Hong Kong sees photographer Wolfgang Tillmans’ unedited views of the world

By in Photography

Hong Kong sees photographer Wolfgang Tillmans’ unedited views of the world

Six years after his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, photographer Wolfgang Tillmans returned to the city recently with his unfiltered, unedited and altogether untouched images.

“The Point Is Matter”, the 55-year-old German-born artist’s second show at David Zwirner Hong Kong, consists of more than 80 works, ranging from images taken in the mid-1990s to others captured recently in Hong Kong and in Shenzhen, southern China.

In addition a video installation, Four Videos of Build from Here, dominates one of the gallery rooms, accompanied by electronic music from Tillmans’ upcoming second album, Build From Here, to be released on April 26.

The visuals are mesmerising; one clip zooms in on the inner workings of an industrial offset printer from various angles, while another frames the moonrise above a dark sea as the artist’s silhouette moves against the shimmering reflection. In another scene, the moon glides across the screen.

image
Artist Wolfgang Tillmans in front of his video installation Four Videos of Build From Here at David Zwirner in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Tillmans, who became the first photographer and non-British artist to be awarded the UK’s prestigious Turner Prize in 2000, says he is obsessed with astronomy and the vastness of space. The video captured the real-time movement of the moon seen through a telescope.

He first looked through a telescope when he was 12, he says.

image
Window Left Open (2023) by Wolfgang Tillmans. Photo: David Zwirner

“In my teens, I tried all sorts of mediums of expression, like painting, making music, drawing and even making clothes, only to buy a camera at 20.” He discovered the manifold possibilities of photography and it became “the source” of all his art, he says.

“[Some images] can be a painterly discourse, some can be documentary,” he says, referring to his famous records of the liberating hedonism of 1980s and 1990s nightclubs and youth subculture. Some may be pure studies in colour, nature, or abstraction.

“It is all based on the study of reality,” he adds. At the same time, he has always been interested in how lenses can show reality differently to how the naked eye sees it.

image
Sirius Through a Defocused Telescope, f (2023) by Wolfgang Tillmans. Photo: David Zwirner

When he was a teenager, he was already using photocopiers to distort photos taken with borrowed cameras, or found images. In his 2023 series “Sirius Through a Defocused Telescope”, six inkjet prints depict the brightest star in the night sky with rainbows shining around it.

They were captured using a set-up that slightly refracted the light beam from the star, Tillmans explains. “There is no coloration here, no digital manipulation. It’s a recording of natural light.”

“I want there to be a certain sense of trust in my pictures as evidence,” he says, and jokes that he is probably the only photographer who doesn’t know how to use Photoshop.

image
Badehose, photocopy II (1994) by Wolfgang Tillmans. Photo: David Zwirner

While he did start using digital cameras in 2009, his way of image making has changed little, he says. “My photography is, in a way, always easy. From when I started 30 years ago, I’d always wanted to make the pictures look simple.”

But there is nothing random about his images. They reflect his understanding of the world and his recognition that information lies beyond the materiality and surfaces of things, he says. The point of “The Point is Matter” is to see beyond the seemingly casual display of pinned or taped prints on the walls.

“What runs through this exhibition is a deep interest in the matter of things.

image
Artist Wolfgang Tillmans in front of his photograph HKG Airport Interior (2023), which shows a glitch on a screen at Hong Kong International Airport. He saw it as a moment of authenticity to be preserved. Photo: Mustafah Abdulaziz

“In today’s world, we are constantly living in the future as well as in the past. We’re projecting; we’re editing; we’re looking at pictures of things. But the actual things – this shirt, this branch, this leaf, this roadside, this ocean surface – these are the material realities of our life that I look at with great curiosity,” he says.

HKG Airport Interior (2023) is an apt example of this inquisitive lens. Fixating on the glitch on a screen at the Hong Kong International Airport, it brings attention to a technical mistake that most would otherwise overlook; but to Tillmans, it was a fleeting moment of authenticity to be preserved.

His ability to turn the mundane into compelling images is on show in Ulaanbaatar Still Life (2023) and Window Left Open (2023), still lifes of plants and windows in a study of light and shadow.

image
Ulaanbaatar Still Life (2023) by Wolfgang Tillmans, an example of the photographer turning the mundane into a compelling image. Photo: David Zwirner

“I think a lot and I read constantly, newspapers and all sorts of publications. But I also really like to just rest my eyes on things and take in what life gives me at present. Life is infinitely interesting.”

“Wolfgang Tillmans: The Point is Matter”, David Zwirner, 5-6/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Tues-Sat, 11am-7pm. Until May 11.

Tribune photographer, others get a chance to face the fire

By in Photography

Tribune photographer, others get a chance to face the fire
image

RICHLAND — A state representative, two city councilors, a city administrator and a photojournalist walk into a burning building. And no, this isn’t a joke.

One at a time, followed closely by a firefighter from their local department and surrounded by a crew of training ground operators, they hook up to air tanks, crawl to a burning couch, aim the hose and spray.

Some Leica shooters are “lazy photographers – but not in a bad way!” says Leica exec

By in Photography

Some Leica shooters are “lazy photographers – but not in a bad way!” says Leica exec

Few people think “mirrorless specialist” when they think about Leica, but in some ways it has already bested some of the biggest names in the post-DSLR era. 

When it launched the original Leica SL in 2015, Canon was still pushing the EOS M system, Nikon had thrown its weight behind its ill-fated J series, and Olympus… well, Olympus still made cameras. 

Fast-forward to 2024. The Leica SL2 doubled the customer base of its predecessor, and the Leica SL3 is now the third pillar of the business next to the Leica Q3 and Leica M11. By contrast, Canon and Nikon abandoned their first crack at mirrorless cameras, and Olympus abandoned cameras altogether. 

So how did Leica – a company known for premium pricing and a cult-like following – become such a big player in the mirrorless arena? I sat down with Leica SL System product manager, Steffen Rau, to chat about its camera system and how it has made its mark in the industry. 

Some manufacturers are definitely more ‘specs and science’ than the art of photography, but Leica has always felt more art than science. How do you feel about that balance?

Both are important. It’s not only the art – sure, the artist is very important. But especially for the SL system, it’s not that we could do whatever we want to do, like we can with the M system; there is no competition for the M, there’s no big competition for the Q. But with the SL system we are in that competitive market with Sony, with Nikon, with Canon, with Panasonic, and we have to look after the specs otherwise we would not sell any cameras. 

So there has to be a minimum level of specs, and the rest for sure it’s the Leica dot and the heritage and the feeling and the touch and feel, and the user interface. No one ever mentioned user interface in the technical review, and that’s also kind of art, but it’s one of the biggest things we are proud of. A camera that can be used very easily, whereas some other brands are totally complicated. And that we are very proud of.

(Image credit: James Artaius)

You use the interface every time you turn on a camera, but it’s something that other brands seem to put the least amount of thought into. Here it feels very instinctive – a fundamental part of the experience.

Yes, it is. But also with our menu structure, you could find something that doesn’t fit into your workflow. So that’s also not perfect, but we try to do our best and improve it every time – every firmware version should be better and better, and at the end make the customers happy that it’s easy to use. 

My goal is that no customer has to go to the main menu any more, because we have so many customizable options. With Control Center and the Fn buttons, and the dials and user profiles and touching the live view, the icons on the live view – no one needs to go to the main menu, even though the main menu is very easy to use. 

When we talk about ease of use, younger photographers are increasingly shooting from the back screen instead of the viewfinder. Have you observed that kind of behaviour with Leica shooters?

We don’t have any numbers about that, but I would assume that most people are using it in a traditional way – but also the old photographers and professional photographers are starting to use tilt streams, starting to use the touch display, because they see that it’s very easy to use, it makes their workflow easier, that’s what it’s about. So they do not want to work very hard, they want to have it easy – me too, I want to have an easy life. 

(Image credit: James Artaius)

Was there anything obvious with the SL2 that you felt you wanted to address with the SL3?

Yeah, I would say the autofocus system. We heard a lot of customers who want to to use tracking autofocus, continuous autofocus, even for video. And we know that with face detection autofocus it might be very easy or easier than with our contrast-based autofocus. So we knew we had to improve there, we had to find something new, and we did. So we have a combination of three autofocus systems: face detection, Leica object detection and contrast detection, and the combination of all three brought us a very big step forward.

The other thing which we knew from customer feedback also is the size and weight. For me, I’m very tall, I have big hands, and for me the SL2 is perfect, and I thought for me we do not have to shrink it, we don’t have to lose any weight. But the most of our customers wanted to lose some weight and shrink it, and we did it – 3mm in height and 5.2mm in width, we lost around about 70g. 

The pure figures are not very impressive, but if you feel it – if you compare it with the SL2, if you compare it with competitors – you will see that it’s a much better version now. And I would say better than the competition, because the competition sometimes is too small and too lightweight, and the balance when you use a big lens is not even. And with this camera now there is a perfect balance, and for me it’s even though I thought it could not be better than SL2, the SL3 is much better. 

Going back to the screen, obviously, some people prefer a fixed screen, some prefer the tilt, others people prefer the flipping screen. Was there a specific reason for the tilt option with the SL3?

We know that a lot of customers – we were asking them, and we know from interviews – and a lot of them said, “Don’t spoil the camera, please stay with a fixed screen.” I’m pretty sure all of these customers, when they see what we made, will be totally satisfied and they will buy it, because we didn’t spoil the design, and it fits perfectly. 

That is one reason: we did not want to take two steps at once. So one step is to have only the tilt screen, so even for the more traditional photographers we have a good solution. And the next thing is, from a technological point of view, we were not aware of how to use tilt screens or swivel screens or something like that – it was new for us. So we started from scratch, and we started with a lower version, with a more easy version. And then the next step could be a swivel screen, yeah, sure.

(Image credit: James Artaius)

It must be a balancing act – I’m sure there must be things you would love to implement, but you also have a responsibility to the silhouette of the SL3, to the pedigree and integrity of the Leica design.

Yeah, that’s more a design question for my colleagues, but I can answer that as well. It’s sometimes it makes my life a little bit complicated, but on the other hand, I think I like it because it’s Leica, and Leica stands for simplicity and for the famous design. And honestly I do not want to change the design – slightly, only in minor steps from generation to generation, not one big step to something which no one would like to use, because that’s not a Leica any more. We only do evolutionally small steps; everyone can adapt, and everyone sees what they’re getting, and it’s still a Leica. 

Because there’s an expectation, when you get a Leica –

Yeah, it has to look like Leica, not like some other brands. 

I love models like the TL and CL, but perhaps there was some hesitation because they weren’t what people perceived a Leica to look like.

I think that the CL does pretty much look like an M – for me it looks like a small M. The TL, maybe not – the TL is something modernistic, and it looks a little bit from the future. 

Space age!

Yeah, space age, and maybe the TL was coming a little bit too early. And I’m pretty sure if the TL would arrive now, it might be a different story. 

(Image credit: Leica)

Do you get a lot of crossover with users adapting their M lenses, or is the SL just its own thing?

No, there’s a lot of crossover. A lot of customers coming from the M system, and a lot of customers are coming also from the old R system, and you can adapt both. But the M lenses are very famous and very good to use with the SL, especially Noctilux 50 or Noctilux 75 wide open. It’s not very easy to focus with an M [rangefinder], not everybody can do it. But with the SL I think it’s much easier. So yeah, there is a need – maybe if you wear glasses, I’m not sure how easy it is for you to focus with an M. So we have a lot of customers using M lenses and also R lenses.

But I think most customers are interested in original SL lenses because you have such a good camera, and then to only use it with manual focus lenses – it’s good to use, but in the end you want something fast. And that’s why the customers are asking for fast AF and fast aperture. So with our APO lenses you have I think the best combination, the best image quality on the market. 

Looking back at the L Mount Alliance announcement at Photokina 2018, it was such a smart move because now you have such a strong ecosystem – 3 major companies and now 84 lenses.

Yeah, the L-Mount was really a good idea. It began a little bit earlier [than 2018], it began with the [Leica] T camera; the T camera was the first with the L mount, though it wasn’t called L-Mount in those days. But that’s where the L-Mount comes from, and then in 2018 we established the Alliance with these two partners and it was a really cool move. It was not my idea, but credit to the people who had these ideas! 

I know the colleagues from Sigma, I know the colleagues from Panasonic, and they are very open-minded. And they have their traditions, we have our tradition, and in general we totally understand each other, and I think we are a good team. All three companies are a good team, and now we are eight companies, and all other companies also fit into the L-Mount, so we would not allow anyone to enter the L-Mount Alliance that did not share our philosophy and our values. So I think it was a good decision and the partners work really well together. 

Kazuto Yamaki of Sigma, Andreas Kaufmann of Leica, and Tetsuro Homma of Panasonic announce the L-Mount Alliance at Photokina 2018 (Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Have you seen much movement from customers between the different brands within the Alliance?

We don’t have official numbers about that, but sure we know customers that come from Sigma, from Panasonic, and move into Leica, but also the other way around. So some customers are buying the Leica SL body and want to get more-or-less cheaper lenses, more entry-based lenses from Panasonic or Sigma – and they can do it. And in the end, I’m pretty sure they will end up here again, and buy the APO lenses or the original SL lenses. Which is part of that journey. 

I can totally understand, spending so much money for a camera system, not everyone can afford this [premium lenses] – so it’s step after step. And if the step is to go first into Sigma lenses or Panasonic lenses – totally fine. Or starting with a Panasonic body and then buy some some Leica lenses – also fine. 

Wrapping things up, who would you say is a Leica photographer?

I would say there are different groups. One group is the lazy photographer. I call him the lazy photographer, not in a bad way, but because he doesn’t want to do a lot of post-processing. We know a lot of customers that came from other brands, because with other brands they had to do a lot of post-processing – and they told us with Leica, they are only post-processing 10% of the time they were before. And they did good, because that’s their job and time is money. And if they can save some time it’s good for them. 

Then we have the amateurs or ambitious amateurs, like me. I’m not a professional photographer, and for me it’s to be part of a family, to be part of that Leica family. And then, also to have this opportunity to use this perfect body and this perfect camera, it’s joy to use – and with other products, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes you struggle, and not only cameras but also TVs or smartphones. You have something that you want to use on daily basis, and you want to enjoy using it. And for most customers that’s the the reason to go to Leica, because they enjoy it.

(Image credit: James Artaius)

You might be interested in the best Leica cameras, along with the best Leica SL lenses and the best L-Mount lenses for mirrorless models, and the best Leica M lenses for rangefinders. 

The big picture: underwater with Team USA’s artistic swimmers

By in Photography

The big picture: underwater with Team USA’s artistic swimmers
image

In 2017, the Olympic event that had long been known as synchronised swimming had an imposed rebrand, when the international governing body of aquatic sport decided it should now be called “artistic swimming”. The name change generated uproar. Kris Harley-Jesson, who had coached national teams in Europe and North America, launched a petition that quickly collected more than 11,000 signatories from 88 countries. One swimmer, Jessica Lewis, expressed the outrage of many: “Artistic swimming sounds like something society ladies did with their bosom friends at garden parties or after tea in the early 20th century. Synchronised swimming is a REAL sport for REAL athletes.”

Despite the protests, the name persists. National federations that held out against the change have mostly fallen into line. Still, in advance of this summer’s Paris games, there is a feeling in the sport that it does not get the respect it deserves – there remain echoes, some believe, of the sentiment of former IOC president Avery Brundage, who long resisted calls for “synchro” to be included in the games, dismissing it as “aquatic vaudeville”, an offshoot of the Hollywood visions of Busby Berkeley and Esther Williams.

The underwater photography of James Rokop – shortlisted in this year’s Sony world photography awards – makes an incontrovertible argument for the extreme athleticism of the swimmers. The contemporary sport has an emphasis on “hybrid” upside-down sequences, with much of the gymnastic action, as in this picture, taking place below the surface. Rokop is the official photographer of the USA team preparing for this summer’s games. For the first time in Paris male swimmers will be allowed to compete – a maximum of two per team of eight. Rokop’s pictures could therefore include a 45-year-old swimmer named Bill May, a veteran of the Cirque du Soleil; just don’t call him an artist.

Snoqualmie Valley History: Capturing Time – The Enduring Legacy of Clark Kinsey’s Photography

By in Photography

Snoqualmie Valley History: Capturing Time – The Enduring Legacy of Clark Kinsey’s Photography

Clark Kinsey’s stunning photography captured life in the Snoqualmie Valley between 1890 and 1945.

His photographs are a major contribution to the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum collection, and the photo negatives are a valuable addition to the University of Washington Library.

Exhibits of his photographs have been on display at the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum since 1979 and at the University of Washington Library in 1982. His photographs transport viewers back to experience what it was like to live in the Snoqualmie Valley in earlier times.

Kinsey was born in 1977 in Missouri. When Clark was 13, the Kinsey family moved to Snoqualmie. Clark’s parents bought the first lots sold in Snoqualmie after the area was platted in 1889. They built and ran the first hotel in Snoqualmie, the Hotel Kinsey. The family also owned a large livery stable and store on the back side of the hotel.

Hotel Kinsey PO.066.0001

Clark learned his photography skills from Mr. Rhinehart, who was a guest at the Hotel Kinsey for a year. Rhinehart arrived in Snoqualmie from Chicago and stayed for a year before moving to Seattle. He left quite an impression on young Clark during his stay at the hotel, and Clark decided to go into the photography business.

In 1894, he opened a photography studio on 2nd Avenue in Seattle. The studio later became known as Kinsey & Kinsey when his brother Darius joined as his business partner. The two Kinsey brothers created additional studios in Sedro Wooley and Arlington. In the summertime, they traveled from town to town, setting up tent studios everywhere they went. Eventually, the brothers’ business partnership dissolved.

                  Studio Portrait of Nancy Flint
        Photograph taken by Kinsey & Kinsey PO.760.0006
Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company Photograph taken by Clark Kinsey PO.381.0018

Clark met Mary Jane Williams while taking photographs in Black Diamond. They married in 1898 during a double wedding alongside Mary’s sister, Sarah, and Clark’s brother, Ed. They were married at the Diller Hotel in Seattle, now known as the Diller Room, a bar located in the former lobby. The family eventually grew with the birth of two sons, Leonard and Ronald.

Shortly after marrying, the couple moved to North Dakota. In their new home, Clark pursued both mining and photography. He created a studio and photographed mining projects in the area, developing a large collection of Klondike photographs during this time period.

Clark Kinsey PO.1178.059

In 1914, Clark returned to photography in the Snoqualmie Valley and focused on the bustling logging industry. He photographed the Spruce Camps during World War 1 and the Civilian Conservation Corps Camps during the 1930s. He was the official photographer for the West Coast Lumberman’s Association and continued his professional photography career until his retirement in 1945.

Clark’s photography captured personal lives through studio family portraits and the professional lives of workers in major industries. His photographs gave a holistic insight into life in the early 1900s.

[Featured Image: Clark Kinsey PO.1178.058]

(PHOTOS) Rescued pups, Kenyan coffee and wildlife photography captivate attendees at the Spring Cheyenne Small Business Market

By in Photography

(PHOTOS) Rescued pups, Kenyan coffee and wildlife photography captivate attendees at the Spring Cheyenne Small Business Market

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — More than 90 local businesses set up shop Saturday inside the Ice & Events Center for the annual Spring Cheyenne Small Business Market. Attendees had a chance to meet and adopt 3-month-old rescue dogs, too.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., vendors sold a variety of handcrafted merchandise such as home decor, sweet treats, soap and skin care and photography. Roughly 1,200 people attended the event throughout the event, according to marketing manager Andrea Tompkins with Simplicity 307 Vendor & Event.

Attendees had a chance to mingle with 12 puppies with Yola’s Pet Rescue. The organization has rescued more than 2,000 animals since its founding in 2017, according to founder and president Janet Marschner. Marschner and her organization primarily retrieve stray or abandoned animals on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming.

Many vendors produce artwork or merchandise in their spare time. For the past eight years, Kirk Shepherd of Laramie has been honing his picture-taking skills during his retirement. He runs a personal photography business, Moonlit Sage Photography, and specializes in outdoor photography. Shepherd’s work has appeared in Wyoming Wildlife Magazine and JH Style Magazine. The tenets of getting a solid photo are patience, persistence and a little luck, he said.

Vendors from outside Wyoming appeared at the Cheyenne market as well. Jacob Keega with Imani Kenya Specialty Coffee roasts his coffee in Nebraska. Keega owns a farm in Kenya where he grows coffee beans. He exports the beans to Nebraska where he roasts and sells his coffee. Keega uses the money he makes through his business to support children’s education in Kenya. Imani Kenya sells light, medium and dark roast coffee infused with hints of citrus and berry.

Simplicity 307 is set to host more local business markets in the near future. Vendors will set up shop at the fifth annual Glow in the Dark Dodgeball event Saturday, April 6 at the Event Center at Archer. The tournament is being held in coordination with the Laramie County Coroner’s Office. Proceeds from the event will support the office’s Grief Support Group, a community-based volunteer group that works with families to provide emotional support and consulting services, according to Laramie County Events.

From left, Dublin, Ella and Eboni with the local Wyoming Girl Scout’s chapter stand at their cookie booth Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Graded sports cards from The Graded Card Guy are on display Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Rescued puppies with Yola’s Pet Rescue roughhouse with one another Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Cake pops made by Cheyenne-based cake designer Kassi Bertogli are on display Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. Bertogli is owner of Stick It Cakes and rolls the pops herself by hand. The confections are created from a chocolate or vanilla base, Bertogli said. Those who are interested in reaching out to Bertogli can contact her at her Facebook page, Stick It Cakes By Kassi. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Pearls from Aquarius Luxuries are held inside a glass slit Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. The pearls are held inside a pendant that people can wear as a necklace, according to business co-owner Andrea Tompkins. Aquarius Luxuries also offers a variety of other jewelry products. Customers can contact Tompkins at her Facebook page, Aquarius Soap & Luxuries. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Four-year-old Dawson gets his face painted Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. Members of South High School’s Art Club provided face painting to children during the event. Dawson was receiving a zebra painting. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Crochet animals from Ladybug Toyshop sit on a table Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. Shop owner Christine Perryman produces and sells her products out of her home. Smaller creations can take her as little as 30 minutes to complete, while larger ones may require five hours to finish. Consumers can check out Perryman’s products at www.ladybugtoyshop.com. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Wildlife photos from Moonlit Sage Photography are on display Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. Kirk Shepherd has been taking photos of Wyoming landscapes for the past eight years. He said he has taken on “the challenge of capturing the perfect photo.” (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Bags of coffee from Nebraska-based roasting company Imani Kenya Specialty Coffee are shown Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. Bean grower and roaster Jacob Keega grows his coffee beans on his farm in Kenya and creates the coffee in Nebraska. Keega uses the money he earns to support children’s education in his native country. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Baby quilts from Jan’s Home Shoppe hang from a table Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. Jan Halle has been doing embroidery and needlework for over 40 years. She creates dish towels, bibs and pillow cases to sell at craft shows. Anyone interested in contacting Halle regarding her products can call her at 307-778-8718. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)
Local Wyoming honey from Horse Creek Honey is on display Saturday, March 30 at the Cheyenne Small Business Market at the Ice & Events Center. The company currently has 22 different products with honey flavors such as vanilla, cinnamon and seasonal lemon, according to owner Lara Taylor. Anyone interested in Taylor’s products can check out her online site at www.tbeespollination.com. (Jared Gendron/Cap City News)

“Hidden Mothers & Invisible Birds” photography show opens at Woodberry Forest

By in Photography

“Hidden Mothers & Invisible Birds” photography show opens at Woodberry Forest
image

Culpeper Star-Exponent

“Hidden Mothers and Invisible Birds” is a new photography exhibit by Rebecca Silberman now on display through April in the Baker Gallery at Woodberry Forest School.

Professor Silberman teaches traditional photography, ranging from 19th Century techniques through large format, at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, according to a release from Elena Kritter, Music & Art Coordinator, Walker Fine Arts.

Silberman said in a statement that for the past three decades she has collected what is known now as “hidden mother” tintypes, dating from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Her new exhibit features haunting, meticulously composed photographs she captured of the tiny vintage metal tintypes, each featuring a baby or small child.

Because the camera exposures to record the portraits were several seconds long, the mother usually is in the image with the baby or child in some capacity, Silberman said. Great lengths were taken to conceal her behind drapery or carpets or by scratching her away in the wet or later dry emulsion.

People are also reading…

Long overlooked, this genre of vernacular photography, on par with folk art, is beginning to receive serious scholarly notice, according to Silberman.

“This transformation of the images onto fabric brings the portraits to life by creating a simple illusion: when two translucent layers of identical visual information are slightly offset, our stereoscopic vision will interpret this as drifting in and out of appearing three-dimensional,” she stated.

“The gossamer weight of the crepe (which incidentally is also associated with Victorian mourning clothing since it is lightweight with a dull matte surface) further animates the images with the subtle but constant motion of the fabric.

“One can no longer ‘not see’ the outlines of the hidden mothers in these now life-sized animated drapes/backdrops,” said the artist.

Another focus of Silberman’s Woodberry Forest exhibit, the “Invisible Birds” tintype project is a tribute to the extinct Carolina parakeet, the only native North American parrot. The last one died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918, a little more than 100 years ago, according to the professor.

“One night I had dreamt that there were nocturnal birds with feathers of vantablack, the darkest substance known,” Silberman said. “They couldn’t be seen, so they couldn’t be destroyed; they were adapted to human exploitation by evolving into ‘Invisible Birds.’ This tintype series made use exclusively of expired plates—up to ten years beyond usability.”

The setting for her photos was a cleared plot of land close by her home; this “stump garden” served as the backdrop to handmade cloth backdrops depicting flocks of birds, one fabricated from small effigies and another photographed as an exploding murmuration, Silberman stated.

“The birds in these original backdrops appear and disappear as the fabric blows in the wind, a function of the long exposures required by the tintype process.

“In the most recent incarnation of this project, these plates are now being translated into a new generation of gossamer backdrops and are layered together with the originals, in a potentially infinite cycle of creation and re-creation,” Silberman said.

The photographer specializes in handmade sensitizers, low-tech adaptations, miniatures, optics and illusions, according to the release. Her most recent work rethinks the language, form and content of tintype.

Silberman has received many awards including a Virginia Commission for the Arts Individual Fellowship, a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship and has shown her work throughout the U.S.

She holds an MFA in graphics from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. See rebecca-silberman.com.

Baker Gallery is located in the Walker Fine Arts Center at Woodberry Forest School, located off of James Madison Highway in Madison County.

Public viewing hours for the new exhibit are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

#lee-outstream-wrap {
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
max-width: 800px;
margin: 0 auto;
display: none;
position: relative;
}
#lee-outstream-wrap .ima-controls-div { z-index: 99; }
#lee-outstream-wrap .lee-outstream-video {
position: relative;
padding-bottom: 56.25%;
height: 0;
}
#lee-outstream-wrap .lee-outstream-video video {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
z-index:1;
}
#lee-outstream-close {
display: none;
position: absolute;
cursor: pointer;
top: -25px;
left: -25px;
padding: 10px;
overflow: hidden;
background-color: #000;
border-radius: 20px;
color: #fff;
z-index: 99;
line-height: 0;
box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4) 0px 0px 5px 0px;
}
#lee-outstream-close:hover { color: rgba(255,255,255,.8); }
#lee-outstream-wrap.sticky {
position: fixed;
bottom:0;
right:0;
width: 400px;
z-index: 1000;
height: auto;
box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4) 0px 0px 10px 0px;
}
#lee-outstream-wrap.sticky #lee-outstream-close{ display: block; }
@media (max-width: 767px){
#lee-outstream-wrap.sticky { width: 60%; }
}


0 comments

#lee-rev-content { margin:0 -5px; }
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-family: inherit!important;
font-weight: 700!important;
border-left: 8px solid var(–lee-blox-link-color);
text-indent: 7px;
font-size: 24px!important;
line-height: 24px;
}
#lee-rev-content .rc-provider {
font-family: inherit!important;
}
#lee-rev-content h4 {
line-height: 24px!important;
font-family: “serif-ds”,Times,”Times New Roman”,serif!important;
margin-top: 10px!important;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-size: 18px!important;
line-height: 18px;
}
}

#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article {
clear: both;

background-color: #fff;

color: #222;

background-position: bottom;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
padding: 15px 0 20px;
margin-bottom: 40px;
border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2);

display: none;

}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article,
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article p {
font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article h2 {
font-size: 24px;
margin: 15px 0 5px 0;
font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .lead {
margin-bottom: 5px;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .email-desc {
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 20px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
opacity: 0.7;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article form {
padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .disclaimer {
opacity: 0.5;
margin-bottom: 0;
line-height: 100%;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .disclaimer a {
color: #222;
text-decoration: underline;
}
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article .email-hammer {

border-bottom: 3px solid #222;

opacity: .5;
display: inline-block;
padding: 0 10px 5px 10px;
margin-bottom: -5px;
font-size: 16px;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#pu-email-form-breaking-email-article form {
padding: 10px 0 5px 0;
}
}
.grecaptcha-badge { visibility: hidden; }

«< 2 3 4 5 6 >»