Tuesday 22 December 2009

Christmas Greetings


Ho ho ho!

It's been a busy time at Diemar/Noble Photography, London this month with a plethora of attention in the press for the George Rodger exhibition making a double page centre spread in the Metro on Tuesday last week & then The Times (again a 2 page feature) with an interview with the charming Jinx Rodger. Thursday was spent with Reuters filming at the gallery for 2 films for their Africa & World feeds. The weekend has finally slowed things down a little and given me time to reflect upon the year & the arrival of 2010 in only a few days time.

The next show is 'Crazy God' by Yvonne De Rosa, a moving and deeply personal body of work by the London-based photographer. The impact this work had on me when I first saw it was profound. As an artist I am fascinated with the minute details of life that not only give clues but from which whole stories can be woven. In Yvonne's case her images of an empty asylum somewhere in Naples casts out multiple threads on which to wrap around ones memory. The dilapidated rooms and corridors, some overgrown by ivy from outside suffocate the space that once kept its inhabitants confined.

I have been making collages again this month from collected material which all gets stuffed into a bulging MOMA bag in my spare room. These collages are fragments re-used to create something new, an artistic recycling if you will. Looking at Yvonne's work it occurred to me that photography works in a similar, placing fragments into a new context, transforming them into something new. The beauty gained from somewhere as disturbing as an asylum is proof that even in the darkest places enchanting things may still happen in the right hands.

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