V. The Island 2018
I sit alone in my car in an empty car park and look out at an island I've looked out at many times before but with no camera. It seems so far away, small, and cold with the weather closing in around it. I photograph it in the moments between the rainfall, once... several times. Each time, I let my focus dwell and in the quiet between the superficial sounds, I find comfort I didn't know I was aching for, and suddenly the island appears close, large, and warm.
“I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Henry David Thoreau
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MOMENT 1 Pigment ink on bamboo fibre cotton rag 84 x 112 cm 2018
MOMENT 2 Pigment ink on bamboo fibre cotton rag 84 x 112 cm 2018
MOMENT 3 Pigment ink on bamboo fibre cotton rag 84 x 112 cm 2018
MOMENT 4 Pigment ink on bamboo fibre cotton rag 84 x 112 cm 2018
MOMENT 5 Pigment ink on bamboo fibre cotton rag 84 x 112 cm 2018
Punturiero’s photographs are moody and atmospheric. It's clear that this moment of inspiration that happened in her car conjured a rich and powerful response in her. It's hard not to see something slightly melancholic in the gray and subdued light. Yet the intensity of the storm and the agitated lines of the rain and how it distorts the world when sliding down the glass creates a somewhat agitated and intense visual space that I find intriguing too. And in many ways, I feel the complications of agitation feel commensurate with how complicated the feelings of solitude can be; at once lonely (obviously), but as it persists, it can also be frustrating.
I am personally most drawn to Moment 1, Moment 3, and Moment 4. These photographs feel so raw and moody. In some way Moment 1 and Moment 4 reference Sugimoto's horizon images, but of course the inclusion of the island and the stormy conditions are a clean departure from his concerns. But there are also clear references to Pictorialism that I also find compelling.
LENSCULTURE HOME ‘21 INTERNATIONAL PHOTO PRIZE JUROR
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