ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Neil Harris

Shining the spotlight on the Winter 2023 cover artist, photographer Neil Harris, a student of the Photography program at Centre De Formation Professionnelle De Lachine. Read on to learn more about his creative process, inspiration and how winning an Applied Arts Student Award for his project, Heterotopias.

Creative process:

It is a perpetual thing, like walking in the street and seeing a building that makes me think of a scene I saw in a movie two days ago, that made me think of a painting that moved me a week ago. And then somehow, all these thoughts and emotions combined give me an angle, a mood, an idea… It is about things I see, I feel and interpret on a daily basis.

Your most difficult piece and challenges:

The biggest challenge I always face is managing to capture the emotion I feel or the composition I see when I’m looking at a scene, a building or a landscape. It is being able to recreate an image based on what I see with my eyes and feel with my heart. I don’t always succeed, it can be frustrating.

The project you are most proud of:

By far, my project “Heterotopias”. Not just because it won competitions but also because it represents how I see things, how I’ve always liked to see things I’ve realized.

This project is a personal exploration of my intimate feelings. I wanted to intimately reveal and trigger these feelings with a viewer to share the intensity of these often private experiences.

The concept of heterotopia was like a revelation to me, like putting a word and a definition on my way of looking at the world.

On advice:

I don’t think I’m qualified enough to give any advice on commercial photography. What I can say is, do what you like but work hard on it, explore and exploit all the angles you can of an idea, a concept or a project. Do the extra mile and it will be rewarded one way or another.

Winning an Applied Arts Award:

The impact of winning this award hasn't yet surfaced that is apart from a few new followers on Instagram. However it has boosted my motivation and reinforced my belief that I have my place in the creation of images and the sharing of emotions. It made my teachers really proud, too!

Creative hero:

People like movie maker Denis Villeneuve, architect Tadao Ando, or photographer Jeanette Hägglund.

All those people who worked and studied those disciplines before me and managed to develop and conceptualize ideas that inspired me.

Staying inspired:

Most of my inspirations come from movies, paintings, museums, photographs… 

But again, it’s an everyday thing. For me inspiration can be found everywhere in every form: a smell, a colour, a philosophical concept, the light, a design, a building… it is something I do without realizing it, it is like I’m always aware. It can be tiring sometimes.

I also think inspiration comes with practice, the more you practice, the more you get experience and knowledge which eases getting inspired. 

Neil, may you continue to be inspired by the world around you! Congratulations on winning your award.

IG: @raymond_seignon