Three Ways To Say That Something Has Gone
Monday, 28 September 2015 10:06
Written by Cynthia Grandini
These photographs allude to the possible representations of one same reference, in other words the different ways of an object “has been there”. The insects and the shapes in which they appear act like metaphors to some of the main themes of the photographs, for example the theme of “captivity” or “imprisonment” of the image, the “freezing” of the moment, the fetish saved for history, the desire to maintain immobile that which is photographed; the ghostly illusion of the photographic reality, and also the impossibility in the real world that anything that is photographed remains immobile and immutable in time.
The piece has a symmetrical, vertical axis that divides the work into “ aerial zone” and “terrestrial zone”. So, on the left side there are 12 frames with land insects and on the right side winged insects. Each one of these, a butterfly, for instance – has 3 ways to be represented (three ways of “ having been”): in the first we see a type of white phantasmal image, the pure silhouette that the photogram lets us see. In second place, beside each photogram, the photograph of the same insect in color is represented on blue paper. Finally, in the third frame, the real dried insect is attached to photographic paper with a pin, in entomologic boxes, the same way insect collections are stored.
The effect that is produced is strange: seen from a distance it looks like a collection in a museum of natural history, where it would be impossible to notice the difference between the frames with photographs and those with the dried insects pinned to the paper. Close up we notice a progression in which the more mimetic the representation of the insect is (when it seems we have it the most) the more evident it is that the insect is not alive. This aspect is somewhat morbid,it is nevertheless inherent in all photography.
These photographs allude to the possible representations of one same reference, in other words the different ways of an object “has been there”. The insects and the shapes in which they appear act like metaphors to some of the main themes of the photographs, for example the theme of “captivity” or “imprisonment” of the image, the “freezing” of the moment, the fetish saved for history, the desire to maintain immobile that which is photographed; the ghostly illusion of the photographic reality, and also the impossibility in the real world that anything that is photographed remains immobile and immutable in time.
The piece has a symmetrical, vertical axis that divides the work into “ aerial zone” and “terrestrial zone”. So, on the left side there are 12 frames with land insects and on the right side winged insects. Each one of these, a butterfly, for instance – has 3 ways to be represented (three ways of “ having been”): in the first we see a type of white phantasmal image, the pure silhouette that the photogram lets us see. In second place, beside each photogram, the photograph of the same insect in color is represented on blue paper. Finally, in the third frame, the real dried insect is attached to photographic paper with a pin, in entomologic boxes, the same way insect collections are stored.
The effect that is produced is strange: seen from a distance it looks like a collection in a museum of natural history, where it would be impossible to notice the difference between the frames with photographs and those with the dried insects pinned to the paper. Close up we notice a progression in which the more mimetic the representation of the insect is (when it seems we have it the most) the more evident it is that the insect is not alive. This aspect is somewhat morbid,it is nevertheless inherent in all photography.