Sometimes there’s a parallel between photographers, soldiers and journalists. The book My Friend the Mercenary, by British journalist James Brabazon, is fascinating. It’s about the relationship between Brabazon and South African mercenary Nick du Toit, which starts during the Liberian civil war and ends in the botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.
I’m interested in it from a historical perspective: The relationships that developed, the behind-the-scenes look at war and the difficulty of adapting to the normal humdrum of life after seeing such atrocities. I’ve just read I Want My Life Back by Steve Hamilton. I heard him speaking on Talk Radio 702 and he was raw in his speech. I fell in love with the way he spoke.
I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of American photographer Maggie Steber’s book Dancing on Fire, which came out in 1992. It’s her documentary of Haiti — a look at the daily life on the island, juxtaposed with political events.
I travel a lot, sometimes five or six different countries a year.
I’m not that big on researching where I’m going to. I don’t like knowing too much beforehand. I like making up my own mind when I get there. Finding my own point of view.
When I’m on assignment in a foreign country, I don’t go and look for the local night life. I’m very focused. I am big on local food and I’m usually not afraid to try different things. When I was a vegetarian, though, I spent 10 days in a village in China and all they had was meat and rice. There were no vegetables. So, I lived on rice for 10 days.
I adored the recent Billy Monk exhibition, Nightclub Photographs. His pictures are all about the night, the undercurrents of humanity. They showed us as vulnerable: In love, in relationships, in the way we present ourselves to the world.
Last year in New York I saw The Artist Is Present by Marina Abramovic. It was inspirational. She sat in the Museum of Modern Art for the duration of the show (March to May), sitting meditatively on a chair, suggesting others join her for as long as they could hold the position looking at her. There was a section where you had to pass between two nude people, a man and a woman. It’s a study, in a way, of how different people negotiate the space.
I like to buy naïve art. I bought a beautiful painting on the streets of Lagos. It’s a big mamma, a guy with hands on her waist, a sign that says “‘otel”. The painting suggests they’re going to have sex. And there’s a little boy with a condom on his head. Pulling on the man’s shirt.
I’ve become a fitness freak. Gym has become my music time. I have tons and tons of music on my iPod. I like to pump out Wyclef Jean. It feels like, instead of taking out aggression in the car, I can use the music to help me get it out while I’m exercising.
Jodi Bieber was interviewed by Nechama Brodie. Bieber is the author of two acclaimed photographic books, Soweto and Between Dogs & Wolves. Last week Bieber’s photograph of Bibi Aisha, the 18-year-old Afghanistan woman who had her nose and ears cut off by her husband and male relatives, received the 2010 World Press Photo award for Photo of the Year. Bieber has previously won eight World Press Photo awards.