Alamedia

Seize the Moment

Photography by Jan Watten

    Born into an artistic family—her mother was an artist and her father a doctor and potter—photographer Jan Watten, 52, has a passion for expressing the essence and core of her subject’s being. “My work really revolves around the idea of identity. It is really difficult to capture the completeness of someone, and what I am interested in is capturing an aspect of them,” she says, “an isolated moment.” Watten chooses to photograph her subjects in black and white, because “I see in black and white. It reduces an image and you don’t have distractions of color. You are getting rid of extraneous information, and it’s very pure.” This vision of purity and simplicity was nurtured during her 13 years living abroad in Taiwan, where she found artists’ works to be very minimal. Fast-forward to the present and you will find Watten supporting and volunteering her work for display at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts. The city of Alameda itself has a complementary effect on Watten’s work. “The thing I love about Alameda is that it is a sort of time warp,” she says. “I love the slowness of it.” Life on the Island moves at the perfect speed for this artist who enjoys taking the time to encapsulate the moment. See more of Watten’s work at www.janwatten.com.

—Aromrak Luangrath