Building a small business in the midst of the pandemic. In conversation with Tamara Masa Vojinovic, creator of Time Illuminated.

“Film photography became a really beautiful unravelling of artistry, inspiration, imagination, and reconnection.” Tamara shares with us her journey of artistry throughout the pandemic, exploring the highs & lows of artrepreneurship.

BY: MALIKA DAYA

Photo by Nicholas Parisi

Film photography is unique because it grounds you in the present. You aren’t making edits as you go, you are just trying to capture the moment, in its raw form. It takes self-awareness, patience, and spontaneity. The most beautiful part of the process is the time in between when the picture was captured and when it’s developed. In that space, all one can do is hope that what they’ve photographed is held by the roll of film tucked into the camera. It’s an unknown, a complete surprise only discovered when unravelled, similar to Tamara Vojinovic’s journey with Time Illuminated.

Tamara Masa Vojinovic is a Serbian-Canadian film photography artist and a UTSC Arts Management, Media Studies, and Theatre alumni. Her grandfather’s 1959 Kodak Retina IIa and 1963 Agfa Paramat have become her way of connecting with herself and storytellers through a medium that has no linguistic boundaries, an art form that seeks out the honest and natural. She is also an entrepreneur who started her own small business in 2021, that brings together Tamara’s love of film photography and phone cases.

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Tamara about her journey discovering a new medium of art – or a waking – in the midst of COVID, along with her endeavours to create and launch a business during an economically precarious year. She is a wonderful example of an artrepreneur, as she lives out her passions for art and arts management and innovates to create a new path ahead for herself. 

Tell us a little bit about Time Illuminated and who you are.

 Time Illuminated begins with me as an artist, a 35mm film photography artist. This whole idea originated last September of 2020, when I found my grandfather’s film cameras in my basement. Oddly enough I had found them on the anniversary of his passing, which seemed like a sign from above that this is something I should take on. The moment I picked those cameras up, the idea sparked. I felt like a part of him was running through me, I got chills, it was such an incredible moment because I never knew my grandfather. 

Immediately my first idea was artefacts. Artefacts was one of the first series I ever did with film photography. It was a tribute to my grandfather. I wanted to play on these pieces of history and on familial lineage. The camera became my way of capturing my settings and imagining how my grandfather would have seen them if he had been alive. So right away I looked for other things that belonged to my grandfather and were parts of my past, kind of like fossils. 

“Stamp Collection in a Tire Collection” by Tamara Masa Vojinovic

At the time my father was talking about throwing these things out, and I said absolutely not! We are keeping them all! What I really wanted to do was show how one man’s trash was another man’s treasure. I wanted to see how I could reinvent these pieces today. So, I decided to use the junkyard as a setting to juxtapose my treasures. I wanted to play upon these ideas of how you find history in the strangest of places. 

I knew I needed to come up with a name for all of this and time was something I kept on playing with. Given that I am “going backwards in time” because I’m using these 70s cameras that didn’t belong to me and seeing how they contrast and juxtapose my settings in the present, Time Illuminated seemed fitting. And that’s when the idea of the phone cases came about because I wanted to use past time, present time and put together something for the future. The irony for me is of using a photograph from a 70s camera and putting it on top of a phone case that’s from the 21st century and onwards. I knew Time Illuminated was what this brand is going to be. I’m illuminating the better times, the times we are living in today, and the times of yesterday. 

“Illuminating the North Collection” Photo Courtesy of Tamara Masa Vojinovic

I love that your why is so incredibly personal. You are really learning about and constructing your relationship with your grandfather through the medium of art, and I think that is so powerful and beautiful. 

Let’s talk a little bit about your experience discovering film photography during COVID. How did your art practice ground you and inspire you? 

I love that you asked this question. This year has been more than hard, it's unprecedented and I personally really struggled with my mental health and finding myself. I think one of the things a lot of people struggle with is identity but specifically in this past year and a bit, finding myself has been my biggest journey. I still can’t say that I’ve fully found myself but I’m in the process of, and I think that’s what is the most beautiful about art.

During this pandemic, I needed some sort of outlet to express myself, somewhere to put my feelings, my emotions, my ideas and to grow as a person and artist. When film photography came about during the pandemic, I was like wow this is becoming my new way of healing. I think art is 100 percent a way of healing, we use art to heal all the time, every single day.

 As you know during the pandemic all these sales went up at LCBO and people were going crazy drinking, but for me it's like - no let’s find a healthy way to get through this together. On that note, I started to work with artists in this series called Subjects in Creativity. It was the most exciting series for me because I put artists in a place where they could express and do the thing they were most passionate about and be joyful in it. My photography was the product of their emotions being evoked as they lived their passion. Through their passion I was even more excited to continue and to drive this business and myself forward. In the process I felt like I was healing, like I wasn’t alone. This brought me closer to other artists and to myself.

“I Am What I Create” from Subjects in Creativity by Tamara Masa Vojinovic

I believe film photography was never actually in your “plan” in university. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that, what did you do in university, what were you inspired by, and then how did this unexpected turn of events come about? 

I went to UTSC for arts management, media studies, and theatre. I have always been passionate about the arts, no doubt about that. I started off with dance when I was in middle school. From dance, I moved into theatre in high school, actually musical theatre. I also found myself drawn to leadership and management roles. So, in university I took arts management. I always assumed that I would take on a leadership position in the arts. That’s what I knew: I love the arts, I want to inspire people, and I want a leadership role - but other than that I was kind of lost honestly.

I didn’t know what I would be doing after university. I thought it would be easy. Let me just say that. I thought right after university, because I had really good internships throughout my undergrad, I’d land a job right away. I thought I was going to transition into a 9-5 like most other people. Boy, was I wrong.

Before the pandemic had even started, it was already proving to be extremely difficult to find work. Not just in the arts industry but beyond that, like just to get your foot in the door. I had gone through many interviews and thought I was going to land a job that I really wanted - didn’t happen. It really felt like the world kept pushing back and so when my film photography came to me it was a clear sign. I needed to take a step back and move in a different direction. I needed to try something different and re-evaluate what I assumed would be my life and follow a different track. It became a really beautiful unravelling of artistry, inspiration, imagination, and reconnection. 

In this unravelling, you also ended up becoming an entrepreneur and now you have a small business. Your art is a big part of this, but the other side of this is the market. Talk to me about what the process was like to set up your business. Did you have an “aha- moment” where you were like “Yeah okay I’m going to do this!” and what was that like? 

 I love this question - and I laugh - because I think there is this idea with social media and with people’s presence online that you think it’s so easy. I think people assume it’s so easy and I was one of those people because I had seen positivity from other small businesses.

I took inspiration from them and thought “okay I can totally do this too.” And then I started, and I was like wow, this is way harder than I assumed it to be. I think there was definitely an “aha-moment” where I wanted to make this happen. At that moment, I thought about how I didn't want to be a typical film photographer who sells their prints in a normal format because there are thousands of film photographers who do that. I wanted to try a different medium, a different way of sharing and selling my work. So, I knew I was going to do this, but the process of getting this up and running was a lot of money that I’m still sitting in debt with, and it was a lot of emotions, a lot of going back and forth, and a lot of fighting with myself.

Money aside, you put the money in because you are passionate about it but then you’re like can I continue this, how long can I keep this going? Do I have enough content ideas and inspiration to be doing this for however long? With a small business I don’t think this is something you should start and close down after a month. I think this is something you need to see through. Now being three months in, that’s what I’m doing. I’m really seeing this through.

“The Carving Out Time Collection”Photo by Nicholas Parisi

So yes, there was that “aha moment”, there was a lot of hardship, a lot of me going online and researching what other small businesses have done. I reached out to a lot of networks, and a lot of time went into research. And money, being ready to put the money down - and you know - understanding that I may not make this back. But I’m still going to be happy, because I did it. 

I joke around and say it’s kind of like school. It feels like I’m putting down money for school because I’m learning so much. And there are moments when it's eating me up, it’s money that’s gone but then the majority of the time it’s like no no I’ve learned so much about search engine optimization, website design, film photography, about content creation, about shipping and packaging, about taxes. About social media presence with small businesses! It’s something I wouldn’t have ever learned hadn’t it not been for Time Illuminated.

 So, I want to ask you, throughout this process you’ve gone through a lot, you’ve had a lot of feelings, you’ve had to negotiate and navigate your tactics, your way of being, and your presence online. Tell me, if you had to name your two biggest takeaways, one as an artist and one as a small business owner what would they be? 

 As an artist I understand why technology has evolved in the way that it has. Film photography is not easy, and it requires patience, money, and time. It’s brilliant in so many ways because we live in a world where instant gratification is an everyday thing. You prop open your phone and you’re like, “Oh I got a like on my Instagram post!” Film photography is the complete 180 of that, you don’t know what you’re taking a photo of until you develop it. It may not have turned out at all once you take your negatives to your store, you know it could just be a blur and a half. And all the time you put into it could’ve just gone down the drain. But it is all about that learning, about that patience, about that internal gain. Which I think is brilliant in this 21st century.

Photo by Tamara Masa Vojinovic

As an entrepreneur - don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m still working on this. I’m not perfect, I have my ups and downs. I have stress and anxiety, but if there is one thing, I’m learning it is to not be hard on yourself, everything takes time. And you don’t even know what you’re learning until the future. You are still in the process of learning and you will always be. 

A term that comes to mind when I think of you is Artreprenuer. I’m proud of you and thankful for your honesty and authenticity when talking about your journey. What is one thing you’re looking forward to in the weeks to come?

 I will be launching another collection. It is going to be called Built in Time, the collection is based upon the idea of literally building time. We are all so small but so big in the grand scheme of things. Everything we do has an effect on the world. Everything we do inspires one, five or ten people. You make your mark every time you step out into the world. And so, the idea is metaphorically that. The images are architecturally inspired and are all based on the premise of the idea of literal structures and our structures of being. I’m super excited about it and I can’t wait to launch it, but there is a lot of work to be done before that happens. 

Anything you want to share with our UTSC community? 

I love to connect with other small businesses, networks, and people. I’d love to hear any feedback, questions, comments, and if you’d like any other information.

To connect with Tamara visit timeilluminated.com or check her out on Instagram. Her email is tam@timeilluminated.com