 |
| White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding. Photo © Taryn Simon/Courtesy Steidl/Gagosian |
| "She focuses on chillingly beautiful subjects such as nuclear waste storage, post-death cryogenic tank, Braille edition of Playboy... capturing a Bart Simpson’s America." |
Words by Zarina Holmes I visited the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 exhibition twice. Once with an exhibition tour, lead by curator Stefani Braun with a bunch of friends. On another separate occasion alone. The Prize was originally set up in 1996 by The Photographers' Gallery to promote the best of contemporary photography. The aim is to reward a contemporary photographer of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe in the previous year. I nearly missed out on the tour for several reasons; mostly the fear of a stampeded gallery and being herded through the show like gawking tourists. Surprisingly, none of that happened. We were taken through the free Sunday afternoon tour smoothly, with curator Braun stopped at each entries to explain them in a simplest, public-friendly way. She didn’t dumb it down either. After half hour the tour participants were left to admire the photographs at their own pace. It was great. Nobody danced on my tranquil worship ground. All four nominated entries varied in style and narration. It started with Paul Graham’s haiku inspired Shimmer of Possibility which draws poetry in the flow of everyday life. His works are described as “quiet photographic moments but ultimately remain open-ended”. Upstairs we were greeted with Tod Papageorge’s Passing Through Eden. It is a collection of black and white photographs of Manhattan’s Central Park taken between 1961-1991, outlining the urban vision of the Garden of Eden. Papageorge, the head of Yale’s photography department, has nurtured many American photography stars behind the scene. He applies Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment” philosophy, and we could see how Manhattan fascinates him as if like a human zoo. I feel that Taryn Simon’s An American Index of Hidden and Unfamiliar is the most humourous and connected to the younger audience (she is the youngest participant). She focuses on chillingly beautiful subjects such as nuclear waste storage, post-death cryogenic tank, Braille edition of Playboy magazine and a selectively inbred tiger – with a deformed facial feature resembling that of a dog. Simon captured a Bart Simpson’s America that is curious and bizarre. Documentary-style Material for Film by Emily Jacir is more of an art installation, using photographic medium. This is the part of the Prize exhibition I couldn’t take in properly during the exhibition tour, as it demands contemplation and a closer look to appreciate the details. The collection tells a story of the assassination of Palestinian intellectual Wael Zuaiter by Israeli Mossad agents in Rome in 1972. I am touched by a series of snapshots that portrays Zuaiter’s book covers – from ancient philosophy to romantic plays and poetries – obviously not about mapping the mind of a terrorist. Another display that drives the message home is an Arabic version of One Thousand and One Nights with a bullet lodge in it’s spine – the bullet is said to be the thirteenth, the other twelve had entered Zuaiter’s body. His death has delayed the effort of translating One Thousand and One Nights directly from Arabic to Western languages. “It’s great but not spectacular,” remarked a Canadian expat lawyer who was on the exhibition tour with us. An Italian visitor was pretty chuffed about being walked through the Prize by a curator, that would otherwise requires closer inspection of the small-printed descriptions. As for me, it was worth the two separate visits. After all, nothing is as ordinary as the first impression when you listen in closely.
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 is showing at The Photographers' Gallery until 12 April 2009. The Exhibition Tour with the curator is conducted once a month. www.photonet.org.uk
|
