PRO CASE STUDY

Krasimira But­seva from Revolv Collective (revolv.org.uk) dis­cusses the ben­e­fits of be­ing part of a com­mu­nity

Digital Photograper - - Go Pro -

WHY DID REVOLV COLLECTIVE BE­GIN?

Revolv Collective was founded by my­self and Lina Ivanova in 2017. The collective was formed as an or­ganic process to the ex­pe­ri­ences we en­coun­tered af­ter grad­u­at­ing from univer­sity. We wanted to be part of a peer-men­tor­ing group, a collective of like-minded in­di­vid­u­als, while fac­ing the chal­lenges of post-ed­u­ca­tion life.

We or­gan­ised work­shops, ex­hi­bi­tions, dis­cus­sions and crits, while de­vel­op­ing in­no­va­tive ways of teach­ing pho­tog­ra­phy and invit­ing peo­ple to be a part of a com­mu­nity.

WHAT CHAL­LENGES DID YOU FACE AT FIRST?

The chal­lenges we faced in the past were linked to the fact that we were still [far away] from an arts com­mu­nity. We lived away from Lon­don, worked in a very small team and had to han­dle a lot of tasks to very tight dead­lines.

WHAT BEN­E­FITS HAVE YOU EX­PE­RI­ENCED FROM BE­ING PART OF A COLLECTIVE?

The ben­e­fits con­stantly ex­pand! We have met in­spir­ing pho­tog­ra­phers and artists, pro­fes­sors, cu­ra­tors and writ­ers. We have worked with var­i­ous cre­ative in­di­vid­u­als to ful­fil our projects. We have also seen the im­pact of our work within other peo­ple’s prac­tices and ca­reers, and we have formed a large net­work of pho­tog­ra­phers.

DOES BE­ING PART OF A COLLECTIVE HELP A PHO­TOG­RA­PHER TO DE­VELOP THEIR SKILLS?

Be­ing part of a collective is very im­por­tant for the progress of any pho­tog­ra­pher. The ethos of our or­gan­i­sa­tion is that we do not be­lieve in the sole artist ge­nius but rather in the collective, and the fact that the only way to de­velop is through col­lab­o­ra­tion.

WOULD YOU EN­COUR­AGE SOME­ONE TO JOIN ONE?

Yes! Be­ing a part of a collective is cru­cial to de­vel­op­ment, as ev­ery­one needs sup­port or a lit­tle push some­times.

WHAT AD­VICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOME­ONE WANT­ING TO START THEIR OWN COLLECTIVE, OR JOIN AN EX­IST­ING ONE?

It re­ally de­pends what one has in mind. Start­ing a collective might seem easy from the out­side, but it in­volves a lot of work, and the key is in the longevity and per­sis­tency. Join­ing a collective might be a bet­ter choice, as it will al­ready ex­ist within a spe­cific frame­work and foun­da­tions.

© REVOLV COLLECTIVE

Above REACH OUT Col­lec­tives are es­sen­tially brands that can reach a greater au­di­ence – es­pe­cially on­line and on so­cial me­dia

Top LIKE-MINDED Lina Ivanova and Krasimira But­seva es­tab­lished Revolv Collective to bring to­gether like-minded in­di­vid­u­als

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from UK

© PressReader. All rights reserved.