#BeijingmeetsMelbourne

in your hands

Have you ever done a collaborative project with a fellow artist and formed a really strong bond? Maybe it’s given you accountability and confidence, perhaps joy and comfort in the shared discovery and learning. During July 2022 we celebrated collaborative projects on ‘For the Love of the Photograph’ website and all they can bring to our art and souls, even across oceans and time zones.

We shared Nina Tberg and Nadja Arold’s project #beijingmeetsmelbourne, then in its infancy. The two ladies had met during an online documentary photography course they did with Julia and Barbara from DFF (@doku_familienfotografen). Following the course they talked about how they each wanted somehow document their lives abroad. Both German, both expats, both in love with storytelling and yet struggling with where to begin, what to photograph, how to make it interesting and beautiful. 

Those doubts and uncertainties seem like distant thoughts now as around 70 weeks and 70 diptychs lay carved as a path of treasures behind them. A two lane road winding around two cities from two perspectives.  

When interviewed back in mid 2022 Nina and Nadja couldn’t see an end date to their project and yet as life tends to do a shift appeared on the horizon. After ten years of living in China it was time for Nina’s family to move on, an ending to #beijingmeetsmelbourne was coming and Nadja was the first person Nina called to share the news! Both confident in their friendship they knew it was more a completion of a chapter rather than an ending of collaboration. 

The idea of a tangible memento of their project had been on their minds for a while, in fact during the conversation earlier in their project they expressed a wish to create prints, an exhibition or indeed a BOOK. This change of direction for Nina’s family made the decision for them.

AND so their journey to self-publishing began.

Nadja took the lead and started speaking to print houses in Sydney then in Melbourne. They each selected their favourite pairings then came together to see which fell on both their wish lists. They discussed format, image size, order, how many to print and of course International shipping constraints. 

Nadja fell in love with a book at their printers for the Australian Ballet and requested a similar feel. Nina yearned to be there with her but the two kept in constant contact and exchanged excited messages. Such is the testament to their bond and trust built up over the past few years working together. 

During our more recent conversation we talked about the joys and trials they’d experienced on their project and now into this new journey of book making. Nina mentioned her best moments were the weekly sharing of their diptychs. Once decisions had been made, pairings selected and that moment of release. That moment of stepping best foot forward together and how beautifully relevant their book is - a true encompassing of their experience. The release of not just one diptych, but dozens. Together. 

It was so wonderful to hear how in many ways the harder parts of their project were indeed the earlier days when they were finding their rhythm. When they experimented with themes and contraints often coming back with one image a week, feeling a little trapped they started to loosen the reigns and as they did often they would come back with four, five, even six images each week.  

Nina also talked about how some images felt flat alone and yet paired with Nadja’s work it started to make more sense. Serendipity truly took the lead as they tuned in across the miles, having never met in person, not truly knowing each other yet finding a rhythm all the same. 

Working together, capturing street scenes, details, colours, light and shadow, personal moments as well as images of complete strangers Nina and Nadja’s project has flourished through their weekly commitment to eachother, to a common goal and a consistency of creation. It’s now lifting off our screens and phones and into our hands. 

‘Beijing meets Melbourne, two lives, cities, perspectives’ is now available in book form for pre-order through Nadja’s Art Store. 

I want to thank you Nina and Nadja for sharing your project and how it is taking you into the realm of self publishing. It will be wonderful to witness how she ventures across the miles in particular to Germany this Christmas. Also a special moment for you both as you finally get to meet in person. Congratulations, I can’t wait to receive my copy. 

If you’d love to be featured on ‘A Love Affair with Light, an artist’s dance’ do email me through chloe@chloelodge.com.

Shine bright always,

CW x

@nina_tberg_photographie @stories_bynadja