CHIASM, the new photo book from Madison Dinelle & Tyrone Williams

Having initially met online and bonding over their similar aesthetics, photographers Madison Dinelle and [Darklight Pro member] Tyrone Williams, based in Canada and the UK respectively, have embarked on the co-production of a book called CHIASM, which celebrates the symbiosis between their artistic portfolios.

Rather than approaching the venture as a call and response project, the two photographers found that their existing bodies of work formed natural—–sometimes spookily perfect––diptychs. Tyrone and Madison both share an aptitude for zooming in on the accidentally decorative and the unexpectedly graphic, and the pairings of their imagery creates a new shared dialogue. As CHIASM’s opening text concludes: ‘two people might find crossover in their ways of seeing — each side sharing a little of the other, but never quite overlapping.’

It’s not so common to have two photographers make a book together, tell me about how you came to the idea?

Madison Dinelle: From my perspective, we had admired each other’s work for a long time, inspired each other, and had lots of similarities in our aesthetics, ways of composing and attention to detail. Our similarities as photographers made the idea of finding connections between our images completely natural.

Tyrone Williams: We had been talking photo for a while before we eventually decided to put together work. It was so organic in terms of piecing the project … some of the work was almost asking to be put together like a missing piece to the whole. The whole process was super fun with plenty of eureka moments.

The opening text to the book describes a ‘crossover’ in the way you both see the world. Can you tell me more about that?

MD: When we were looking for a title for the project, I remembered this word ‘chiasm’ that I learned from an important friend and really talented artist, Grischa Lichtenberger. It signifies a crossing or intersection of two structures, in both literature and anatomy. In terms of visual perception, our eyes see two different angles of the visual field, then the optic nerves attached to them cross over in our brains [called the optic chiasm], and this allows us to see a seamless image. There was a very easy parallel to me between that definition and what Ty and I were doing with our project – something like two similar photos taken from different perspectives coming together to create a fuller picture of the whole.

TW: For me it is a perfect representation, a crossover of visual likeness. Each image extends over to the paired-up image.

I’d also love to know more about where your visions differ …

TW: From looking at the pairs we have made it is hard to differentiate as we wanted them to look like one piece. Our artistic backgrounds––to this point––were completely different, but it’s as if, at this point in time when we started making this project, there was a cross-over of visual interests and styles. We got to the same point with different paths … creating the X-like crossover. Although similar, I think there is a type of Yin Yang effect with the images Madison has a keen eye for; very beautiful intricate details within the frame … with my images, although still focusing on details, I tend to simplify them, making them appear very bold. There were a lot of delicate, subtle aesthetic hints that differ between both of our styles coming into this, but the magic of this crossover is that the pairs have an extreme likeness that fits together, like a jigsaw puzzle.

Did the pairings come to you quite easily or was there a bit of debate about it?

MD: The pairings were fun to make. Some came really easily and were quickly obvious, but most took a long time to come across. Personally, I had saved almost all of Ty’s Instagram posts on my computer, and would take one of my photos and look at it alongside every single one of his until I found something interesting. Or I’d take one of his photos and would run it alongside all of mine. It was extremely long [lol] but very pleasant. Ty would also make matches on his end, and we would send them to each other for approval. And of course sometimes there were little debates about image pairings, but always with a light and positive spirit.

Have you thought yet about other ways you might collaborate?

We are both interested to see if new parings could be made with recent work … since making the project our styles have changed dramatically, but the process would have to be as organic as ‘CHIASM’ to work. We do have enough work to make second edition but the project is the best of the bunch!

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All images courtesy of Tyrone Williams and Madison Dinelle. 

CHIASM is on pre-sale now via Ceremony Press. Shop limited edition prints from Tyrone at Darklight Art.