Youngsters posing naked at the Trafalgar square in London, drunk boys shot gunning beers somewhere in Sweden, one guy is pissing himself and others trying to perform the best possible ollie on their skateboard risking their lives, while Jonnie Craig shoots them like a maniac. At his 23 years, Jonnie’s spontaneous photos have been hailed from the best British magazines, his work has been exhibited in various galleries around the world. Capturing his friends in crazy moments, he has just published a photography book entitled ‘’I ‘ll kick you in the head with my energy legs’’ which is accompanied with the film IKYITHWMEL featuring a dreamlike skateboard world. OZON Raw had a short chat with him about his latest work and found out that, he is a genuine fun-seeker and skate-lover most and above all.
How long have you been working on this project?
I’ve been working on IKYITHWMEL for about four years by now. It started as just taking snaps here and there, but it soon became a full project which I ended up with flying people around the place to make the pictures I was after. I also turned it into a film just recently of the same name.
What is the story behind its inspiration?
I guess the inspiration just comes from being a skateboarder and having had an interest in the culture of it for many years. I think it’s strange that I didn’t do more with skateboarding at an earlier stage to be honest.
What is your personal relationship with street art and thus, skateboarding?
No real relationship with street art. But I grew up on a skateboard. I would spend every spare time I had on it at a local car park with all my friends, stealing candles from my mum to wax the curbs – sorry mum.
You shoot traditionally fogged pictures, but why did you decided to also record your video in black & white?
I like pictures to have certain imperfections sometimes, but it’s not something that I always do. The entire book is shot black and white, so it made sense for the film to be black and white also. I’ve always been a big fan of black and white photography, I actually first started only shooting black and white, mainly so I could print it in the darkroom myself.
What can we be expecting after this video? Are you thinking of doing a series of short documentaries perhaps?
I’m currently shooting a bit of advertising and special projects here and there. I think it will be a while before I tackle another big personal project like this. Though, saying that, I have a few things that I want to get started on. So we will see.
Interview: Maria Passarivaki
