Domestika Creatives: Shinji Nagabe

The Brazilian photographer talks about his creative process, his series full of ironic and surreal images, and his inspirations.

Shinji Nagabe followed the same path as many photographers of his generation and those before.

He began his career in journalism and hard news and witnessed the often harsh reality of São Paulo's periphery, a city where he also lived for some years. In his transition to a more artistic style of photography, which has earned him international awards and recognition, he developed a more commercial version of his discipline. Little by little, he achieved the look he was after: a hybrid of art and storytelling brought together in a very personal style.

In his series, ordinary people are adorned with multicolored accessories, masks, plastic bananas, and bright objects that contrast against arid landscapes. The viewer's initial shock and bewilderment give way to reflection. The condemnation of poor living conditions around sugar cane plantations or of Brazil's complex political sphere, which the photographer's ironic gaze converts into a banana republic, set the tone for his work and other criticisms.

In this video, Nagabe talks about his creative process:

Series

According to the artist, his most recent series "República das Bananas" (Banana Republic) was born out of "a lot of rage." The prolonged political crisis in his country, which led to the rise of a new and powerful brand of conservatism and the increased promotion of weapons, has influenced a series of portraits in which people pose with bananas as if they were pistols or explosive vests.

"I expected controversy over this series, but I soon realized that people's reactions were very different: basically, they were laughing. That's where elements of Brazilian culture enter, the ability to laugh about oneself, to make light of potentially tough situations," he says. "Irony is a very interesting thing to work with, because it allows you to approach very serious themes without people feeling attacked."

In a previous series of works, "Imersão" (Immersion), Nagabe visited poor towns near sugar cane plantations in northeastern Brazil and powdered his sitters with sugar, playing with sweetness and hardness.

"It is never entirely planned. I know what I want to do, I take some material with me, but the improvisation and human contact are what, in the end, determine where the work goes. I approach people, I enter their houses, I get to know their world, and there are always interesting stories. This is something I learned from my early years as a photojournalist in São Paulo: on the other side of the door there is always a very rich world," says the artist, who is a native of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná.

Influences

Two of Shinji Nagabe's greatest photographic references are the fantastical and dreamlike worlds of American Duane Michals and the vibrant colors, and contrasting hostile environments, of Brazilian Miguel Rio Branco.

"However, my main references don't come from the world of photography. They are television, film and literature. For example, the strange and surreal stories of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami," he says.

The people he photographs, who serve as characters, add a unique aesthetic richness to his work. "What I do is gather all this baggage I've acquired in life, everything I see on the street, all the people that I find… I feel like a magnet, a vacuum, gathering all these references and shaping them into images. This is my style," he explains.

You may be interested in:

- Domestika Maestros: Milton Glaser
- Domestika Masters: Viki Ospina
- Domestika Creatives: Zach Lieberman