By: Nina Gersen

Artist of the Issue: Aiko Dable ‘24

You may have seen Aiko Dable’s ’24 incredible work on display in the halls or heard about how she incorporated her love of photography into all aspects of her life. Either way, Dable is an undeniably talented artist whom The Banner was lucky enough to interview about her work in film photography. 

When did you start doing photography?

In Class IV, I took a semester of darkroom, and I really liked it, so after that I decided to take darkroom every year that I could. In my sophomore year, I got my own film camera as a gift for my birthday. This allowed me to take photos on my own time as well as during the class, as I was able to develop my photos at school. 

Why did you choose to use your mother as a model in these photos?

She’s half of me, so I wanted to represent that. I have an older brother, and I did think about using him, but I decided that using a woman is more important to me than having someone who’s the same mix.

Can you tell us about your AP art portfolio? What was that process like?

Specifically with this portfolio, I just went around my entire house and found every single object that was either Japanese or Lebanese, and then I worked backwards from there. I wanted to expand in the ways that I expressed my culture and capture how much they influence my life. I spent a very long time in each shoot that I did with my mom. I’m not sure how many rolls I took but probably around 4 or 5, so about 150 photos. Sometimes it’s easier to just have a model in front of you with all the lighting set up and the background up and in a position with whatever I want to incorporate in the photo. Let’s say she’s holding the scarf; then from there I would decide what to do with her specifically.

Can you tell us more about the photograph focusing on your mother’s eyes?

In this portfolio, I was using my mom as my model to represent myself. The farther into my portfolio I got, the more I covered up her face and her shoulders. In this photo, I decided to only show her eyes, and I used a black background and dressed her in black so that she would blend into the background.

What other major goals did you have with the portfolio?

The other thing I was focusing on in my portfolio was experimenting with movement and long exposures. First, I would take a still shot of my mom wearing a belly dancing scarf around her hips that had a pearl cross necklace hanging from it, and then a long exposure shot of her shaking her hips, as movement is such a big part of the cultures.

How has this project impacted your own view of your intersection of cultures?

This project was a tribute to my cultures’ importance to me, as well as a manifestation of  my conflicting relationship with them.  In the photos, there is a clash where sometimes these objects are being forcefully combined and it’s not natural. I feel like this process showed a part of my identity that I didn’t initially realize: sometimes it doesn’t work, but sometimes it can create something really interesting and cool when you put it all together. 

The Banner is so grateful that we got to interview Dable and we can’t wait to see what she does next!

Responses edited for brevity and clarity. 

Is photography something that you plan on pursuing after Winsor? 

Yes, I definitely want to pursue it in the future. This year, I am doing an advanced portfolio because I’m planning on applying to art schools. I’m also thinking of maybe double majoring in photography and anthropology or art history. I really want to incorporate photography into whatever I decide to study.