The magazine

Sao Esquillon

Sao Esquillon is a talented young production/set designer from the Philippines. As a kid, he hated school and dreaded Sunday evenings for school was less than a day away. However, he was a very active student, albeit one so involved in sports, arts and theater that he willingly neglected his other academic achievements, kept getting into trouble and was kicked out of high school 3 times.

He attended fine arts courses for a very short while and worked as a 17-year-old illustrator for the Philippine Sesame Street Project. It was a complete playground for Him. There he dabbled in stop motion animation, puppetry, costume design and art directing. That was the starting point of a career in production and set design.

His name means “warrior”.

Sao, why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about your early years, and what got you interested in art.

I grew up in a family of artists. As the youngest of 8 siblings, I was fascinated with what my father and brothers were able to create on paper or canvas.

How relevant was your education to what you do now?

I didn’t like school; it’s not that I don’t like studying. I loved science, history and the arts and read through our textbooks way before we were told to do so. I just don’t see the point of being told to study something you’re not interested in, can’t understand and then makes you feel like a failure, say algebra, for example. What I use and have been using in the arts or photography is based on instinct. Pure instinct. After all, you don’t send lions to jungle school. Someone said that but I can’t remember who.

What are your main goals as a photographer? By that I do not mean professional goals alone, but also artistic ones.

I actually do not know whether I have a main goal in photography. As long as I’m pleased by the final product, then I believe I have achieved my goal. Although sometimes I tend to stop and check whether I’m creating something original.

If I were to say to you, “all serious art is a protest against the banal, bland and vulgar,” what would your response be?

Whatever tickles your pickle. For me, it’s still a matter of taste. Pure art to some is sheer boredom to others.

How personal do you consider your work?

My personal works are like my journal. They’re how I express myself. I see them as a representation of myself even after I’m dead.

Can you describe the very first picture you took? (e.g., year, subject matter, equipment, back-story…)

My very first photo… it was a rose I planted. This rose bloomed when I was 10, that was in 1980. I wanted to paint it and was worried it would wilt in a few days. From there I started taking photos as reference material for my paintings. I still have a Kodak instamatic camera and an old, 1960’s Kodak Brownie I found at home. When I was a little boy, I would spend hours looking at the world around me through its viewfinder.

Do you have anyone you consider a mentor? Any heroes? We don’t have to limit ourselves to the arts.

My inspiration, I think, is Jim Henson. I have learned a lot from Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller and The Muppets and from his other creations. Henson’s work also provided my introduction to puppetry.

What are the 3 words that best describe you?

A dreamer, an observer and the word “amber”.

Any advice to aspiring young photographers?

I am not as young as I would like to be but I think I’m one of those “young photographers”. As advice, you must always be true to yourself, never fear to express what’s really in you, experiment, study and look around with an open mind.

The images that illustrate this interview are © Sao Esquillon.

These, and many others, can be admired at www.flickr.com/photos/esquillon/

© 2008 green tea gallery magazine.