The Photographers' Gallery

I found Maurizio Anzeri’s collection to be rather fascinating, both technically and symbolically. In his pieces, Anazeri stitches intricate color patterns into the surface of black and white portraits adding physical and psychological layers to the portraits. The layer of weaving threads is a technique in which I have not seen before. The patterns form a sort of image or pattern that I believe is meant to portray an alternative side to the individual in the portrait. It is possible that the portrait aspect represents the outer surface of their personality and how they present themselves to the public whereas the thread pattern overlay illustrates their true self.

Alina Szapocznikow’s collection was very interesting as well. She produced her ‘Photosculpters’ by molding chewing gum in her mouth and photographing the results. At first I wasn’t aware of what the subject was in the photographs. Only upon closer inspection did I discover that it was chewing gum. The black and white film strengthens the piece by limiting the different attributes that can distract the eye. Instead the pieces play with light, shadow and depth to emphasize the sculptures.

Catherine Yass’ series Damage also caught my eyes. She treats her film transparencies according to their subject matter. She drowns, burns, and scratches the negatives of urban scenes using the subject as the inspiration for its destruction. I find that her work plays around with the concept of irony; specifically, the idea of the subject’s purpose as the cause of its downfall. For example, scenes of waterways are drowned or representations of gas towers are burnt.