Although Argentine photographer Sofia Lopez Manan has never thought of her work as confrontational, I think the images of Sofia Lopez are some of the most provocative I’ve ever seen. But how you respond to her work depends on many circumstances, namely your views on feminine representation, and how you feel about seeing barely hidden antagonisms. They showcase personal fears, doubts, and resignations.

Sofia Lopez thinks of her photographs as necessary cleansings. Aside from commissioned work with mainstream magazines like Rolling Stone, most of them are accidental, dependent on fleeting inspirations. They come from dreams and start off as sketches in her journal Sofia Lopez carries around with her. They are unfiltered glimpses into her sparkling mind. They are intelligent. Unlike most confessional work, they are universally relatable and polished in tone. Their feelings, although shadowy at times, are in tune, harmonious and enter your mind like the airiest of pop songs that you were never meant to hear.

In this interview, Sofia Lopez talks about her process of making self-portraits, explains her improvisational approach to photography, and reveals why Sofia Lopez spent 10 hours a day in silence for 10 days.

Q1. I like that your work is dark, confrontational, and focused on issues otherwise ignored. How did you get your start? How would you describe your work?

Ans. My start with photography was mostly accidental. I worked with space and installation and used my camera as a media to register installations and site specifics. Today, I can say that my work is processual, intimate. One project takes me to the next one. I never saw my work as confrontational. I picture my own fears and when I do so I let them go. Sometimes it comes back, the same fear, and a new image arises.

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Q2. Anonymous features some of the most chilling portraits I’ve ever seen. You say they are self-portraits, drawn through the use of hidden female bodies. Could you explain how these images became self-portraits?

Ans. I didn’t feel there was a need to be in the picture, although I am in some pictures anonymously. I made a self portrait of me in the absence of physical body.

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Q3. The 8th image in that project is my favorite. I also think it’s the darkest. Could you explain how this image came about from start to finish (including any special gear, techniques, etc.)?

Ans. This picture was part of a dream. I draw them in a sketchbook I carry around and when it was time I took that house or that tree in reality. There is no special gear, no light, no light effect nor technique. I love when I find a picture in reality. When photos turn out to be a construction of fantasy, then even better, but through this lens I see fantasy. I work with what I see and nothing is done afterwards. I frame a slice of time, of my own time.

Q.4 These images subvert conventional portrait techniques. Only two show a person in full, and each of these feature a woman hanging from a tree. Why do you think you prefer obscuring the human form?

Ans. It was me, I was obscuring me. Most of my past works talk indirectly of the presence of absence, the footprint left. Anonymous talks of covers and being hidden. Anonymous because I related with a universal feeling rather than the individual person that was hanging. I obscure because sometime I didn’t want to be there.

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Q.5 There is much being said about objectification in this project. How did you conceptualize this project? What was your pre-production process?

Ans. The pictures are portraits of my own life, the light and the shadow. As another side of me I make annual meditation retreats and I am an aura reader. Most of my projects come up when I come back from an interior process. Most of the images and ideas come up in dreams. I am originally a painter, so most of what I picture first is drawn. A lot of the ideas of Anonymous came from a Vipassana retreat. It was a 10 day course of silence, meditating from 4 am till 9 pm. You can’t talk, read, write, nothing, just meditate. The last time I went, by the 8th day, I had so many creative ideas that I found a pen and I hid myself in a bathroom while no one was watching and I drew some pictures in toilet paper. I clean while I do art. I work on melancholy, solitude, fears, fear of being seen.

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Q6. I also like Circle of Women. The 4th image in that set has a wonderful unhurried tone. Was this shot improvised? What is your usual approach to finding your shot?

Ans. Circle of Women was made in the most unusual way and shot improvised in two days. That was the first time I didn’t control any image. They just appeared. I went to the peoples house with the intention of leaving with a picture in hand. I was lucky with light.

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Q.7 You’ve also shot for mainstream publications like Rolling Stone. How much of your personal/subversive photographic techniques go into these?

Ans. I approach people always the same way. Always try to have a nice time, and make others enjoy their time. In a magazine I have to sacrifice what I want to say and adapt to what I have to say. Sometimes there is a possibility to do whatever I want, but most of the times I have to communicate the needs of others. I do keep my picture style, since there is no other way I make pictures.

Q.8 What advice would you give to other photographers who must reconcile their own creative impulses to the requirements of a client?

Ans. What I would say what I have to tell myself daily: If a client comes to you it is because of your style. Trust yourself and have self-confidence.

Q.9 Your images are clearly against oppressive cultural norms, especially those concerning gender roles. What would you say is most crucial advice you received about creating work that confronts stereotypical representation?

Ans. I studied fine arts, and I grabbed a camera not so long ago. I’ve observed a lot of Matta Clark, Ana Mendietta, Rebecca Horn, and lately I see a lot of similarities with Vanessas Woodmans work. I love what she does. Most of the time, I work in the farm, in the Argentine pampa. I’m so nostalgic of that big extension of flat land. I have some land there and I love working there. In winter everything looks desaturated, that inspires how I do work. I work by project, I start and in three months I finish. I work a lot in short periods of time, then I need to finish, finish cleaning. My next project I’ll be starting is in December, another process is arriving. In the meantime, I work on this last one, and rest, and make some small documentaries. I love and I play some music.

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Be sure to check out all the work of Sofia Lopez on her website!