Salgu Wissmath: On queering photography
In this episode we talk with Salgu Wissmath about queering photography. Salgu describes how there are certain expectations about ethics that are specific to different genres, and they explain how their work tries to push back on some of these expectations in order to promote change in the industry. They highlight the importance of ethical transparency, especially when taking an ethical approach that is not standard according to the genre.
What does photography ethics mean to Salgu?
“I think ethics are going to be different for different people. So, the ethics that you hold for news coverage, for example, versus a commercial project, are going to be different. And so it depends who your client is and the genre of photography you are doing, but I think everyone has to know what their own lines are that they won’t cross and why. … And it is important to be transparent if you are going to do things slightly different from what is considered ‘the norm’.” (36:25)
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Salgu Wissmath is a nonbinary Korean American photographer from Sacramento, California. They are currently a Hearst Photo Fellow at the San Antonio Express-News in San Antonio, Texas, and they previously worked at The San Francisco Chronicle. They are dedicated to decolonizing visual storytelling by engaging in ethical storytelling by and for people of color and the queer community. Their personal work explores the intersections of mental health, queer identity, and faith from a conceptual documentary approach. Salgu studied at U.C. Berkeley and Ohio University's School of Visual Communication. They are a 2022 Gwen Ifill Fellow, a 2021 California Arts Council Emerging Artist Fellow, and a 2017 Women Photograph Mentee. Salgu was recently recognized as AAJA's 2022 Emerging Journalist of the Year. Salgu is the Communications Director for Diversify Photo, a core team member with Ethical Narrative, and a member of AAJA, Women Photograph, Queer the Lens, and Authority Collective.
You can see their work at https://www.salguwissmath.com