Interview: Rebecca Stone
Luca Curci talks with Rebecca Stone during CONTEMPORARY VENICE 2019 at THE ROOM Contemporary Art Space.

Rebecca Stone was born and raised in Dallas, TX. She has lived and worked in Nashville, TN since 2001. Her photography has been featured in galleries throughout Texas, Tennessee and Oregon. When she’s not out photographing street life or in her kayak photographing wildlife, she is teaching the next generation. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and a Master’s in Teaching. She can be found sharing her skills and love of photography with teenagers after school as part of Studio NPL, a Makerspace for teens in the Nashville Public Library. She teaches photography and video production twice a week.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Rebecca Stone – Art is a language, shared in many forms and understood in many ways. It has the ability to speak directly to one’s mind, heart and soul. To me, art is an expression of an individual’s passion. It could be a passion for freedom, escape, desire, hope, future, or something unattainable in one’s current state.. but it is always surrounded by passion.

LC – What are you currently working on?
RS – I work in photographing the unseen. The moments we all just pass by and sadly miss. I want those moments to be seen, expressed, and felt. I am currently working on discovering and sharing these moments in wildlife.

LC – What is your creative process like?
RS – I am the person you might see standing on the side of the road with camera and you are wondering; what is she looking at? My creative process involves me looking at what others miss. I am constantly paying attention to my environment and if something, anything, gets my attention I will put everything on hold to photograph it.

LC – Are your artworks focused on a specific theme?
RS – My photography them is focused on the unseen moments.

LC – Which is the role the artist plays in the society?
RS – I believe the artist’s role in society is to bring to surface what society tends to ignore. This could be those moments missed while on our electronic devices or deeper moments we often pretend do not effect us personally; climate change, discrimination, animal abuse and more.

LC – We were attracted by your last artistic production, has the artwork presented been created for the festival or as a part of preexisting works?
RS – I had just recently captured the moment in the alley in Nashville, TN when I discovered ITSLIQUID GROUP’s call for the theme of Identities and on the relationship between man, society and contemporary cities. I felt the newly created image represented the theme.

LC – In which way the artwork presented in our exhibition is connected with the festival’s theme?
RS – A man is presumably on break, smoking a cigarette in a back alley in the city of Nashville. This small moment to use represented his daily routine and personal relationship with his city.

LC – What do you think about the organization of our event?
RS – I found the event to be organized very well. Information was transparent and I received answers to all my questions quickly and efficiently.

LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us?
RS – Yes, I would suggest other artist should participate in one of these events if possible.