Video transcript
ARTEXPRESS 2020 - Student interview - 01. Elena Kokkaris

ELENA KOKKARIS: Hi. My name is Elena Kokkaris. I studied visual arts at International Grammar School in NSW. My body of work is all about Hollywood and the glamorous lifestyle of it, but no one gets to see what's behind the cameras. So, no one knows what's going on behind these stars and these icons.

And, we always look up to them as a role model. But, we never know what is actually going on behind cameras.

My inspiration for my body of work - it'd have to just be Hollywood movies throughout the decades. My dad was actually my biggest inspiration because, ever since I was kid, I just grew up watching black and white Hollywood films. It was all I ever knew.

But, it always lingered on my mind what was going on in these actors' lives. So, my whole concept, inspiration, was trying to get the idea that people want to be these stars, but they don't understand the dark side of it.

The process of this work was doing it in a dark room, with a red light. It really was time consuming because the acids, and then focusing, sensitising, developing, really came down to the model and the lights, and the lighting and developing. So, that was probably the main challenge for me doing my body of work.

With wet plate photography, the backdrop is either black or white. Depending on ethnicity, skin tone, it really varies. So, I got a variety of people.

Myself, for example, I used a white backdrop because I'm Mediterranean heritage. But, if I was looking at someone with fairer skin, it would be with a darker backdrop. So, it would really depend on the person, or the model. And, it would also depend on the character, and the makeup that had to be used, because I did all the makeup, the dresses myself, the dressing, everything.

Firstly, I used collodion. It was to sensitise the plate, the metal plate. So, out of the beaker, we'd pour on to just the plain metal plate. And then - yes, so that would sensitise it. And then, once that was set, but not dry, we would then soak it in silver nitrate.

And, once that was done, we'd put it in the camera, so slide it in the case and then into the camera. And, we'd just check out the exposure.

So, what would it look like through the camera. We focused the camera, tested the proximity of the model, how close, how far. So, we did all that, and then connected all the lights. And then, 1, 2, 3, take the photo.

After that, we would soak it in a tub of - is it pyrogallic acid, acidic acid? And, just sway it a bit, see how it developed. If it was bad, like a lot of them were, we would just redo it. So yeah, there was a process.

There were 2 artists in particular inspired me. And that was Dickey Chapelle and Diane Arbus. And, they really inspired me, because they were female photographers who also used the wet plate procedure to do their art.

Other than photographers, again, David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock, modern day directors really inspired me with their films and their directing styles. 'Mulholland Drive' in particular by Lynch, really, really inspired me, because it talks all about the nitty-gritty stuff behind the glamorous life in front of the cameras.

Visual arts has definitely inspired me to look at cinema in a different way, and also as a potential career.

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