N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A,
a blog about photography by Sofia Silva
The other day, while being guided through an exhibition by its own curator, I asked him why a particular work was being showcased as a slideshow when the author in question is exceptional at photographic printing processes. The answer was clear: “I really don’t care about the materiality of the work”. It shouldn’t come as…
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Everything’s wrong with this sort of competitions, yet they’re necessary to keep the art market alive. There are very few art prizes in Portugal and they tend to promote the most conceptual approach to contemporary art practices, one of the reasons the results are always controversial. This week (or the week before, it’s fuzzy) Fnac…
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© Adrienne Doig, Feminist Cliché (Dresden Plate), 2012. Patchwork, appliqué and embroidery on linen, 99 x 77 cm. excerpts from Lynn Berger‘s SNAPSHOTS, or: Visual Culture’s Clichés, published in Photographies Vol.4, No.2, September 2011, pp.175–190. “We use the word “cliché” advisedly. As it happens, the genealogies of the cliché — an “expression or idea that…
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© Maurizio Anzeri, Rebecca, 2009 © Maurizio Anzeri, Rita, 2011 I came across Maurizio’s work through an unusual root – Bric-à-brac -, a section of the electronic journal Sans Soleil, specialized in issues related to Art Brut and self-taught art. Not only because of that but also (1) because embroidery is a very common medium…
Read More© Pilar Albarracín, She-wolf, 2006 “in She-wolf (2006), where she revisits Joseph Beuys’ I Like America and America Likes Me (1974). In this work she proposes a very special relationship between the wild, untamed, an imal and its “greatest predator”, man. The approach to the she-wolf is staged by Albarracín as a picnic where the…
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© Eiffel Chong, Untitled, from the series Royal Malaysia Police “I came across an abandoned police station and found identity photographs of the police personnel being scattered around. Most of them still look good, except for a layer of dust on top of the photographs. However, there were some that have been destroyed by the…
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© Jane Hammond, Self-Portrait with Twin, 2011 © Jane Hammond, Face Facts, 2006 © Jane Hammond, The Touch-Up, 2009 © Jane Hammond, Chai Wan Three, 2008 all selenium toned silver gelatin prints “The photographs grew out of the scrapbooks, also. I began collecting photos to put in them, and quickly became obsessed with all the…
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© Deborah Bohnert, Untitled, from the series Bohnert and Bohnert, 2005 © Deborah Bohnert, Untitled, from the series Bohnert and Bohnert, 2005 © Deborah Bohnert, Untitled, from the series The Little People, 2009 “…Dada had long operated according to the principle of instability, blurring distinctions between art and mass media (in photomontage), art and mass…
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© Pauline Fouché, from the series Cassures (Cracks), 2002 © Pauline Fouché, from the series Cassures (Cracks), 2002 © Pauline Fouché, from the series Cassures (Cracks), 2002 The Cassures materialize an event-image abundant in the newspapers by reapropriation through the gesture and the image. Abused and reduced to the fragility of their appearance as well…
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© Carrie May Weems, Untitled, from African Jewels, 2009 © Carrie May Weems, Untitled, from African Jewels, 2009 installation view from African Jewels, 2009 Carrie’s web home here
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CRITICAL IMAGE: MICHAL HEIMAN, By Dr. Ariella Azoulay Michal Heiman chose the position of the spectator looking at someone else’s photographs taken by someone else, in which someone else is photographed, which someone else collected. Heiman turns this quintessential position of spectator (in a museum, but not only) into her own, elaboration and giving it…
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© Burkhard von Harder, untitled, from the project Cold war in a trash bag © Burkhard von Harder, untitled, from the project Cold war in a trash bag Cold War in a Trash Bag is based on recently found anonymous Cold War photographic footage from the Ukraine. In the summer of 2010 thousands of abandoned…
Read More© Farhad Ahrarnia, ballet pars no.3 HAND EMBROIDERY ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTED ON CANVAS SILK & COTTON THREAD AND NEEDLES, 2008-10 © Farhad Ahrarnia, beautiful is the silence of ruins II photography on canvas and embroidery, 2011 More of Farhad’s work here
Read More© Vincent Cordebard, Untitled, from Etudes pour Les attentats à la pudeur © Vincent Cordebard, Untitled, from Etudes pour Les attentats à la pudeur © Vincent Cordebard, Untitled, from Etudes pour Les attentats à la pudeur It’s one of those rare, and thus special occasions, when I find a body of work I completely connect…
Read More© Aneta Grzeszykowska, Untitled #21, from the series Untitled Film Stills, 2006 © Aneta Grzeszykowska, Untitled #30, from the series Untitled Film Stills, 2006 “A precise, and truly Warsaw, remake of Cindy Sherman’s seventies classic “Untitled Film Stills” starring Aneta Grzeszykowska. In contrast to the original, Grzeszykowska’s photographs are in color. The initial composition and…
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© E-J Major, Postcard, from the series Love is… © E-J Major, Postcard, from the series Love is… © E-J Major, Postcard, from the series Love is… “Love is… Three years ago, London-based artist E-J Major began asking strangers to divulge their thoughts on this most profound, yet indefinable subject. The answers, sent…
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N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 