Highlights from Paris Photo
November 25, 2019
Walking through Paris Photo presented me with the most delightful problem — more good work in one place than I could possibly take in. Being surrounded by thousands of excellent photographs and projects made me feel like a bumble bee, buzzing its way dizzily through a field exploding with flowers.
Here are three of my favorite projects.
Roberto Huarcaya (at Rolf Gallery), Amazograms
These photograms are like nothing I have seen before. Huarcaya places the light sensitive photographic paper on the rainforest floor and uses moonlight to make exposures of the landscape. The images are meters long and as you wind your along the path they cut through the room, you feel as if the forest is enveloping you. Since everything affects the outcome of these prints- the moisture in the air, the dirt that drifts across them as they process- the prints not only show the foliage of the jungle, but also give a sense of the atmosphere. The images achieve a seemingly impossible quality of being of mysterious, ephemeral and earthy all at the same time.
More info here: https://robertohuarcaya.com/amazogramas
Nelli Palomaki (at Galerie Les filles du calvaire), A Petit Garden
This new work by Palomaki intrigued me right away. Her delicate portraits of flowers from her garden and her family are beautifully intermingled by pinning the actual prints together and then framing the installation. The loving and obsessive cataloging of the plants from her garden as they grow feel like an attempt to hold on to a moment in time. I can’t help but wonder if the portraits of her children are born of the same desire.
More info here: https://www.nellipalomaki.com/
Meghann Rippinoff (at Jackson Gallery), Littoral Drift + Ecotone
Honestly, Lisa and I have had a photo crush on Meghann Rippinoff for a long time. So while I wasn’t at all surprised that her work stood out to me, I was amazed to see how it keeps getting better and better over time. Her cyanotypes are made when she exposes the photographic paper to natural elements like sea water, rain and snow. These sumptuous abstractions continue to morph over time as they age and speak to the beauty of being in an ever-changing state.
More info here: http://meghannriepenhoff.com/
– Mia
