KENNY PILCROW 

M E - B E H I N D - T H E - M A S K

By Chris Spain for TABO

“Talent is like riding a bike. 

If the bike is crappy, you can go ahead, but only with a good bike you can go far”, says Kenny, smoking a cigarette in front of Tabo Store, here in the centre of Desenzano del Garda, Italy. 

Kenny is Kenny Pilcrow, a young Canadian photographer better known as “Savon”. Actually, he’s in Italy to do what photographers, as every artist, do: to find inspiration. 
On a cold march day, we meet; wrapped in his jacket, Kenny is friendly and approachable, well-disposed to talk about his life without any reluctance. 

“When I was 18 years-old, I had been given my first camera by my father and that marked the beginning. I started taking pics of anything I saw: places, houses and doors too”, he laughs. “couple years later, I ended up in a commercial photography program . 
It taught very few  technical feature i was already conscious about . Firstly, you must have “something”, and that comes up from your soul”. 

 

That “something”, during the years, emerged from Kenny’s soul without projects or programs, just with your casual, everyday inspiration. His pictures are frames of life made magical by the power of a fresh and original point of view. He has an unusual and lively talent, which is not scared of playing with lights and colours to make reality appear the way he wants, perfectly reflecting trought himself. 

Sentence: “ there is photographer who do what they want and there is photographers  who do what they wants.”

There’s no cold objectivity in his concept of image: “sum people can only give a simple representation of somethings,  My job is a work of “research”, the desire to find always a new vision,new feelings, explore creativity. It’s not about reflecting (redo) reality, it’s about building your own.” 

This particular featured traits of his style clearly appears in many photographs that show a double image of the same person or subject, psychedelic mirrors of fleeting identities. “It 's a signature of my way of photographing. I like the ambiguity and the confusion that results from the game of division. People see these double images and ideally find themselves torn between these two sides. They look at one and then look at the other and they don’t know which the real one is, but what do you find in the midle of this”not only gifted by this uncommon talent. 

      

Savon has a strong sense of freedom; which admits neither rules nor impositions. “Photography ios where I find my freedom; it is my way of living and seeing things. It is my world and it makes me free.  Everyone should research their own vision and their own creativity without being restricted by the desire to imitate someone else. Copying beautiful things made by others means destroying beautiful things that could be made by you”.

 

A few minutes after our interview, we’re walking by the lakefront, the sun setting just outside the harbour. 
For the first time, it’s Kenny who starts talking without my questions. “I love these places overlooking the lake, they’re so peaceful. 

Indeed, I’m a shy person. In my career I’ve been taking pictures in many clubs and discos, but the truth is that I don't like them… well not so much.

I used to go, wearing a mask. sum People would get confused for a second,unless initiated. the moments happening around  you ; are  the reality. ; immortalize then if you like.

Right at that moment, I feel like I’m not talking with Savon anymore, but only to the real Kenny. Like in Pilcrow’s pictures, people have a double image. You see their colours, you see their lights and you can’t say which of their many profiles the true one is.

But sometimes reality, although not visible, is just before our eyes.

As behind a mask there is a face, behind an artist there is a person.

SAVON

Kenny Pilcrow FB