"Our Lives Should Be Here"
Photographer Oliviero Toscani talks to TIME about Davos, his mission and his message for today's young people
BY JEFF CHU Davos
| JANUARY 29 |
|
|
We know him best for his controversial Benetton ads. But photographer Oliviero Toscani has also taken pictures of some of fashion's most recognizable faces, including Claudia Schiffer, and created some provocative campaigns for other companies, such as Esprit and Jesus Jeans. That work has been overshadowed by his controversial 18-year collaboration with Benetton. Toscani's ads for the company, on topics including racial tolerance, AIDS and most controversially, capital punishment in the U.S., have drawn reactions ranging from adoration to outrage.
The death penalty series, which featured photographs of 30 American death row inmates, was too much even for the company's head, Luciano Benetton, and brought to an end their partnership. Now Toscani has turned his attention to exploiting the online medium. Within the year, he plans to launch two websites, both providing unique social commentary in the trademark provocative style. He also spends time talking with teenagers as well as mentoring twentysomething budding artists, his way, perhaps, of leaving a mark on the younger generations.
The World Economic Forum in Davos featured Toscani's film illustrating the gap between rich and poor at the opening session. He has also participated on a number of arts-related panels and hosted a dinner to discuss his work. After dinner, he sat down with TIME's Jeff Chu.
Excerpts from his comments:
On why he came to Davos:
Everyone here is geared to produce more economically. I don't think it's really an artistic thing here. The people here think about P&L and all that. That doesn't mean anything to me . I actually came here because I wanted to do that video [on the global divide between rich and poor]. That video said that it is impossible to bridge the divide. It's impossible. It is one world that is going to the moon and one world that is dying on the earth . Of course you would have to see it many times to really understand. When the video stops, there is the face of the child, looking at you, waiting . It says, "So what are you going to do?" I think we don't really care about the children. These people here, they want to give them computers. But they don't even have food.
On whether people understand the messages in his work:
I don't care. I don't do it for them. I do it for myself . My only mission, if you can call it that, is to live this life, because our lives should be here.
On his final project for Benetton (the death penalty series):
I decided to end [the collaboration] last year when the theme was published and Benetton was afraid of the reaction. I am against the death penalty. I am not saying those people are innocent. Those people are guilty, but the death penalty doesn't solve the problem. The death penalty is a legalization of violence.
On his influences growing up:
I come from a very radical liberal family. My grandfather was an anarchist. I've been lucky. I did encounter good teachers. You don't have to know a lot; you have to know a few things very well and conjugate your own values and morals. Find verita. Truth. I also belonged to a generation of the `60s: free speech, sex liberation. I've been lucky.
On success:
I don't think success should be just in work. To me, success is something to be had 24 hours. You have to be in love with your woman, you have to have good relations with your children, you have to have space to play and experiment. You have to sleep well and not be afraid. That's success to me. Work success is just obvious if you have that kind of success, and it's not that important. Listen: I never go on vacation. I go home. That is how I count success. I go home, to my horses, to my children, to my wife.
On the creative process:
I don't get ideas. I think like that. I am like that. I am exactly like my pictures. I don't look for an idea. I look for a visualization of what I see [inside]. That's my life. Sometimes, I am very disturbed but very tolerant of a lot of things I see around the world. The things you see in my pictures are my questioning. Why? Why is it like that? Why is that there? Why can a human body cost anything from $100 million to 11 cents? Since I was a child, I was a pain in the ass to the teacher, just asking questions. Why?
Some of the questions are still unsolved. A lot of them are still unsolved. For example, I am totally unreligious and totally without God. I think that a believer can be compared to a madman. I ask, how can somebody think that there is a God that looks like that? I respect it. But I ask myself in the same way that a believer doesn't understand how somebody cannot believe.
On today's generation:
You are more exposed, more wide-eyed, but less precocious. At 23, I already had one child. We were more precocious . In a way, you are very quick, but slow. Do you understand what I mean? Somehow, we were more primitive. At 14, a woman could already be married. You are also more interested in money. For us, it was something to help us do other things, not something we would work for. Money was there to help us do the next thing . Now we live in an economic dictatorship. Everything is based on economics.
On his message to youth:
Be yourself. You are unique. Be yourself. Everyone tries to conform, with labels and stickers and things, haircuts and fashion. Be yourself. Be unique. Nobody has ever been like you. Nobody is like you. Nobody will ever be like you. You are unique in the history of humanity. Don't be afraid if you might be wrong in the eyes of others. Don't be afraid to be rejected by everybody if you really believe that what you do is the right thing to do . And your most insecure moment is your most creative moment.
|
|
The Beginning of the End
The WEF Annual Meeting is drawing to a close, so where do we go from here?
A Short, Strange Trip
TIME's Geneva correspondent has a brush with the law
Soaking in 'The Spirit of Davos'
TIME's Pat Regnier hangs with the anti-globalization activists at the WEF
D-Day
Will the anti-globalization demonstrations in Davos live up to the hype?
Do Something
The Gates Foundation sets the bar high with a $100 million AIDS research grant
How Much for this Gene?
Scientists and academics at Davos debate the price and patentability of genetic material
Orange with Envy
To have the wrong color of badge can be an albatross around a Davos attender's neck
Westward Ho!
The leaders of the Baltic states talk about their countries' pasts, presents and what they hope will be a collectively bright future
Look Out for the Long Knives
The debate at Davos: will the U.S. economy take the rest of the world down with it?
Rich Man's Burden
The hypothetical bridge over the digital divide may be well-intended, but Davos may not be the best place to start construction
The Branding of Davos
The World Economic Forum induces a binge of generous corporate giving
Hello Mother, Hello Father
TIME's Jeff Chu sends his first postcard from Camp Davos
Perfect TEN
A group of technology pioneers are trying to bridge the digital divide
|
