Mobile Photography and Art Interview – Hope In Adversity Interview with Alisa Smith Williams
Today, we are publishing our eighth interview in our new series, Hope in Adversity. One that’s based around art, artists and isolation during the midst of Covid-19. This interview is with talented mobile artist Alisa Smith Williams, she offers a beguilingly fluid narrative, told with brutal honesty, mixed with deliciously exquisite illustrated art, ensuring this is the ultimate treat. Enjoy!
If you are social distancing or social isolating at this time, are you using any additional time you may have to create mobile digital art or photography?
Yes, indeed. In fact, I’ve being isolating since about New Year’s. I was diagnosed in July 2019 with multiple myeloma, and underwent a stem cell transplant a little more than two months ago. In that process, my immune system was taken down to the ground! I have no natural antibodies to anything, and have been fully “socially distanced” since early January. So art of all kinds, and mobile art, of course, are a natural right now.
If so, have you noticed the style of art that you’re creating changing from what you would normally create?
Yes, again. I think art styles always evolve, don’t they? And they are heavily influenced by what happens around the artist and the moods and thoughts that emerge as a result.
If yes to the above, can you explain how your art has changed?
For one thing, I am unable to go outdoors much for photography due to medical issues, and am relying much more heavily on new edits and on re-edits of older work – re-inventions using new apps or apps that fell by the wayside for some reason and become “new” again to me. It’s interesting that, when I revisit photographs I took maybe two years ago, it seems that my take on what to do with them is often vastly different than it was when the image was brand new. This is partly because of newer apps that help me learn “new tricks,” but also because one’s vision changes with time.
Have you found additional inspiration to create at this time?
Yes, every day. And right now, this is partly because my friends on Facebook and Instagram are in much the same boat and are more active than ever with their own art – or so it seems to me. Seeing what they do is always an inspiration.
Is creating mobile digital art/photography, helping you especially at this time, how and why?
To me art is a very spiritual practice. I can’t think of any better time in recent history than now, with these current medical challenges (both personally and globally), to connect spiritually with the creative force. Art is a sort of affirmation.
Do you feel that sharing mobile art/photography at this time is spreading a unity of peace?
Yes, definitely! This tends to flow from the idea that art and creativity are spiritual practices. Creating is (to me, anyway) often very meditative, and meditative things breed peace. It all flows.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
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