Gareth Phillips is an artist pushing the boundaries of the contemporary photobook, creating them as objects, sculptures and installations. His work Caligo was shortlisted for the 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize. The seven-metre photobook, suspended from the gallery walls, tells the fictional story of a group of humans escaping climate catastrophe, who seek asylum on another planet, a utopian environment reminiscent of Eden. We spoke to him about the creation of the work, how his ideas of photobooks have evolved and why he chooses to use his art to draw attention to the climate crisis. 

A: Tell us about how you got into working behind the lens – where did it all begin?

GP: Through the documentation of skateboarding and surfing in the early 2000’s I pretty much fell into photography. I realised it was a powerful way to articulate oneself and record emotions and experiences. This led me to pursue a degree at the University of Wales, Newport, where I immersed myself in documentary photography and learned how to create non-fiction narratives. This education in storytelling was the foundation of my creativity and forms the backbone of all my subsequent artwork.

A: Your work explores contemporary definitions of the photobook, creating them as objects, sculptures and installations. What first drew you to this idea?
GP: When I initially started creating photobooks in 2006, I was making them for the sole reason to ‘see’ the edit of the work. For me it was, and still is, a vehicle to observe how images and narrative work in relation to each other. As this process became an instilled practice it led me to experiment with the form of the book dummy, to test the different ways I could enhance or deepen its narrative. In 2013, I created my first ‘book installation’, where I attempted to photograph and display the articulation of poems by their authors. Portraits of poets at the height of external oration were created and edited into one long continuous scroll, alongside hundreds of abstractions of the speaker’s mouths, that acted as the joiner pages of the installation. This project was the spark that allowed me to consider that the photobook could move outside of its expected parameters, but it wasn’t until a few years after this project that I began to revisit and explore ideas surrounding the possibilities of the photobook.

A: Caligo tells the story of a group of humans escaping a climate catastrophe, who seek asylum on another planet. Tell us about how this idea came about?
GP: The idea for Caligo came about when I was working in Australia in 2017. I was staying with my friend and artist Ling Ang, who is a huge film aficionado, and she introduced me to a pantheon of sci-fi films that I watched over a three-month period. On a subsequent trip to the South Island of New Zealand, these films were resonating wildly in my imagination. The environmental beauty of this area made me feel like I was on another planet, which inspired me to create Caligo’s fictional narrative by imagining the consequences of human settlement on an alien world. As I photographed what felt like a pristine landscape, I started to ask myself questions like: Who would be the first to colonise a new planet? How would they behave with abundant resources? What environmental, cultural and spiritual effects would they impose on a world? It is my belief that humanity aspires to ‘good intentions’, but in order to survive it inevitably exploits. Would this happen with humanity’s arrival to a new planet? These questions were a driving factor in the creation of this artwork and forced me to confront the inevitability of their answers.  

A: Much of your work centres around the climate crisis. Where do you see the role of art and artists in drawing attention to the looming threat of climate change?
GP: I would argue that the ‘looming threat’ of climate change has long since passed and that we are very much living in a climate that has been irrevocably changed because of our historical actions. We have already had devastating impacts on more fragile areas of the world, and the only reason much of the West is now paying attention is because it is starting to affect Western lives and interests. But in consideration to the role of the artist, in my opinion, artists must simply be honest reflections of their contemporary circumstance. If that means the environment deserves ‘artistic’ attention, then that is their prerogative alone. When I consider artists of antiquity through to the Second World War, most of them channelled their lived experiences through their work. The West is now experiencing the direct effects of its environmental abuses and so, for me, ‘climate change’ is an honest part of my contemporary circumstance, thus I am making artwork about it. I am under no illusion it will change any of the negative environmental outcomes that are set to befall us, but I can only hope that the archaeologists of the future will be able to view the archives of our contemporary present and understand a little about how we lived.

A: Who or what inspires your work?
GP: The lived experience is the catalyst for my work. All I am doing is practicing being able to recognise experiences that, for some reason, require my viewpoint in the creation of photographs or books.

A: Caligo has been through several versions. Could you talk us through the process of how a work evolves?
GP: My whole creative practice is distilled in finding ways to deepen and explore the relationship between photography and narrative. As this process starts early on within all my projects, it is a certainty that I will put the first edits of a work into an initial book dummy, in order to understand how the imagery and narrative work together. This process ‘collects’ numerous book dummies that, for me, always become part of the final work. What I enjoy about this process is observing how brave the earlier versions are in comparison to the final works, which are often emotionally constrained due to their proximity to ‘completion’. Caligo is a prime example of this process. There were probably four or five incarnations before it evolved in form. At the time, I had been experimenting with the idea of montage and presenting modernist forms of visual narrative that evolved Caligo into a vertical seven-metre-long photobook sculpture. But upon submission and acceptance to the Aesthetica Art Prize, Director Cherie Federico challenged me to create a horizontal version of the work. Initially I was hesitant about this change of orientation, but after some experimentation I found a new arrangement. The process is always open to suggestion, and I am very grateful to Cherie’s contribution to the completion of this work.

A: What out of your body of work are you most proud of so far? Is there one work that stands out to you?
GP: In all honesty, I feel I have only just got to a point of fluency with my artist authorship. That doesn’t mean creativity flows easily now, just that there is a confidence of potential. So, if I were to be proud of anything, it’s simply not giving up in getting to this point.

A: Why was it important to create handheld versions of the photobook sculptures?
GP: The hand-held versions of my photobook sculptures are an essential part of providing the viewer with the means to accompany me on my attempts to contribute to a redefining of a medium. The large works make a statement, but accessibility to the form is equally important, especially if we consider the ‘democracy’ of the book. For me, the handheld version of the photobook sculptures act as stepping stones between the conventional and the radical, providing the viewer with the means to hold the book as they remember, and view the book as they haven’t.  

A: What would you like people to take away from viewing your work?
GP: I am trying to provide the viewer an opportunity to ‘take home’ questions about what they are seeing. I don’t have to prove a photobook is an object, a sculpture or an installation, but in presenting the possibility it can be, I am trying to prompt the viewer to consider the book differently. If that can be taken away by viewing the work, then I’d be content. If they resonate with the depicted narratives then that’s even better, but it’s not an expectation.

A: What’s next? Are you working on anything new?
GP: At present, I am in the process of finalising the start of a practice led PhD at University of Arts London, where I’ll be working with Professor Paul Lowe. I will also be collaborating with the Italian artist Giorgia Fiorio on a project in 2025. I can’t reveal what that will be yet, but I am very excited about both possibilities. Also, I will be releasing, through my Instagram page, another hand-held photobook in the Autumn of 2024.

---