What is the power of photography? How do images and songs bookmark our lives, reminding us of what we care about, who we love, and what it means to be alive?
Julian Lennon is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, photographer, documentary filmmaker, and NYTimes bestselling author of the Touch the Earth children’s book trilogy. This autumn, Whispers – A Julian Lennon Retrospective is being presented at Le Stanze della Fotografia, culminating in the publication of Life’s Fragile Moments, his first photography book. It features a compilation of images that span over two decades of Lennon's unique life, career, adventures, and philanthropy. He founded The White Feather Foundation in 2007, whose key initiatives are education, health, conservation, and the protection of indigenous cultures. He was the executive producer of Kiss the Ground and other environmental documentaries and was named a Peace Laureate by UNESCO in 2020.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Congratulations on Life's Fragile Moments. I hadn't realized it's your first book of photography, even though you've done 40 exhibitions. There's a lot of beauty. There's sadness, too. There are these grace notes—the friends, the friends that you have, the friends that have gone on to another place. I find the whole thing is this love letter to friendship, the arts, these creative friendships that you've had, the communities, all these countries, and Mother Earth. For those who don't yet have the book in their hands, it's punctuated beautifully with these moments—these mysterious mountainscapes or the clouds, it's like a dream world. Just knowing you as a musician, I also felt that there's stillness and silence—a sonic element.
JULIAN LENNON
I'd wanted to do a photography book for quite some time now with various collections. When I started doing collections of Cuba or New York or other locations, there were anywhere from 20, 30, 40, to 50 images within these collections because I believed that's what you needed to be able to tell the story. With a retrospective, which the book actually became, I had to find a way to tell the same story with four images or eight images as opposed to 40 or 50. It really allowed me to consider thinking about things in the future about how I'm going to put collections together—if I can tell that same story in just a few pictures, that's a better way of approaching things. I think that's the beauty of photography, too. You can say so many things or so little, half of it's up to the viewer as to what they take away. That's the thing for me that is not dissimilar to music. I just want to do the work, what feels right to me and put it out into the world. I just want whoever's listening to take away whatever they can take away, whatever they feel, and what resonates with them from the music. You're not telling the people how to feel, how to think, it's just what they take away from what you present. It can depend on the person's mind and their heart and how they're feeling that day or what mood they're in. I think everybody has their own truth. And that's a weird one to really grasp because, in so many respects, we're all the same, but we're so different, which I find fascinating.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Yes, and it’s so interesting. As you said, many of the artistic mediums do this, but it’s particularly strong with music and photography. They are touchstones for people. You begin the book with an introduction written by your friend, Timothy White. Also, you mention friends who have passed, like Mark Spiro. What was it like to put this together and to honor them?
LENNON
Timothy White was the one that kind of pushed me to do my first-ever exhibition. I never dreamt that I'd be doing this ever in a million years. For three days before the opening, I was beyond a state of panic and anxiety and depression. So I was overjoyed when the exhibition finally opened, and we had some of the reviews, which for me were mind-blowing. I couldn't believe I was being considered a fine art photographer. But having that initial encouragement from both sides really made a difference. And as you said, Mark Spiro, a friend for over 20, 30 years, has been one of my songwriting collaborators who sadly passed away earlier this year. We were all hoping he was going to pull through. I wanted to honor him and those people who have affected me in a particular deep emotional way. So it was important to show that it's not about the work, but it's about the people who are involved—that surround you in life during and through the work that you do in life, you know. This is a human endeavor.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
You really trace those friendships, even going back to your oldest friend and first music collaborator, Justin Clayton. That's so beautiful—you have this ongoing collaboration and friendship. And it's so interesting because I know that that's been a theme throughout your life and also your philanthropic work: that we are all one. Like when you went to Cuba, you really capture all these moments in different countries where people aren't as influenced completely by a capitalist system. And I think it's just so beautiful. I mean, I feel like we own possessions, but they end up possessing us.
LENNON
You're absolutely spot on. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I've really enjoyed those emails from people who can't travel, whether it's financial or whether it's because of a physical disability, that say thank you for taking us to those places and that we enjoy your perspective of those places. I find that that's so special and so heartwarming to be able to do that. From traveling in especially Ethiopia, Kenya, and South America, we just see these situations where governments aren't helping, people aren't helping, or they don't have enough support or finances behind the initiatives and programs that do exist. Anything I'm involved in, a good percentage goes to White Feather to keep it ticking over.
From what I witnessed, I just wanted to be able to help. I mean, the girls’ schools that we went to in Kenya–they wanted to do so much and be so much and help so much, but just didn't have the support that they needed. Some girls would be walking anywhere between two and six hours to get to and from school, and many would have been murdered on the way. Many had been raped on the way. So that was staring me blindly in the face—build a dormitory so the girls had somewhere to stay, so that they could rest, be protected with security in school, get on with work, and focus on what they wanted to do and what they wanted to become, which the majority—were to be lawyers, who would be able to protect and fight for not only the land that they lived on, but their families.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
You do an enormous amount. And I wonder where your great empathy came from. You see problems in the world, and you don't think, “Oh, that's somebody else's problem.” You see what you can do about it and how you can bring others on board. I guess a lot of your education has been outside of the classroom, and you've talked about some of those collaborators you’ve learned from. Who have been those important teachers in your life?
LENNON
Most important and my best teacher ever was Mum, because I watched her live through life with dignity, grace, respect, and empathy. So, to me, those are some of the key things that are most important in living life. I think you have to love everybody and yourself. It's not always easy, but respect is a real key issue—not only for people but for this world that we live in, Mother Earth. It's key importance that we honor and respect this beautiful little blue ball that we live on. Nothing is easy. Nothing is fair, but take what joy you can. And I think a lot of joy comes from helping others. In some respects with some of the photography and some of the work that I've done, I'm a teacher of sorts with the children's books and documentaries. I'm always trying to be as positive as I can. I've been through moments where you don't think there's a way out, and you don't think there's light at the end of the tunnel, and that's a tough place to be. We've seen with so many creatives that they give so much of themselves. Life is exhausting. But when you're going that extra mile, it takes that much more out of you. I've been really focusing on finding that balance in life—what's real, what's true, and what makes you happy, how can you help other people have a happier life. I think it’s whatever that takes. So if that's charity, if that's photography, if that's documentary, if that's music, and I can do it, then I'm going to do it.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
We're talking about the toll it takes on artists—how much they give, and they plumb from their depths. We are now on a threshold with AI. You talk about photography—you're only using natural light in your pictures. You're going to the places, you're taking the photographs in the real world. Now, we're at this point where some of us are outsourcing our creativity to AI, to this little black box. Also, copyright is not being respected. It's changing all these fields. I just wonder what your broader reflections are on all this—your hopes and the challenges we face.
LENNON
I think AI is very interesting on the creative side of things because it can give you different perspectives. Obviously, copyright issues are very important. That’s how we artists live. That’s what belongs to us in many respects. I think the most inspiring thing, truly though, about AI is in the medical field. And the way that we hope to be able to find treatments and cures that did not exist before. We're already seeing, even within the last few months, if not the last year, how changes are coming. I think that's a really good thing for us on the whole, in regards to the medical field, as long as we can get our hands on what helps us. I think the natural world offers natural medicines. It's been well observed that since man has been screwing around with everything we touch and feel and breathe and eat and drink, that's where all the cancers have been coming from. I like this place. I want to maintain it as best as I can. Hopefully, we're strong enough to realize what's truly important and look after this beautiful place. Many scientists have said that we're reaching a tipping point. The Earth will always survive. It's us that won't. And it's a shame that people don't realize that greed is quite ugly, to say the least.
One of the things that I've been really focusing on is finding that balance in life, what’s real and what’s true and what makes you happy. How can you help other people feel the same and have a happier life? I think whatever that takes. So if that's charity, if that's photography, if that's documentary, if that's music, and I can do it, then I'm going to do it.
