Mobile Photography and Art ‘Hope in Adversity’ Interview with Linda M Toki from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Today, we are publishing our twenty third interview in our new series, Hope in Adversity. One that’s based around art, artists and isolation during the midst of Covid-19.
This one is with Linda Toki, award winning mobile photographer, artist and friend whom I met at Kew Gardens, last year, when we could at least all travel. She’s a wonderful woman with a great sense of humour, enjoy!
To read others in this series of interviews with Jill Lian, Vicki Cooper, Gerry Coe, Sarah Bichachi, Sukru Mehmet Omur, Phyllis Shenny, Alisa Smith Williams, Joy Barry, Fleur Schim, Fiona Christian, Peter Wilkin, Ile Mont, Lynette Sheppard, M. Cecilia Sao Thiago, Rob Pearson-Wright, Catherine Caddigan, Cintia Malhotra and Susan Latty, please follow this link
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?
Fortunately I am able to tele-work so I am still working. It’s tough to be connected to a computer when the days are growing more beautiful this spring.
I am lucky to have a big property that is well planted with garden areas and the back half is wooded. I keep bird feeders to attract many varieties of birds. I am still creating mobile art/photography, but it has not been the priority.
If so, have you noticed the style of art that you’re creating changing from what you would normally create?
I don’t think my style has changed but I have been trying to infuse magical and whimsical aspects into my photos to offset the current health crisis.
If yes, to the above, can you explain how your art has changed?
In general my art has expanded in that I have started painting again and doing some more hands-on type art.
Have you found additional inspiration to create at this time?
Living in the moment and enjoying the moment has inspired me and my art. I think I am really drawn to photographing the things that bring me joy, like my dogs, rather than creating a piece that is social commentary or anything like that.
Is creating mobile digital art/photography, helping you at this time specially, how and why?
The act of creating and creating art and photography has always been therapeutic for me. I even at one time considered art therapy as a career. That is likely the reason I got an art teaching degree so that I could empower others.
Do you feel that sharing mobile art/photography at this time is spreading a unity of peace?
I feel like all artistic and creative endeavors being shared now support the collective peace. People are coming together.
Anything else you would personally like to add…
I believe that everything that happens, happens for a reason. We are a global community that is still connected and will always be.
When people of the future study art history, they will study us and how we contributed to the mobile art/photography movement and how we stuck together and continued even during this challenge to our way of life. We are infinitely adaptable!
Please read…
TheAppWhisperer has always had a dual mission: to promote the most talented mobile artists of the day and to support ambitious, inquisitive viewers the world over.
As the years pass TheAppWhisperer has gained readers and viewers and found new venues for that exchange. All this work thrives with the support of our community.
Please consider making a donation to TheAppWhisperer as this New Year commences because your support helps protect our independence and it means we can keep delivering the promotion of mobile artists that’s open for everyone around the world.
Every contribution, however big or small, is so valuable for our future.
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)
You May Also Like
Mobile Photography and Art – ‘Hope in Adversity’ Interview with Cintia Malhotra from New Jersey, United States
Mobile Photography and Art Interview – Hope In Adversity Interview with Clint Cline from Florida, United States
