When we first tried to speak to Kate Bellm over the phone she was in Costa Rica, and by the time we eventually (finally!) managed to get her on the line she was in Mexico, due to fly to Africa in a few days. The globetrotting London-born photographer is known for her dreamlike images, which range from nude portraits of free-spirited babes to psychedelic landscapes, and her latest exhibition will have you consumed by wanderlust, longing for the freedom she depicts in her work.
Night Sky Rising, on now at LAMB Arts in Mayfair, is 30-year-old Bellm's second ever solo show and the best possible antidote to the grey humdrum of London in January. "Intimate and iridescent, raw and romantic" are just some of the adjectives that have been used to describe the exhibition, which comprises screen prints, Polaroids, sketches, notebooks and even vintage porn cards found in flea markets, as well as a mixture of old and newer photographs.
In a world as rife with tension and tragedy as ours right now, Bellm, who has previously shot for the likes of Gucci and Vogue, offers up a much-needed opportunity to escape. If only for an hour or so.
Night Sky Rising is on at LAMB Arts in Mayfair until 20th January.
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What are the main themes you explore in Night Sky Rising?
The theme upstairs is all psychedelic landscapes, so a mixture of succulents, palm trees, landscapes that I’ve shot with this manipulation that I’ve been working with that’s like destroyed film, and I shoot through filters which create different colours and trippy effects. Then downstairs, there’s a big collage of different stuff such as screen prints, Polaroids, mirrors that have been painted on, things from my sketchbooks, matchboxes and little vintage porn cards I’ve found in flea markets.
What were your biggest inspirations for the show, and more generally?
The show came about really organically. I usually plan out how I'd do my walls, but for this I came in with a bunch of papers from my studio and different photos and I just laid it out, so that was very fluid. But in general, my inspirations are Peter Beard, Neil Krug, Ryan McGinley – there are so many great photographers and artists to be inspired by now – plus all the old school legends like Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton.
How much are you inspired by things you see around you in your daily life?
That’s pretty much all I get inspired by because I’m always in the most random places, with no one to shoot and I’ll just make something happen. I’ll just find an amazing tree or cactus to shoot with, or I’ll just find someone’s cousin or whatever and make it happen. I’m totally inspired by everything that’s around me.
What makes the exhibition important at this moment in time?
It’s just very lighthearted and so unserious. I love childish art, it’s more free. It’s kind of like punk with stuff just Blu-tacked on the walls as well as super nice, museum-glass frames, so it’s a mixture. It’s a softer approach to the art world – there’s no concept, it’s just, "Here’s something to look at, here’s my world."
Would you say it offers a form of escapism?
For sure, that’s definitely what I go for in my photos, a feeling of freedom and youth.
What are your favourite photos or pieces?
There’s a tiny piece in there of my friend Margo Stilley and it’s just one shot, we shot it really randomly in my house in Majorca and the film was hardened in salt water. I didn’t mean for it to be covered in salt water but I had taken that little camera down to the ocean so much that summer that the film was kind of destroyed, and so the photo is covered in these neon green dots and the whole film was red, so it looks so psychedelic and it just happened by mistake.
How much of your art is unintentional like that?
So much; I’m obsessed with mistakes. I buy broken flea market film cameras to shoot with all the time because I love light leaks or whatever the camera effect might be. A lot is mistakes, but a lot is planned manipulation with filters and different things I shoot through, or just ways I shoot that I’ve learned over the years.
How important is it for you to have solo shows like Night Sky Rising?
I love both. I like group shows when you collaborate with other artists and then you’re just vibing on what everyone is doing, in all different mediums. But solo shows are great because you can do whatever you want and show different styles of yourself. My first solo show was in Berlin four years ago.
How much creative control do you have over your shows? Does anyone advise or assist you?
It’s different with every gallery, but usually I come in with a plan and set everything up and they help me with the hanging and painting the walls, etc. Recently the assistant of the gallery helped me collage the whole downstairs – she was cutting out roses for me, she was like my little art assistant. So sometimes you’re really collaborating with them. For example, with this solo show, my sister did a whole tunnel, she screen-printed the back wall, it was already painted orange and it became the bar area for the opening. So it’s a collaboration but a lot of personal work on my part with the photos.
What do you want to achieve with Night Sky Rising?
I want people to go in and be inspired to travel more and be more free in themselves, but every show I do is about what I’ve been up to and that’s the feeling that comes from this show.
Would you say that your work is a mirroring of yourself?
Yes and no, because as much as I love to shoot and have all this freedom, I’m also a mum so there’s the responsibility of being somewhere every day. It’s become different since I’ve had a kid, because you have to live differently. My son is one and a half now.
Would you say motherhood has had an impact on your work?
Yes and no. The upstairs of the gallery at this show is all photos of blue and succulents because I couldn’t travel for ages during my pregnancy and I was dying to shoot stuff, so I just started shooting my garden and that’s what the whole upstairs section is about. It was a super patient style of photography – just waiting for flowers to bloom and waiting for the light to hit the flower in the right way, but I had the time. Then after I gave birth I went on a frenzy of shooting everywhere because I just needed it so much. So it’s like a pull and push – you can’t do stuff all the time but when you do, you have more energy for it.
How did you become a photographer?
You know when people ask you what you want to do as a kid? That was it for me. I was always shooting when I was young and then when I left school I started shooting things for magazines, building my confidence, and it went from there.
What does being a photographer, and photography as a medium, mean to you?
It is literally my world, I have to take photos every day. Like yesterday, I had nothing to shoot so I picked some flowers and arranged them and shot them. I need photography for myself, it’s my escape and my happiness.
Do you feel lucky that you’ve been able to make a career out of your passion?
Yes, I feel so lucky and happy, because you do get knocked down and you think, ‘Should I be doing this?’ but you carry on and you think, 'Yes I can do this, I don’t care if I’m rich or poor, I’m doing something I love.’
What else are you working on at the moment?
In a few days I have to fly from Mexico to Africa to shoot the new Audi campaign, so that’s just a lot of travelling ahead of me. It is so daunting. I hate flying more than anything, it’s the hardest part of my job for sure, the travel. It’s constant.
Do you take your son with you on work trips?
Sometimes. Right now we’re in Mexico and his family live here so he’s completely taken care of, so when I go to Africa, I’ll leave him here and come back when I’ve finished the job. But generally when I fly somewhere for the shoot, I don’t bring him, because it’s usually not worth him having to experience the whole plane ride and all of that stuff. But I shoot a lot in Majorca and he's around a lot and the models always fall in love with him.
Do you find it hard to be away from him when you’re travelling around for campaigns?
Yeah definitely, I always miss him so much, but you’ve just got to enjoy those moments when you can do whatever you want, be free and work. I love to work, so for me it’s my fun.
Do you have any more solo exhibitions lined up?
Yeah, in March in Sweden, in a beautiful apartment store that's very chic, and I’m going to fill the store with my photos. They'll be surrounded by the store's furniture so it'll have an apartment-like feeling to it. I’m really excited about that.
Do you have any goals or things you want to accomplish in 2018?
I just want to shoot anyone and everyone and anything. Any job is an accomplishment for me. In the meantime, I hope people enjoy Night Sky Rising and feel lighthearted there. I want them to feel that they can make art and that it doesn't have to be serious.
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