SEARCH, THERE'S MORE.
Southern wrecks
The Southern Italy, as portrayed by Sandro Messina, appears as a universe itself, a reality that makes of its uniqueness the only possible clue, even more if our gaze is focused on Sicily, almost exalted and sublimated by being island, an inviolable and contemptuous fortress which turns its back on the world, yet tormented inside. A hollow pot to contain the most diverse stories and cultures and lives, as tearing conflicts for centuries past and for those to come. The places represented in the series Bridge return a kind of unresolved medley between the wild nature of the Strait of Messina’s surroundings and the signals more or less evident of the impending environmental disturbances, while Our Heritage highlights the contacts sometimes strident between the use of land and its extraordinary archaeological heritage. Yet, common to both projects, is a subtle sense of alienation that arises in the people who observes these places through their impeccable photographic representation, and in those who live and pass through them like person, as if the imposing Temple of Agrigento or some neglected residential neighborhood attacked by the vegetation near Messina were individual finds of the same indefinite parallel dimension, not quite earthly, the one of the myths that are lost in time.
© Courtesy of Sandro Messina: from the series "Bridge" and "Our Heritage".
www.photographerspro.eu/sandromessina
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Sample places
There is something special that binds the photographer Inge Stolwijk to the Dutch city called Woerden. A city that for decades has been statistically established as the Most Average Town in the Netherlands. A sort of sample place where to test products, verify researches and so on. Her gaze moves generically across this apparent geographic normality to depict people and spaces as a familiar poetic that feeds on thin details and small identities to make the sky less grey and thick.
«I think I have always been more concerned with raising a question than with finding an answer. I am interested in the things in life that we consider to be “normal”, that we see as something certain. In my work I try to make the viewer think twice about these things. I was born and raised in Woerden and I’ve always been amazed by the Average phenomenon. When I started this project, I thought I was trying to show the extraordinary within the things we consider to be ordinary. (more…)
Courtesy of Inge Stolwijk
www.ingestolwijk.nl
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Hyper-realism
Built to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the series of Guido Castagnoli interprets the 9 places where the evening of 9 November 1989 were first opened the gates. «The thing that struck more of this research is how the city is still carrying on its surface (and not only) the deep scars of a painful past, alas not so far away!» writes us in a note that tells of his way to portray reality. «Photography for me is basically trying to talk about my personal way of feeling the world yet (and this is the most interesting thing) with one more chance: to speak of ourselves through the description of a world that is completely outside us. And it is here that the process is enriched. It is through this two-way exchange. A sort of emotional loop. The place itself someway contains, or better, reflects an emotion that already belongs to my emotional baggage that is enhanced and modified over time in tandem with the real life not necessarily related solely to the photographic experience. (more…)
© Guido Castagnoli: from the series "Berlin 2009". Courtesy of Sasha Wolf Gallery, New York City.
www.guidocastagnoli.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Long exposures
The night seems to provide the Spanish photographer Andrés Medina the chance to reclaim the space in its most neutral dimension. Deprived of the life that flows through it during the day, the space becomes the perfect setting in which the artist moves, casually talking with the light necessary to give breath and importance to its most striking forms and lines.
«With “The Night Experience” series I wanted to show the importance of light that transforms urban landscapes when night falls. Locations are special to me, as a result of the search that took place for long night exposures. Empty places with great visual strength, simplicity but effective. They are industrial sites, car parks, civil constructions, railway stations, sports facilities. All this serves to express myself when night falls. Overall I seek places that no one expects to be photographed. Places away from people, emptied for a moment of its activities. These sites are usually gloomy, with a cold atmosphere and sometimes they produce uncomfortable rejection in the observer.»
© Courtesy of Andrés Medina
www.andresmedina.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Underlying structures
Often it takes a seconded glance to grasp the essence of reality that surrounds us, without going too far. It helps to step aside and to start watching again, putting between ourselves and the world the right distance to view it in full, or at least see the single part that tell us much more. The shots of Anne Lass have the rare and precious gift of synthesis, and a power of communication that goes hand in hand with the undeniable aesthetic appeal that they move deep in the observer. The “Geography of Nowhere” project, undertaken in the United States where the German photographer resided for a couple of years, is a striking example. «In my work», Anne Lass confirms, «I try convert my personal impression of portions of the United States living space into a panopticon of what I like to call absence of self-determination. It is the absence of any reference to the place and the randomness of shown locations that conducts me to the paradox title Geography of Nowhere.» (more…)
© Courtesy of Anne Lass
www.annelass.de
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Unemployed spaces
The German photographer Jana Stolzer doesn’t hesitate when she cuts reality in a decisive, immediate, clinical and almost rude way. In doing so, she return us straight and insidious descriptions of places, made of images filled with emotions and closer feelings.
«“Amerika” is the name of a series of photographs, which is not made in America. The name describes the past of a neighborhood in a city of Germany. This place has a different architecture from other districts because of the occupation of the Americans in the 50s. This area was rebuilt to create a residential area for the American occupation troops. After 50 years we can still see clearly the signs of that story. Each time we arrived there, it seems to enter a different world, far from Germany, a few square kilometers of small abandoned America. Here, time seems to stand still, as the district has not changed for long time. Everywhere concrete structures, functionality and everything is labeled with numbers . (more…)
Courtesy of Jana Stolzer
www.jana-stolzer.de
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Constructions of landscape
The attention that Noah Beil has for the landscape is certainly not trivial, but moves from the desire to understand the relationships and perceptual dynamics that exist in connecting with the environment. Thus a introspective search, a kind of self-analysis that deepens the dialogue between what is inside and outside her personality, with very interesting and well-balanced results from an aesthetic point of view.
«My interest in landscape photography developed naturally from my enjoyment of exploring exterior spaces. I am happiest when my photography is an extension of my life, an enhancement of experiences I would seek even without my camera. “Berms and Drumlins” grew out of my interest in understanding the aesthetic distinction between natural and manmade environments. I searched for places with differing degrees of constructed landscape features - some partially man-made and some built on landfill which were entirely man-made. (more…)
© Courtesy of Noah Beil
www.noahbeil.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Sign and significance
Approaching the vital work of Lee Friedlander, undoubtedly one the most influential photographer of the last century is equal to questioning the main scope of photographic representation, addressing a complex as immediate visual essay on it. As a matter of fact the American landscape of the Sixties and the Seventies told by Friedlander’s lens can be defined “social”, fragmented and chaotic as full of paradoxes and constant references to cultural issues whether open or concealed. And the language itself is nourished by the same fragmentation and by the same wealth. As we were facing a worn-out and well-known American postcard and be denied an instant later. Only superficially the represented places return known and recognized patterns, while these individual windows upon the so-called normality and everyday banality are lightning glances deeply imbued with uneasiness and disorientation. (more…)
© Lee Friedlander. Courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
www.fraenkelgallery.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Sinless
It’s hard not be fascinated by the pristine visions of Jan Koster. Words sometime are not enough to tell about artwork. His work on dutchscapes photographs express the need to embrace that “something” which hides behind beauty. We could name it nature, world, universe. It’s this tension that releases emotions and reflects the essential human desire of pushing the view beyond. Describe beauty with images rather than words. There is a inner silence radiated from the most intact landscapes. A silence that comes from harmony as a balanced expression of the elements that compose visual perception. Elements that Koster represent with ability, by measuring the shapes and lines, by mixing colors and light in a discreet and never aggressive poetry. With the series Sine Labe Concepta the Dutch photographer seems to move forward his linguistic expressivity to a higher complexity. A thought which we find also in his words.
© Courtesy of Jan Koster
www.jankoster.info
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Distant poses
The work of the talented british photographer Tom Hull focuses on intermediate and transitional spaces, so called non-places. We are glad to feature here his beautiful series Mehicana with its own brief story.
«With a central population of nearly 9 million people, extending to almost 20 million in the greater parts, Mexico City is undoubtedly one of the most populous cities in the world. If New York is said to ‘never sleep’, surely Mexico City never stops beating, dancing, partying and thriving. The city, however, is only one tiny factor in a country of immense cultural and environmental differences.
It is only once the confines of the city have been left behind, that evidence of this constantly evolving country becomes more apparent.
Whilst lucky enough to be journeying through Mexico for a month, I was captivated by the vast range of landscapes, people, civilizations, customs and history that have built this amazing place. (more…)
Courtesy of Tom Hull
www.tomhull.co.uk/
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Beneath the surface
“Underground Landscapes” by the Berlin based photographer Timo Stammberger depicts subway tunnels of cities such as Berlin, Dortmund, New York, Philadelphia, Lisbon or Stockholm. These tunnels are part of large, well-branched mass transit systems, which are used by many people on a daily basis, playing an immense though hidden role in the life of today’s metropolises.
«By calling these underground scenarios “landscapes”, I links them to other urban infrastructure like the “Autobahn” (the Highway), sharing the similar, purely functional purpose. However, for most passengers on their way through the underground of cities, the tunnel environment creates only one picture: a dark, black something, passing by the window. The French anthropologist Marc Augé writing about “Non-Places” says that space of the non-resort creates no particular identity, and no special relation, but loneliness and similarity. Based on constructivism and due to my previous work as a graffiti artist, I experience and show the subway tunnel as a “Place”. The tunnels gain identity through my photographic interpretation of the various carefully chosen subway systems.»
© Courtesy of Timo Stammberger
www.timostammberger.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Wake up and fill it up
A very well-fitting title accompanies the project of the duo Tribble & Mancenido which offers an effective as unusual cutaway of what is like working with heavy trucks on the roads of the United States.
«Trucking is a precarious lifestyle and we set out to make a body of work that would make truckers the heroes of our economy. We wanted to step away from the misconceptions and stereotypes people had of truck drivers, showing a softer and beautiful side of their the blue collar labors. The series was inspired by James’ father, after spending time riding with him in his truck. We hoped to understand a widely unknown culture and what it’s like to support your family being married to the road, so we decided to become bona fide truckers working for one of our country’s largest hauling companies and lived on the road for a full year. Our images focus on the silent moments of obliged waiting and the anonymity of such a culture. Wherever you go throughout the country, trucker areas generally share similar landscapes and aesthetic. We photograph these spaces, signs and objects familiar to this load-carrying way of life, hoping to bring the harsh beauty of the American trucking culture to a wider audience.»
© Courtesy of James F. Tribble and Tracey F. Mancenido
www.tribblemancenido.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
Beyond time
There are may ways to describe nature. Anna Shelton does it by portraying essential and picturesque atmospheres that seem to be suspended in time. Does nature belongs to the time rather than to ourselves? Behind a magic and subtle patina that distinguishes her Polaroids lies a deep respect for what is able to withstand to the past and to fascinate the soul of the observer, and to stimulate his imagination, whether they are landscapes, things or emotions. Nature thus takes a dignity through the need of some memory. That of the Portland based photographer is a patient look, resting rather than intrusive, which falls in a quiet and pristine vegetation, slipping on water and between the colored and tenuous reflections, to find with poise and discretion an intimate balance.
«I’m still trying to find my voice with photography, but am realizing more and more that I’m drawn to nature and subjects that seem to have stood the test of time, or are barely hanging on! My idea of a vacation is to simply wander around forgotten places with my camera. It’s definitely a form of escapism. I have a rather unhealthy obsession with old stuff. It’s comforting to think I can recreate this personal aesthetic through my photos».
© Courtesy of Anna Shelton
www.flickr.com/photos/zipco-and-cal/
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
What lies behind the eyes
The project of Paul D’Haese, pointedly called Dayblind, moves at different levels closely related to each other, investigating the many roads of perception, paths that eternally fork, put it to Borges, and also raising questions about the primary meaning of photography. Portraits of faces with eyes closed, indicating a clear reluctance to a direct dialogue with the observer, are accompanied with shots of landscapes and architecture that display the same type of approach, just as alienating and covetous of references, almost as if the extreme minimalism and the sparseness with which these are represented were the strict rules of a universe bounded in a severe and unshakable way, or a few bright fragments of it. Often a sharp black and white becomes the main tool to support a direct and never pushy language, ruthless and precise as elegant and full of suggestions. The result is a criticism to the very act of vision, a suggestion to face the failure of photography to represent reality, as essentially invisible, leaving the appearances as the only possible guides when you are as blind and groping in the deep dark of the interpretation of reality.
© Courtesy of Paul D'Haese
www.pauldhaese.be
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
One human nature
Solitary and anonymous figures depicted as immersed in space seem to oddly measure oneself with the environment, looking for a position and even more for a fair dimension. The photographer attends to these distant scenes to build up a moment, a suspended time as expression of being a human in a certain place. In a way landscape is there but would it still be there without a tangible presence? What is its real role on this planet? Are we daydreamers there for it, among the waves, the trees, the rocks? Into the nature. Words are like musical notes they need a pause after a while. Imagination doesn’t, and so images flow everywhere. Catch them is a possibility for Marilia Destot to capture time. «In this selected series, and often in my work, I isolate one character in the landscape, playing on scales and shapes. I pay attention to both confrontation and fusion between human and nature. […] My photography work focuses, through portrait and landscapes series, on the relation and perceptions of the model to his environment. (more…)
© Courtesy of Marilia Destot
www.mariliadestot.com
(click on the image at right for more pictures)
