Schizophrenic Photography: An Interview with Abdul Halik Azeez

Most comfortable with a mobile phone camera, independent researcher and artist Abdul Halik Azeez classifies photography as a deeply embodied and automatic process, as he moves around in the city. Since a considerable part of Azeez’s visual practice involves a spontaneous engagement with and recording of the world around him, he talks about certain devices and processes that have come to define his method. In this continuing conversation with the photographer, we dive into these questions of methodology and technique. As it follows, we also discuss the differences inherent in using mobile phone cameras and digital or film cameras. Azeez highlights that while a phone camera is quick and ubiquitous, the last decade has seen its public perception alter into it being considered a suspect object, in comparison to other kinds of cameras. This appears to be a symptom of the networked nature of phone photography, and its soaring popularity alongside the rise of social media. 

Azeez describes his process as one of immersion into built environments. Through his interest in linguistics and semiotics, he cites Deleuze’s idea of a schizophrenic mind which produces through a continuous unconscious temporal and spatial engagement. 

[Featured Image: Installation view, Body Building (2019), Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai. Abdul Halik Azeez. Courtesy of the artist.]

You can read more about Abdul Halik Azeez's work here.