic: Right now I’m taking photos for (and of) my father. He has Alzheimer's. I send him the photos I take for him in the mail, and every two weeks he gets a new one. I look for images that touch us both, people and nature. I take these photos to prompt his memory, to provide him with a stimulus. But also to maintain a connection with him for as long as possible, and to let him know I’m there, even if he doesn’t see me. I certainly also take the photos as a source of consolation, for him and for me. I hope to make them into a book one day.
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Untitled #4 "Study"
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Untitled "Prelude"
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Madeleine Kukic www.madeleinekukic.com
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Untitled #3 "Study"
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