Slightly Lucid

Arja Hyytiäinen – Notes

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:43:46 +0000

Arja Hyytiäinen’s work gets me really excited. I love black and white photography and the combination of the b&w with Hyytiäinen’s style is like a combo of bubble gum ice cream.

These images are from her series Notes. A compelling set of images that reveal a sort of unfinished story. This feels like I’m looking through a journal of places and people that nobody would ever be able to retrace – like notes that are only relevant to the one that wrote them. Her images seem to keep questioning but never really reveal an answer. Hyytiäinen’s work is intriguing, soothing and haunting.

“Notes” – a brief record to assist the memory or for future reference.

Joakim Eskildsen – The Roma Journeys

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:47:21 +0000

Today while visiting a friend, he asked if I knew Joakim Eskildsen and I responded sorry I don’t. This proceeded with going to the website and then gawking at the beautiful imagery and both of us being blown away by the work. How did Eskildsen and his impressive body of work of The Roma Journeys slip through my internet “roamings”? Thanks Peter for enlightening my visual library today!

The Roma Journeys took Eskildsen 6 years to produce. Between 2000 and 2006 he and writer Cia Rienne traveled through Hungary, India, Greece, Romania, France, Russia and Finland to document the life of the Roma people. Also considered as gypsies, the Roma people are an ethnic group of Europe displaced across the continent. The photographer/writer team set out to learn more about the people and if possible stayed with families to photograph them.

These images are saturated with colour and with emotion. This remarkable series pulls you into another world, probably one that is far, for most of us, to ever imagine.

Gabor Szilasi – Lux: Enseignes Lumineuses

Aislinn Leggett — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:50:03 +0000

The end this week’s posts on Gabor Szilasi, Lux: Enseignes Lumineuses 1982-1984 depicts some of Montreal’s well known shops that have become somewhat of landmarks for locals. This way of mapping the city and documenting the signs and stores is an important look on the city. From the images in his series, some of the signs still remain today but some have been taken down, moved or closed down completely.

If you are in the Ottawa area, the CMCP/National Gallery is exhibiting The Eloquence of the Everyday; a retrospective on the work of a truly inspirational photographer, Gabor Szilasi.

Gabor Szilasi – Intérieurs couleurs

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:32:00 +0000

The colour interior series titled Intérieurs Couleurs 1976-1978 by Gabor Szilasi was also created in rural areas in Quebec. As I have said here before, interiors of people places are a fascination for me. And these images of 1977 are so amazing. This is a coincidence on my part, for choosing all the images taken in the same year – but happy I did. I find it highly interesting to view three different dwellings from the same year, same province, in towns that are in quite close proximity, which have such divers interior decorating. I automatically start drawing up a sketch of how these people look like and how they live.

Gabor Szilasi – Le Québec Rural

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:33:26 +0000

This work from Gabor Szilasi is from his series Le Québec Rural 1970-1976. This was probably a very interesting period to photograph, first because of the impact of the Quiet Revolution in 1960s and secondly because of the political flare in the 1970s. I believe this is an incredible series and the documentation extremely important for Canada’s history. This period in the province was significant and capturing these people in moments of their daily lives, the simplicity of the images along with the people seeming so naturally comfortable with the camera and the photographer, is simply wonderful. There is no political nor religious intention with this body of work and I guess in turn what makes it so important and beautiful.

The image above is a typical scene of the rural area in Quebec and even to some extent still exists today. A massive Roman Catholic Church is the center of the town or village and circling it are the houses and stores and then further the farms and fields. A pattern of this kind would make up the entire province and one that Szilasi would document for an extended period of time.

Gabor Szilasi – The early years

Aislinn Leggett — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:00:20 +0000

These images are from Gabor Szilasi’s series Hongrie (Hungary) 1954-1956. The one above is a really stunning and beautiful image and one that was almost never printed. The anecdote about the image can be heard by Szilasi himself explaining his first thoughts of the shot in this short clip.

Szilasi bought a Zorkij camera in 1952. Mostly self-taught, he photographed the everyday, his friends and his family and in 1956 documented the Hungarian Revolution. Shortly after he fled the country and immigrated to Canada in 1957. The beginnings of Szilasi’s work in Hungary, capturing his images with honesty, beauty and richness would subsequently set the tone and feel for the rest of his work to come.

Gabor Szilasi – Prix Paul-Émile Borduas

Aislinn Leggett — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:38:41 +0000

This week I will be taking a look at Hungarian born, now Montreal based photographer Gabor Szilasi. His 50 years of photography work is now being celebrated in Montreal and Ottawa with a retrospective exhibit titled The Eloquence of the Everyday.

Not only is Mr. Szilasi’s work being admired through art institutes but he has also recently won the Paul-Émile Borduas Prize. This is a very prestigious prize in Quebec named after one of the most renowned painters from Quebec during the early-mid 1900’s.

Congratulations to Gabor Szilasi for this respected award, for his prolific body of work and I’ll also take this opportunity to thank Szilasi for his influence on photography and photographers in Canada.

The image above is one of my first memorable images of Szilasi. The one that stays imprinted on the brain, the one that gives you goose bumps and the jaw drops. This image was brought to class by, then teacher, now friend, David Hopkins. One of the first, up close, fiber base archival print I would see. The moment captured in this image is simply “eloquent” and at the same time so Montreal.

November Inspirations

Aislinn Leggett — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:30:14 +0000

Beginning of November is here – time for a short link list of current inspirations.

Women in Photography is a curated website by Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips and a project of the Humble Arts Foundation. This site is a great resource to find and view works by talented, established and emerging, women photographers. Not trying to rush through, the team does bi-monthly posts. Giving time for the viewer to appreciate the work exhibited.

Prison Photography is a blog about the practice of photography in sites of incarceration by Pete Brook. I find this blog really interesting because of such a specific topic. It’s amazing how much content Brook publishes along with the photography series and images being so fascinating.

HUH. Magazine, a London England based magazine, is always full of interesting information and visually pleasing imagery. Not only can you read them in print but their website and blog is always a great resource to keep up with.

Ratsdeville is a Montreal focused blog produced by Eric Bolduc. This is a must read in my reader, since he groups together information of events and exhibits happening in the Montreal area, along with features of talented Quebec artists.

Kalle Kataila – Landscapes and Contemplations

Aislinn Leggett — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:00:15 +0000

Kalle Katalia’s series Landscapes and Contemplations makes me think of the first expedition-survey photographers of the 19th century. By photographing the landscape with always having a figure in his images, Katalia reminisces the work of Francis Frith and his tour around Egypt in 1850’s. To judge and understand the massive size of the pyramids, sphinx and the vastness of the land, Firth would often have a person stand in his photographs.

Katalia’s work evokes a void and a kind of loneliness with having these figures stand in front of such immense and striking landscapes. As if their journey is about to begin, getting ready to confront the unknown. These images are striking and the visual balance between the land and the person is very captivating.

Olga Chagaoutdinova – Domestic Landscape

Aislinn Leggett — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:06:15 +0000

Olga Chagaoutdinova can find some very interesting interiors. With her series Domestic Landscape, Chagaoutdinova reveals eclectic spaces of people’s personal home environment in Russia and Cuba. “Past economic and political restrictions in Russia, and present restrictions in Cuba, have resulted in a particular fascination for the “other world” by Western society.”

Not only in this series but also with most of her work, Chagaoutdinova portrays an insight to people’s lives through their objects and personal surroundings. She reveals a sort of privacy from the individual’s home. To me she has created a very intimate project because the viewer is invited to see these rarely seen snippets of stranger’s lives.