David Bru: Disreality "Whilst living a long-distance relationship with a continuous change of place, a feeling of strangeness along with nostalgia injects a kind of rareness into the ordinary. Everyday things, usually perceived as familiar by the couple, suddenly become unsettling. These pictures illustrate a different range of moods, the majority are fear and a melancholic perception of surroundings.

The concept disreality, described by Barthes, as when two lovers are apart: “a sentiment of absence and withdrawal of reality experienced by the amorous subject, confronting the world”.

The photographs in Disreality exude nostalgia and thus have the appearance of found imagery collages, is this the case?
All the photographs are mine.

You describe a kind of nostalgic utopia which comes from isolation and separation from a loved one, cited in Barthes's writing, is this philosophical foundation a frequent point of departure?
The methodology is different for every project. In this case, the point of departure was a personal state or situation, along with the fact that I was perceiving my own surroundings with a kind of strangeness. That was due to a constant change of place and the distance from my boyfriend. Then, I started to experiment with the images to obtain and exaggerate that mental perception. At the time, I was doing theory research and I found the concept of Disreality, mentioned by Barthes, and I thought that it was perfect as the title.

The subject matter is very personal...
Yes, for me is essential to be working with what I experience, sometimes is a kind of therapeutic use of Art. When a situation is strong enough and I feel that it could be a project, I start to work on it.

What are your plans for after graduation?
My plans are to keep producing work and exhibiting as much as possible. 

Who are your influences in photography?
Well, I think that my influences are so diverse, they come not only from photography, but also from painting, sculpture or even music. But, let’s say thanks to Nan Goldin or Wolfgang Tillmans, because I started to use photography as a medium for my projects after knowing their work.

What cameras do you use?
I can work with any type of camera, but for Disreality I’ve used, a modest Digital SLR for the majority of the images and a medium format camera.

Digital or analogue?
Both.

How do your dual bases, the cities of London and Barcelona, compare as subjects for photography?
I have been living in Barcelona around ten years, and only one in London, so it is very difficult to digest them at the same level. Although I feel comfortable working in both places, for Disreality I have worked 60% in Barcelona and 40% in London.

See more of David's work on his jotta profile: HTTP://DavidBru.JOTTA.COM

See more of the LCC MA photography work here