Gradwatch 2020: Photographer Joe Habben, Glasgow College of Artwork
Joe Habben photographs sparsely populated images that examine and impact people's relationships with the environments around them. For his final project, he made a spontaneous trip to Venice to document the effects of the Acqua Alta. "My interest in photography has always resulted from my interest in people in the anthropological sense," Habben told CR.
In his senior year he was intrigued by the idea of public space and during his dissertation came across a description of the way Venice's public spaces change during the flood season. He booked a place in a hostel on the mainland, lived on the daily buffet – smuggled in a Tupperware – and set about catching the floods.
“People say that this is how their graduation projects define their work after they graduate, and that has put me on a path I'm really interested in,” he says. "I've found a pattern in which I'm interested in the subject of the human condition or nature and intervening in the world and looking at this reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment. The two are not separate entities, they are connected and interdependent. "
Habben may be interested in people and their implications, but his paintings feel strangely isolated – something he says he is intrigued by using as a subject, especially when those images are placed side by side.
"I'm trying to translate what I'm talking about by isolating this topic and trying to remove it so that it is easier to digest," he adds. "What I find really important is the way in which a story is created. As much effort as I have put into individual photos, they often speak louder than a series."
Habben strives to go beyond photography, to keep a foothold in the world of design, and also to explore filmmaking. He is currently working on a commission for the Scottish Football Association and is documenting United Glasgow – a local all-inclusive club that specifically welcomes refugees and asylum seekers. Habben also hopes to work more in photojournalism.
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