From 1839 when it was invented, photography has served to create
portraits of individuals, and soon thereafter portraits of
families, later placed in photo albums. Photography, collected and
archived, entered the intimate sphere, enabling people to arrange
the fragmented images of their lives as they saw fit. Following its
forerunners (miniature portraits, silhouettes, physionotraces), the
photographic portrait also served the new expectations of the
emerging urban bourgeoisie and its need for social representation.
Studios opened up in cities everywhere to meet the fast growing
demand. In addition, the new medium distinguishted itself with its
esthetic superiority. "Even as it emerged, although the technique
was still very primitive, photography enjoyed an exceptional
quality of artistic finish (Gisèle Freund)". What can photography
show us to day of the visible and invisible aspects of family
sociology? "How do the roles we expect them to play betray the
emotional realities and complexities of lived life?" wonders Daniel
Mendelsohn, in his introduction entitled "Unknown Faces/ Redeeming
Structures". By creating this corpus of fixed black and white
images, each composed in a large 5'x7' frame, the photographer has
produced a work of anthropological scope, reaching beyond
representation by placing the subject at palpable distance, thereby
objectifying it. What should we think of these seemingly impassive
faces and their hypnotic gazes, what should we think of these
postures, seated or standing? What goes on within these families
and outside the frame? The use of a rigid protocol similar in all
sessions makes every family portraits intriguing, and encourages
our reflection. Inspired by the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher,
whose esthetics of objectivity tended towards minimalism, Isabelle
Boccon-Gibod, a self-made artist, with an interest for technique,
has played with a frontality quite similar to that of the Bechers,
resting on the idea that our bodies, when joined together, form a
sort of architecture. The idea, also, that a face, deprived of its
smile, offers a neutrality of expression worth considering: masks
fall and reveal a nakedness (naked truth?) to be admired and
deciphered beyond the appearances of social games. She was guided,
yet not limited, by this principle: the image of a family seen as a
façade-like structure, in which faces are the windows.
General
Imprint: |
Hemeria
|
Country of origin: |
France |
Release date: |
June 2021 |
Authors: |
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod
• Daniel Mendelsohn
|
Dimensions: |
305 x 254 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
88 |
ISBN-13: |
978-2-490-95205-2 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
2-490-95205-6 |
Barcode: |
9782490952052 |
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