| Leah Oates: Please describe your background and how you became an artist. Yasmine Chatila: My grandmother was an artist. She studied 19th-century painting in Italy at the Academia di Belle Arti in Turin. I remember many afternoons where she used to give me lessons on how to draw and paint. I think I was about 7 years old. She was in her early stages of Alzheimer’s back then, which kind of accounts for how my work turned out the way it did. After that, I guess I was bitten by the Art bug, and studied it, and am still studying it, I hope. LO: Your work deals with looking at others doing everyday things while being watched secretly. On first viewing your work deals with voyeurism, but on a deeper level, deals with human nature. |
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Yasmine Chatila interviewed by Leah Oates
Courtesy of the artist.
Leah Oates: Please describe your background and how you became an artist.Yasmine Chatila: My grandmother was an artist. She studied 19th-century painting in Italy at the Academia di Belle Arti in Turin. I remember many afternoons where she used to give me lessons on how to draw and paint. I think I was about 7 years old. She was in her early stages of Alzheimer’s back then, which kind of accounts for how my work turned out the way it did. After that, I guess I was bitten by the Art bug, and studied it, and am still studying it, I hope.
LO: Your work deals with looking at others doing everyday things while being watched secretly. On first viewing your work deals with voyeurism, but on a deeper level, deals with human nature.
YC: To me it’s not a feeling of voyeurism so much that prevails when I observe them. The dominant feelings are tenderness and compassion, and at the worst, curiosity. But it is not sexual, and that is the difference between the stigma associated with the word “voyeur,” and what I feel I am doing. I think the best way to truly see human nature is when it is not self-conscious. Even a reality show cannot capture it, since people on the show inevitably are aware of the camera. When I turned my lens to people’s windows, I was always very surprised at how others looked in their homes. How different they looked from when they would be in the street. Something so tender and raw comes out of people when their social masks are left at the door. It’s as if they are naked onto themselves, and it is a true privilege to witness it.
LO: Do people ever know that you are watching them?
YC: Some people deliberately live their lives without covering their windows. As unbelievable as that might sound, it has been my experience that some people are aware their neighbors can see them. I think those rare people enjoy the idea of being observed. An example of that is “the bathroom girl.” She took a shower every day at the same time with no curtain between herself and the window. Across the street was a building full of office spaces teeming with workers. I think she actually found pleasure in the idea that entire floors filled with people could witness her shower ritual. It happened every day like clockwork at around six, almost without exemption. But it wasn’t so much a sex show. There was a vulnerability and, at times, tenderness in the way she revealed herself. It was very mysterious to watch her.
LO: How has living in New York City affected your work, and what do you think about urban settings and social interaction in New York City?
YC: I am hooked on its energy. The speed and intensity this city offers is unique in the world. The work, as with the person living here, is inevitably affected. I think that’s true for all of us New Yorkers. For me, it has had a positive effect. I guess it has been like a school for me.
LO: What is the next body of work about?
YC: I don’t want to say too much about it. It’s still early… but I am currently developing two bodies of work. I think those who liked Stolen Moments won’t be disappointed.
LO: Who are your favorite artists, and why?
YC: It always sounds kind of silly to make these lists even though I guess they are keys to the work somehow. So here it goes: Cindy Sherman’s Film Stills, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons’ Made in Heaven, Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, but also Jean-Luc Godard, Truffaut, Fellini, Hitchcock. OK, the list gets even longer with the filmmakers, and maybe I should stop here.
LO: Any advice for artists newly arrived in New York City?
YC: Yes. Hang on to your hat! And listen to Yoda.
LO: How did you first exhibit your work?
YC: Damien Montalieu curated my videos in last year’s DIVA art fair (Digital Video Art Fair). He was the first to show the work to the general public, and that catapulted Stolen Moments forward.
