︎Interlude 2:
Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf exchange emails about story-telling, time and trust.
Email transcipt: ongoing.
Email transcipt: ongoing.
From: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2021 at 12:35
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Dear Micha,
So lovely to meet you and explore your work and world a little more, from what I have gleaned online at least.
It’s been exciting for me to delve into photography, as this is a medium i'm not entirely well-versed in. I guess by way of opening up the conversation, Id like to get to know you and your story a little better if you're open to that. Your images are really rich and charged and filled with a sense of narrative that sits just at the edge of being offered up. Ive read a small bit about your background, and can see that you're an incredible visual story-teller, but curious as to how this translates in person? Are you shy? Do you hold your own stories close, or do they fall out of your pockets when talking?
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2021 at 12:35
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Dear Micha,
So lovely to meet you and explore your work and world a little more, from what I have gleaned online at least.
It’s been exciting for me to delve into photography, as this is a medium i'm not entirely well-versed in. I guess by way of opening up the conversation, Id like to get to know you and your story a little better if you're open to that. Your images are really rich and charged and filled with a sense of narrative that sits just at the edge of being offered up. Ive read a small bit about your background, and can see that you're an incredible visual story-teller, but curious as to how this translates in person? Are you shy? Do you hold your own stories close, or do they fall out of your pockets when talking?
From: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2021 at 15:06
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Hi Daniella,
You write very beautifully.
Am I shy? When I was starting school I was hesitant to enter my first class because I was. My mother asked me to try define the word 'shy' when I was 5 years old outside the classroom door to help her understand what I was feeling. Because I was unable to, she hinted that that was maybe because it wasn't the case. I remember thinking about it for a second, giving her a hug and entering the classroom. That was the first and last time I felt shy. But I am definitely a more private and often introverted person. I come from a family of story tellers so if I were to share a story - it'd likely be very colourful and dramatic. However, there are stories that are too hard to tell and some, perhaps, even unbelievable. The taking of an understanding from the former and surrealism from the latter - informs my work.
Some of your work has a very unique and also surreal element to it. Fool's Gold Maquette is a sculptural piece that very clearly carries a narrative to it. Although I am not confident I can clearly see your personal narrative and story within the sculpture, I am not left feeling empty and lost. In fact, with a lot of your sculptural works I feel safe and alone in a way that feels desirable. I often visit your fountain in the Art Gazette HQ because there is a powerful sense of escapism that I can tap into and be lost for a few minutes. Because the fountain does not flow, for a few minutes, neither does time. In my work, I often seek to capture the in-between intimate moments between moments that freeze a time often overlooked or missed. How does time play a role (if any) in your work? Does the idea of time frighten or excite you? If you could design your own world, would it obey the current laws of physics?
Micha Serraf
micha.co
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2021 at 15:06
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Hi Daniella,
You write very beautifully.
Am I shy? When I was starting school I was hesitant to enter my first class because I was. My mother asked me to try define the word 'shy' when I was 5 years old outside the classroom door to help her understand what I was feeling. Because I was unable to, she hinted that that was maybe because it wasn't the case. I remember thinking about it for a second, giving her a hug and entering the classroom. That was the first and last time I felt shy. But I am definitely a more private and often introverted person. I come from a family of story tellers so if I were to share a story - it'd likely be very colourful and dramatic. However, there are stories that are too hard to tell and some, perhaps, even unbelievable. The taking of an understanding from the former and surrealism from the latter - informs my work.
Some of your work has a very unique and also surreal element to it. Fool's Gold Maquette is a sculptural piece that very clearly carries a narrative to it. Although I am not confident I can clearly see your personal narrative and story within the sculpture, I am not left feeling empty and lost. In fact, with a lot of your sculptural works I feel safe and alone in a way that feels desirable. I often visit your fountain in the Art Gazette HQ because there is a powerful sense of escapism that I can tap into and be lost for a few minutes. Because the fountain does not flow, for a few minutes, neither does time. In my work, I often seek to capture the in-between intimate moments between moments that freeze a time often overlooked or missed. How does time play a role (if any) in your work? Does the idea of time frighten or excite you? If you could design your own world, would it obey the current laws of physics?
Micha Serraf
micha.co
From: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2021 at 19:28
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Thank you for this Micha. Im really enjoying your beautiful offering of thoughts too.
I really like your description of how you capture moments between moments in your work. And I think it takes a lot of mastery in finding them. I also really like the idea of paying close attention as a skill, one that necessarily requires a lot of time to develop. I think that when there is a recognition of an intimate or even authentic moment, - not one in where you maybe impose an abstract will - that the process of manifesting this into an image becomes quite a powerful tool. And at the same time I can also imagine that through the development of trust, there's maybe a small moment of liberation in that recognition, for the people you're photographing too? Being seen, and recognised. Gosh, you have great questions here. Also, its really pleasing to hear that you’ve spent some time with the fountain, and that you felt desirably safe and alone in its presence, it’s a really moving validation, thank you. I would definitely say time plays an important but not entirely central role in my work. I think that the function of perception is more interesting to me, and one that combines both a kind of objective and subjective relationship to time. Basically though, my understanding of the fundamental laws of physics are far from robust (not for a lack of trying!) and so my position is one of a kind of ‘faith’ in science with some slight personal reservations. And so what I think I aimfor is a healthy balance between my own subjective approach while simultaneously trying to learn about the world from a scientific perspective too. Does time frighten or excite? Frighteningly exciting id say!I guess its definitely a site of interesting internal conflict, and so to provide a better answer, I think the world I would design would probably still obey the current laws of physics, in a 'mechanical' sense, its just our understanding of them would maybe be different. I hope that’s not a cop-out answer, but Im interested in who exactly is espousing these laws, what kind of people they are, mostly. And what is their claim to this knowledge. I guess im inclined to believe that there are just as interesting alternative propositions and inquiries around our understanding of Time from other than Western models of thinking that are worth considering seriously too. I really like this question though, and would love to volley it back. Particularly with your mention of surrealism in your work. And so how would you say you design a world through your own work, versus your lived reality?
ps. I will be away for a week from tomorrow, so no pressure for a response any time soon :)
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2021 at 19:28
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Thank you for this Micha. Im really enjoying your beautiful offering of thoughts too.
I really like your description of how you capture moments between moments in your work. And I think it takes a lot of mastery in finding them. I also really like the idea of paying close attention as a skill, one that necessarily requires a lot of time to develop. I think that when there is a recognition of an intimate or even authentic moment, - not one in where you maybe impose an abstract will - that the process of manifesting this into an image becomes quite a powerful tool. And at the same time I can also imagine that through the development of trust, there's maybe a small moment of liberation in that recognition, for the people you're photographing too? Being seen, and recognised. Gosh, you have great questions here. Also, its really pleasing to hear that you’ve spent some time with the fountain, and that you felt desirably safe and alone in its presence, it’s a really moving validation, thank you. I would definitely say time plays an important but not entirely central role in my work. I think that the function of perception is more interesting to me, and one that combines both a kind of objective and subjective relationship to time. Basically though, my understanding of the fundamental laws of physics are far from robust (not for a lack of trying!) and so my position is one of a kind of ‘faith’ in science with some slight personal reservations. And so what I think I aimfor is a healthy balance between my own subjective approach while simultaneously trying to learn about the world from a scientific perspective too. Does time frighten or excite? Frighteningly exciting id say!I guess its definitely a site of interesting internal conflict, and so to provide a better answer, I think the world I would design would probably still obey the current laws of physics, in a 'mechanical' sense, its just our understanding of them would maybe be different. I hope that’s not a cop-out answer, but Im interested in who exactly is espousing these laws, what kind of people they are, mostly. And what is their claim to this knowledge. I guess im inclined to believe that there are just as interesting alternative propositions and inquiries around our understanding of Time from other than Western models of thinking that are worth considering seriously too. I really like this question though, and would love to volley it back. Particularly with your mention of surrealism in your work. And so how would you say you design a world through your own work, versus your lived reality?
ps. I will be away for a week from tomorrow, so no pressure for a response any time soon :)
From: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2021 at 12:04
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Dear Daniella,
There is something really fascinating about the way you choose to re-craft your craft in words. I would love to know how you feel about this - but for me; I always find it really strange (albeit exciting and helpful at times) to translate visual thoughts into text. As a visual artist (perhaps you feel similarly) I find it much easier, natural even, to illustrate my feelings, experiences, memories and the amalgamations therein - visually. I find that with my photographic work and collage based pieces, my true expression, feelings and 'self-relatability' (a term I just made up to mean the level of which I myself can relate to something I've made about something intrinsic) often exists in the spaces that surround my subject. Spaces that are far more elusive and enigmatic in my psyche. An attempt at navigating the 'function of perception' as you've so eloquently put it. How does the space between, around and within your work shape your feelings and connections to your pieces? Would the fountain that I love, for example, be able to exist in the center of a 300m2 empty space similarly for you as it would in a high traffic small hotel lobby? What would be some of the differences for you? and how do you think the shifting and changing of peripheral space would affect your 'self-relatability'?
Oooo I actually hadn't anticipated answering this question myself - but I am really excited to :) The world I would design would obey the current laws of physics but by half! Gravity would be a lot more forgiving and floating would be something we incorperated into our everyday life. I would love to visit a world where the civilizations present there had evolved to design a way of life based on lower gravity thresholds. Ocean life and living would also be extraordinarily different to how it is on our planet as the weight of the water would be far less of a hindrance for life in the deep. I think I find myself imagining how the landscapes themselves, would have evolved to best maximize the environment, and it is those imagined and surreal landscapes that draw me to this familiar and safe imagination.
Are you currently working on/through some new creations at the moment by the way?
I hope your hike was super wonderful! I needa make a similar plan soon :)
Micha Serraf
micha.co
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2021 at 12:04
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Dear Daniella,
There is something really fascinating about the way you choose to re-craft your craft in words. I would love to know how you feel about this - but for me; I always find it really strange (albeit exciting and helpful at times) to translate visual thoughts into text. As a visual artist (perhaps you feel similarly) I find it much easier, natural even, to illustrate my feelings, experiences, memories and the amalgamations therein - visually. I find that with my photographic work and collage based pieces, my true expression, feelings and 'self-relatability' (a term I just made up to mean the level of which I myself can relate to something I've made about something intrinsic) often exists in the spaces that surround my subject. Spaces that are far more elusive and enigmatic in my psyche. An attempt at navigating the 'function of perception' as you've so eloquently put it. How does the space between, around and within your work shape your feelings and connections to your pieces? Would the fountain that I love, for example, be able to exist in the center of a 300m2 empty space similarly for you as it would in a high traffic small hotel lobby? What would be some of the differences for you? and how do you think the shifting and changing of peripheral space would affect your 'self-relatability'?
Oooo I actually hadn't anticipated answering this question myself - but I am really excited to :) The world I would design would obey the current laws of physics but by half! Gravity would be a lot more forgiving and floating would be something we incorperated into our everyday life. I would love to visit a world where the civilizations present there had evolved to design a way of life based on lower gravity thresholds. Ocean life and living would also be extraordinarily different to how it is on our planet as the weight of the water would be far less of a hindrance for life in the deep. I think I find myself imagining how the landscapes themselves, would have evolved to best maximize the environment, and it is those imagined and surreal landscapes that draw me to this familiar and safe imagination.
Are you currently working on/through some new creations at the moment by the way?
I hope your hike was super wonderful! I needa make a similar plan soon :)
Micha Serraf
micha.co
From: Daniella Mooney <d*****@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2021 at 17:31
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Hi Micha!
Thanks again for all these really engaging and exciting insights and perspectives. The pen pal I always wanted!
Yes I also find it way easier to express visually, and to a lesser degree in writing, and the worst worst in person (I think I might have been projecting a bit with my question on shyness).
Your question: How does the space between, around and within your work shape your feelings and connections to your pieces? Such a great question, and also so nice to hear more about your relationship to this personal space too.
My feelings around this have changed over time. In the earlier exhibition days I tried to construct as best I could a very particular environment where my pieces would briefly exist within. I wanted to have a certain control over facilitating an experience and so went as far as choosing the time of day (at least for the opening) and created specific lighting and mood and atmosphere, which was borderline religious. I even went as far as suggesting a dress code to one opening! And so basically in trying to facilitate an experience I was very aware of how particular I am about understanding context. And the specific conditions required to enable a kind of receptivity.
And the kind of experiences I was (and am) interested in, are funnily enough so similar to the ones you describe in your psyche, elusive and enigmatic.
I think ive stopped trying to control these environments, or at least am not as interested in them existing in gallery settings anymore. Although I wont lie and say that I certainly do feel a twinge of uncomfortability when pieces find themselves out of the original setting, but that’s ok. They have a life of their own too.
I would however love to make some artworks for your gravity-forgiving world! The stones would be double the size and my muscles reduced to spaghetti. So great.
At the moment ive just started a 2-month residency program here in Berlin. At a place called the Centre for art and Urbanistics. Im still fresh in it and my project not so well defined, so im just doing a lot of reading and experimenting at the moment which feels great and indulgent. Even been dabbling in a bit of dance / performance which is kind of a little thrilling. Thanks for asking and similarly id love to know from your side what youre currently working on and whats inspiring you at the moment?
I hope you managed to get to some mountains too, please tell them I say hi :)
D
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2021 at 17:31
Subject: Re: Between Strangers: Daniella Mooney and Micha Serraf
To: Micha Serraf <s*****@micha.co>
Hi Micha!
Thanks again for all these really engaging and exciting insights and perspectives. The pen pal I always wanted!
Yes I also find it way easier to express visually, and to a lesser degree in writing, and the worst worst in person (I think I might have been projecting a bit with my question on shyness).
Your question: How does the space between, around and within your work shape your feelings and connections to your pieces? Such a great question, and also so nice to hear more about your relationship to this personal space too.
My feelings around this have changed over time. In the earlier exhibition days I tried to construct as best I could a very particular environment where my pieces would briefly exist within. I wanted to have a certain control over facilitating an experience and so went as far as choosing the time of day (at least for the opening) and created specific lighting and mood and atmosphere, which was borderline religious. I even went as far as suggesting a dress code to one opening! And so basically in trying to facilitate an experience I was very aware of how particular I am about understanding context. And the specific conditions required to enable a kind of receptivity.
And the kind of experiences I was (and am) interested in, are funnily enough so similar to the ones you describe in your psyche, elusive and enigmatic.
I think ive stopped trying to control these environments, or at least am not as interested in them existing in gallery settings anymore. Although I wont lie and say that I certainly do feel a twinge of uncomfortability when pieces find themselves out of the original setting, but that’s ok. They have a life of their own too.
I would however love to make some artworks for your gravity-forgiving world! The stones would be double the size and my muscles reduced to spaghetti. So great.
At the moment ive just started a 2-month residency program here in Berlin. At a place called the Centre for art and Urbanistics. Im still fresh in it and my project not so well defined, so im just doing a lot of reading and experimenting at the moment which feels great and indulgent. Even been dabbling in a bit of dance / performance which is kind of a little thrilling. Thanks for asking and similarly id love to know from your side what youre currently working on and whats inspiring you at the moment?
I hope you managed to get to some mountains too, please tell them I say hi :)
D
This conversation is ongoing.