Thiago Ramirez is the new co-owner of Catching Stars Gallery on Trunk Road, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary this week. You can meet him on Sunday, June 23 at the Snug Cove gallery's anniversary party at 479 Trunk Road. The Undercurrent recently caught up with Thiago. The following is an edited interview with the soon-to-be Bowener.
When did you come to Bowen?
I actually don't live here yet. I just bought a property here last year, so we are planning to move in August. We can’t wait to move.
Why did you guys choose Bowen?
We came here when we moved from Brazil, so it was 2016, and we fell in love with the island. I came from a small town in Brazil so I like to live in small communities. And I used to live in São Paulo, which is completely the opposite. I wanted to get back to small city vibes. My wife loves it here as well and we decided to buy something here.
What's your art?
So I'm a landscape photographer but I also do travel photography. So anytime I travel, I take pictures, like the cities and everything. But I try to focus on landscapes.
And so then how did this opportunity to join Catching Stars come about?
So last year, I was looking for a way to start putting my work out on the market. I've been a photographer for 10 years but I didn't know how to put my work out there. How to show it and how to trust that I'm a photographer, right? So this was a big step for me. Before, I was an amateur. And now I can consider myself professional. I came here to talk to Marie [Neys] and Emilie [Kaplun] and I got the opportunity to be an associate here at first. And this year, they invited me to be an owner, which was awesome. And since then, we've been working together and it's really good.
It's not like a dream, because I couldn't dream of this before. I just wanted to try to sell my work and to show it to people. So this has gone better than I expected.
I also have some business background, I started out as a business administrator, so it all came together, helping them here as an owner and also as an artist.
And what excites you about Catching Stars?
It's nice to be here and to be involved with all these amazing artists. I feel like I've improved the way I create my art. Sometimes people think “but it's just photography,” right? You go there, you click and that's it, right? Being here and seeing a lot of this work, visual work, it helps me to improve my eye for photography. So it's amazing for me to see people's work, and their process of creating this work. It's also, I never thought of the process. Now I'm thinking, “Oh right, I have a process.” Like I go there, I scout the location, I make the composition. Before that, before being involved with other artists, I would never think of it. For me, it was like, “All right, I clicked, I have the picture.” It was kind of automatic in my in my head. So yeah, it's amazing being here to have this this whole new world of art.
