Zoe Deka
Advertising student, Melbourne
Zoe Deka is originally from Tasmania, currently living in Melbourne. She shot her roll while visiting friends in Copenhagen, Budapest and Vienna. She finds the impulse to take photos and considers her Leica R4 her favorite belonging. In the future, she hopes that we can all take a step from social media and process its information in a more meaningful way.
Where are you from and where do you live now?
I’m originally from Tasmania; I grew up there and lived there until I went to boarding school in Italy for two years. Now I live in Melbourne where I am currently studying advertising…
On your pictures we can see palm trees, pools, and … snow. Were you traveling?
Yes; all the pool/sunshine photos are from in and around my home in Melbourne. Then I travelled for a couple of weeks in November and visited friends in Copenhagen, Budapest and Vienna. The snow was in Vienna, and then I think there’s one photo from Bangkok Airport.
How is photography a part of your life?
I have a Leica R4 which is probably one of my favourite possessions. The depth of colour in the photos you get is really special when developed well, and it’s something I’ve never been able to replicate with digital. I get the impulse to take photos of things a lot, and I have more than 2000 photos on my phone right now, but I never go back and look through them. Eventually they just get moved to a hard drive for storage every 6 months or so and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’d like to think all that time I spend taking photos leads to something more.
If you could attend a dinner with any three people of your choice, dead or alive, real or fictional, who would you pick?
Ezra Koenig? Kanye West and Spike Jonze?
What do you dream for the future?
I want to see a shift in the way people use social media and how it integrates with our lives. I feel like people have become too reactive in the way we interpret content with the post, like, comment, share formula; meaning we feel the need to immediately choose a side, agree or disagree and have an opinion that might not be well informed. We feel as though the universality of the internet is entirely malleable to our personal needs, but something as simple as the ubiquity of the ‘like’ button across all media creates a framework that suggests we need to respond, and respond immediately in one way, to what we see. What if we just didn’t have it?
Your idea of happiness?
A really great coffee.
Your idea of misery?
Long haul flights.
If not yourself, who would you be?
Me, but with more money.
Your heroes?
People who make money from doing things they really love.
What is your present state of mind?
Tired.
A song?
Two Words by Kanye West.
Right or left handed?
Right.
What is the best dish you can cook?
Lasagne.
What is your middle name?
Evelyn.
What do you do in your free time?
I read, I go running, I paint sometimes or draw, I hang with friends, I watch Netflix, I sleep in.
What inspires you?
Film soundtracks, colour schemes.
What do you do for money?
I work as a check out chick in a supermarket! It keeps me real, I love it.
What do you do for pleasure?
Get spritz at Brunetti!
Bedside table books?
Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson.
What do you do if you can’t sleep at night?
Make toast.
Do you collect?
No, I have a lot of things; none of them correlate.
Tea or coffee?
Coffee.
What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
I didn’t know sultanas were dried grapes for a long time.
A color?
White.
A city?
Amsterdam.
What are your plans for this weekend?
I’m going to a picnic in the botanical gardens for my friend’s 21st, then work, and sleep.
