Kit interviews Debbie about the psychology of portraiture, a storytelling element that both photographers greatly value.

Debbie’s conceptual series uses her documentary photography background as a basis on which she investigates and carefully crafts highly personal stories. She employs various mediums within her photography like audio, video, image manipulation, and collage, in order to transform these stories into tangible experiences.

In this episode, she talks about her journey into photography and the questions that led her to find her voice as an artist. How her background in psychology and psychoanalysis help her investigate the inner landscape of her own world, and that of her sitters.

Debbie Castro is an Irish visual artist. She uses conceptual documentary photography to investigate highly personal subjects centered around portraiture and relationships. Her work always originates from the fracture between a personal interest or observation and the perception of other people. Inspired by Albert Camus' quote that "life is a hospice, never a hospital," Debbie believes in the necessity of confronting even the most uncomfortable subjects through her practice.

As a graduate of the University of Westminster with an MA in Photography, Debbie has had solo and group exhibitions in Ireland, London, and New York. As an experienced facilitator, tutor, and Director of Training, Debbie has led numerous workshops and professional development programs to support early-career photographers. She is currently working as a coordinator at the London Institute of Photography (LloP) where she is developing an online educational platform app for photographers. 

Kit Ryall is a documentary-inspired freelance photographer based in Sheffield, UK. She has worked in the picture industry for over 15 years - starting her career working in picture archives and agencies. In 2009 she completed her Masters's in Photojournalism and since then has worked as both a photography trainer and freelance photographer.

After living in London, she spent two years in Berlin and now resides in Sheffield, in the north of England. She works making images and films of people - whether that be portraits, families, or small business branding.  She is inspired by the "everyday" and particularly our domestic surroundings. She strives to give her work an authentic, quiet, and sensitive quality, documenting her subjects as best she can.

Episode Credits

Episode:  Kit Ryall and Debbie Castro 

Podcast Editor: Claudia Leisinger

Podcast subeditor: Lina Collado

Introduction: Lina Collado

Music: Ana Maria Arévalo Gosen (composition), Philipp Quante (piano), Bobby G (drums)

Podcast Team: Nicola Muirhead, Lina Collado, Claudia Leisinger.

Links and Resources:

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk

Alzheimersresearchuk.org

www.liop.co.uk

www.domestika.org/en/courses/2094-introduction-to-digital-photography-in-manual-mode/debbiecastrow