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
I’ve been writing this post for weeks. Adding, editing, proofreading and questioning the intention to publish it. Obviously, I write because I want to, but mostly because I feel the urge to express myself and words are always my place of solace. In my mouth, words taste raw; often too dramatic and erratically poetic. As…
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caption (image above): Self-published box – The Memory of History, by Lewis Bush, 2012. I’ve recently arrive at Lewis Bush virtual sphere (aka blog) and am coming out with that feeling of content and surprise that is often too rare. A friend had sent me a message with a text about Don McCullin’s retrospective @…
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My understanding of one history of art is just not there. There are many reasons for that and no need to address any of them. Now I find myself discovering Ewa Kuryluk’s work (via books and internet) and I fail to make sense of this late encounter. Why not sooner? I arrived at Kuryluk’s work…
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© Brendan George Ko, Nine eleven (Detection), from the series We Soon Be Night, 2011-13. © Brendan George Ko, Hoodlumz (New Tribe), from the series We Soon Be Night, 2011-13. © Brendan George Ko, United, from the series We Soon Be Night, 2011-13. © Brendan George Ko, Product Placement (Malthusian Catastrophe), from the series We…
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© Binh Danh, Iridescence of Life No. 22. Chlorophyll print on nasturtium leaf, butterfly specimen, & resin, 2008 © Binh Danh, Iridescence of Life No. 5. Chlorophyll print on nasturtium leaf, butterfly specimen, & resin, 2008 In Michigan Quarterly Review (Volume XLIII, Issue 4, 2004), John Schafer writes about Binh Danh’s intertexual images before going…
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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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© 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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© Wellcome Library, Hearing aid for constant use. Two light cornets of imitation tortoiseshell joined by metal spring forming a head-band. Introduction of this form of instrument attributed to Napoleon’s surgeon D. J. Larrey (1776-1842).19th Century. ‘Authenticity’ is a matter of interpretation which is made and fought for from within a cultural and, thus, historicised…
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© Henry Horenstein, Dolly Parton, Symphony Hall, Boston, MA, 1972, from Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music 1972-1981. © Henry Horenstein, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Nashville, TN, 1974. Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music 1972-1981. © Henry Horenstein, Conway Twitty, Annapolis, MD, 1975S, from Honky Tonk: Portraits of Country Music 1972-1981. Describing country music…
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* An elderly couple took a photograph each season in front of their house.
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* the title references the following post: ‘A Woman’s work is never done‘ © David Catá, from the series Ni Conmigo ni sin mí (Neither with me nor without me), 2011 © David Catá, from the series Ni Conmigo ni sin mí (Neither with me nor without me), 2011 * * * * * ©…
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© Ochi Reyes, all photographs from the series Mother “I have gone through the traces my mother left behind since she passed away almost a year ago now: her clothes, her shopping lists, the notes she wrote on her medication, her unfinished pieces of sewing and her photographs. In this search I have been using…
Read MoreIntroducing Nihilsentimentalgia’s newcomer André Carapinha with an essay about the veil of shadows that stands between our perception and “reality”. Photographs illustrating the essay all belong to Trish Morrissey‘s project Front (2005-07), where she sets out to find families that she joins temporarily, in an “as if/has-been” moment, at the same time manipulating reality and…
Read More© Sandro Ferreira, Não lhe digas para onde vais amanhã (Don’t tell her where you’ll be tomorrow), from the project “6174” Set of a hundred booklets, with dimensions identical to those with speeches of some dignitaries of the Portuguese dictatorial regime: “Estado Novo”. © Sandro Ferreira, from the project 6174. The left card reads The…
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caption (above): © João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva Terence Koh, God, 2007. View of the performance at de Pury & Luxembourg, Zurich. Courtesy Peres Projects, Berlin. Installation view of Terence Koh (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, January 19–May 27, 2007). Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins © Hiroshi Sugimoto, Self-portrait, 2003 © Hiroshi…
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photo caption (above) © Eric Rondepierre, Couple, passant, 1996-98 © Eric Rondepierre, Confidence, 1996-98 © Eric Rondepierre, Le Voyeur, 1996-98 “That impossible photogram, as Roland Barthes said. An object which is not (even) an object, but at the same time is actually two objects. It doesn’t (really) belong to the cinema or (simply) to photography…
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photo caption (above) © Christian Boltanski, Odessa Monument, 1991. Four gelatin silver prints, lights and wiring “Since the late 1960s, Christian Boltanski (b. 1944, Paris) has worked with photographs collected from ordinary and often ephemeral sources, endowing the commonplace with significance. Rather than taking original photographs to use in his installations, he often finds and…
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© Ian van Coller, Daisy Angy Kekae (left), from the series Collage Portraits, 2009 “This series combines several influences that have personally been relevant to my art-making process. The work grew out of my experimentation with the use of quilting techniques based on traditions from Africa and Gees Bend, Alabama as a way to tell…
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© Traer Scott, Ostrich and Wild Boars, from the series Natural History © Traer Scott, Hunting Dogs, from the series Natural History Natural History is a series of completely candid, in-camera single exposure images which bring together both the living and the dead, creating allegorical narratives of our troubled co-existence with nature. Ghost-like reflections of…
Read More© Gonçalo Figueiredo, Lourenço © Gonçalo Figueiredo, Rita Tavares (left) and Lara Brandão (right), from the series The Protest, 12/2009 © Gonçalo Figueiredo, Ricardo Baltazar (left) and Gonçalo Figueiredo (right), from the series The Protest, 12/2009 These portraits are part of a series made back in the Winter of 2009 and it depicts a group…
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N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 