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
caption: © Ruth van Beek, The Situation Room (Two figures), 2018. When I regard van Beek‘s collages I immediately know they were made by a woman. There’s a feminine sensibility at play, an heritage of affective labour that is put to work. This idea of a visual heritage is not a reference to a nostalgic…
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While updating some info on Nihil’s early posts I came across a post featuring an image by Alex Kisilevich. It seemed weird to have a post with a single image and as I went looking for more, I found not only that I made a second post a year after that but, and that’s the…
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The first group of images featured below is part of a project entitled What’s love got to do with it. Here’s Paula Riff‘s statement about that project: I believe in love but it comes and goes. Like the falling of leaves, love often falls gently to the ground; at least that’s my experience. Marbling paper…
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All that is to know about Aleksandra Vajd’s project “Friends of friends are friends” (featured below) can be find in a text by Laura Amann, here. I see, I smell, I feel and hear these photographs reaching me. In Laura Amann’s words: The abstract nature requires us to focus on the process, materiality and technique.…
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What’s wrong with a purple sun? It’s been challenging to write about Belgian photographer Sanne de Wilde‘s The Island of the Colorblind. I mentioned the project here once before, but at the time the book was about to be published (by Hannibal Publishers) and I waited for further information, for there was a lot about the…
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Here is a selection of Akihiko Miyoshi’s profound, complex and beautifully coloured work. Photography’s impulse to depict in its most utilitarian tendencies (for example photo-journalism as art) creates, to use the artist Jeff Wall’s words, the “most problematic kind of photograph” which anchored itself through social validity. This to me is an insufficient condition for…
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Most people have a very special layer around their bodies (non-scientifically described as a second-skin) that protects them from the outside menaces. I’m sure if we dove into a biological take on this subject, there would be a lot to talk about. However, this second-skin I’m referring to is not that kind of verifiable layer.…
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There’s something about a photograph of a corner that intrinsically relates to the essence of photography. Although I don’t pretend to know what that essence is, it’s clear to me that it somehow has to do with how we, as subjects, come to understand ourselves as beings. In that sense, it relates to memory and,…
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I’m just another lover of the art of moving pictures, so the Oscars, being about the movie industry, are usually not a place to look for references. Yet, I’m always aware, and I end up finding one or two things worth watching (usually the documentaries). This year, things couldn’t be weirder. Not only is Moonlight an originally brave movie,…
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It’s a question students often ask: who’s your favourite photographer? I don’t have one, nor do I have a favourite director, a favourite musician, a favourite writer and so on. It varies. Having said that, what students usually want when posing that question is to understand what kind of photographs I like, so I usually…
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For the past 4 years, in collaboration with two colleagues – Luis Pavão & Paula Lourenço -, I’ve been teaching Alternative Processes in Photography. One of the courses we used to teach was dedicated to Color Printing Processes, which I particularly enjoyed. About two years ago I decided to tattoo the color scheme on my…
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Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique, 2013/2014 Sofia Silva, Untitled, from L’Hasard Photographique,…
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© Stacey Page, Charlotte. © Stacey Page, Paula, 2011. © Stacey Page, Todd, 2011. Embroidered photographs have been a trend for some time now and Nihilsentimentalgia has featured examples of such work, like Maurizio Anzeri, Melissa Zexter, Julie Cockburn or David Catá. It so happens that the technique keeps coming up and their makers are…
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© Peng & Chen , from the series Face-kini © Peng & Chen , from the series Face-kini In China, it’s the height of the tourist season for Qingdao’s famed beaches. But while many of the town’s visitors want to enjoy the sand and water, they’re not so wild about sunbathing. So they often resort…
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© Adrain Chesser, Juliann (left) and Julia (right), from the series I Have Something to Tell You. excerpt of Adrian’s statement: When I tested positive for HIV and was diagnosed with AIDS, I had an extreme physical reaction whenever I thought about having to tell my friends and family. Looking at this reaction more closely,…
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What follows is a selection of photographs from this year shortlisted photographers for one of the most coherent photo-festivals in Europe: Hyères. As is made very clear by the following selection, this prize is also an elegy to the long lasting love affair between photography ans sculpture, with a particular emphasis on the fusion between…
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movie poster Spike Jonze’s new movie “Her” is a must see! First and foremost because it is an original script, both in the sense that it is new and also in the sense that it is unique, thought-provoking. Because the work is Spike’s own vision of the sort of relationships human will develop with machines…
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© Melissa Zexter, Brooklyn Bus Map, from Maps and Memories. Gelatin Silver Print + thread. © Melissa Zexter, Color Eye Chart, from Maps and Memories. Gelatin Silver Print + thread. © Melissa Zexter, Cardinal, from Embroidered Portraits. Gelatin Silver Print + thread. © Melissa Zexter, Leopard, from Embroidered Portraits. Gelatin Silver Print + thread. ©…
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© Clayton Cotterell, from the series Arrangements © Clayton Cotterell, from the series No Surrender
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it reads: We are looking for the sky in between the leafs. Text by Boris. it reads: Here, the sun gives us no light, only new shadows. Different ways to face the darkness. Text by Boris. it reads: People insist on coming to meet our gaze, invading it. Text by Boris. © Nuno Venâncio, from…
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N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 