Winner: Eleanor Kelly
www.eleanorkelly.com
Eleanor Kelly is a photographer based in London at the South Kilburn Studios. She also works as an archivist and curator of photography. Her submission entitled If A Tree Falls documenting abandoned buildings in Croatiais awarded first prize as her evocative, haunting images made a lasting impression on Inter Alia and integrated perfectly with the theme of ‘fabrication’.
Kelly cites: “These once domestic spaces become re-formed in the absence of human habitation, re-appropriated by each unique circumstance and the passing of time.”
Kelly’s process for documenting these spaces was to “memorialises these transformations and the presence of the viewer bears witness to the darker truths alluded to yet concealed within the presentation of the photographs.” The stillness and silence depicted in her images of habitual rooms that are now absent of any being are beautiful and unsettling. Kelly’s work intrigues and disturbs the viewer; instinct searches for clues amongst the remains to re-construct the abandoned narrative; twin beds, hanging portraits, books and a vase of withering foliage are remnants of a past memory and moment in time. The spaces and possessions have been deserted, left to transform, allowing the observer to fabricate their history and speculate on their future. Are these rooms awaiting their owner’s arrival, or are they left for demolition, renovation?
Kelly cites: “These once domestic spaces become re-formed in the absence of human habitation, re-appropriated by each unique circumstance and the passing of time.”
Kelly’s process for documenting these spaces was to “memorialises these transformations and the presence of the viewer bears witness to the darker truths alluded to yet concealed within the presentation of the photographs.” The stillness and silence depicted in her images of habitual rooms that are now absent of any being are beautiful and unsettling. Kelly’s work intrigues and disturbs the viewer; instinct searches for clues amongst the remains to re-construct the abandoned narrative; twin beds, hanging portraits, books and a vase of withering foliage are remnants of a past memory and moment in time. The spaces and possessions have been deserted, left to transform, allowing the observer to fabricate their history and speculate on their future. Are these rooms awaiting their owner’s arrival, or are they left for demolition, renovation?
Runner Up: Gabrielle Brooks
www.gabriellebrooks.com
Gabriella Brooks is a runner-up with her photograph Passer Montanus from her series‘Animalia’; a study of a selection of species, typically seen within Britain, presenting a series of still life images inhabited with a sense of life.
Documenting a bird in its natural environment, Passer Montanus tricks the viewer into believing this is a nature photograph; something that could easily be from Bird Watchers Monthly or National Geographic. In truth, the bird is preserved by a taxidermist and photographed in a natural environment, creating beauty in the deceased. Eerie, yet captivating this photograph generates a calming stillness, as though through photographing the bird as if still alive, the dead animal is put at peace. If uninformed by Brooks herself, the viewer would likely believe the photograph to be “real”; addressing Cadava’s statement quoted by Brooks “It is precisely in death that the power of the photograph is revealed, and revealed to the very extent that it continues to evoke what can no longer be there”.
In Passer Montanus Brooks creates a beautiful and sincere image from something that might otherwise install discomfort and vulgarity, something passed-by and ignored at the side of a road. Arguably, her series ‘Animalia’ echoes the sentiment of the 19th Century practice of photographing deceased family members as a way of honouring them and their mortality, as a lasting memento of their life.
Documenting a bird in its natural environment, Passer Montanus tricks the viewer into believing this is a nature photograph; something that could easily be from Bird Watchers Monthly or National Geographic. In truth, the bird is preserved by a taxidermist and photographed in a natural environment, creating beauty in the deceased. Eerie, yet captivating this photograph generates a calming stillness, as though through photographing the bird as if still alive, the dead animal is put at peace. If uninformed by Brooks herself, the viewer would likely believe the photograph to be “real”; addressing Cadava’s statement quoted by Brooks “It is precisely in death that the power of the photograph is revealed, and revealed to the very extent that it continues to evoke what can no longer be there”.
In Passer Montanus Brooks creates a beautiful and sincere image from something that might otherwise install discomfort and vulgarity, something passed-by and ignored at the side of a road. Arguably, her series ‘Animalia’ echoes the sentiment of the 19th Century practice of photographing deceased family members as a way of honouring them and their mortality, as a lasting memento of their life.
Runner Up: Natalja Sadikova
www.nataljas.com
Natalja Sadikova is also a runner-up with her stunning submission from the series I am My Horse.
Sadikova’s piece focuses on the viewer instead of the aesthetic or documentary; she describes her work as designed to “evoke in the viewer divergent sensations of captivity, passion, rebellion, desperation and aggression. All those different emotions that the image creates forces the viewer to imagine a narrative, that would reflect their state of mind, or hidden fears and dreams."
The contrast of blue skies and rich mahogany blurs fabricate diverse passages of thought and emotion in the viewer. A Horse traditionally symbolised as an animal of Power, Grace, Beauty, Strength and Freedom. Different physical outcomes can be reflected within the image itself; anger - shown by an over focused lens: a Tornado, the horse’s veins explosive with ideas of thunder and lightning. These ideas are contradictory to thoughts of relief and relaxation; dark red evaporating into the atmosphere; beauty and the divine in nature, smartly captured by a mechanical man-made device.
The image has been captured in a non-traditional frame, cutting the portrait of the horse’s head laterally, enticing the eye centrally. The piece plays on the imagination and internal thoughts and emotions of the viewer, allowing unique connotations to resonate within each individual.
Sadikova’s piece focuses on the viewer instead of the aesthetic or documentary; she describes her work as designed to “evoke in the viewer divergent sensations of captivity, passion, rebellion, desperation and aggression. All those different emotions that the image creates forces the viewer to imagine a narrative, that would reflect their state of mind, or hidden fears and dreams."
The contrast of blue skies and rich mahogany blurs fabricate diverse passages of thought and emotion in the viewer. A Horse traditionally symbolised as an animal of Power, Grace, Beauty, Strength and Freedom. Different physical outcomes can be reflected within the image itself; anger - shown by an over focused lens: a Tornado, the horse’s veins explosive with ideas of thunder and lightning. These ideas are contradictory to thoughts of relief and relaxation; dark red evaporating into the atmosphere; beauty and the divine in nature, smartly captured by a mechanical man-made device.
The image has been captured in a non-traditional frame, cutting the portrait of the horse’s head laterally, enticing the eye centrally. The piece plays on the imagination and internal thoughts and emotions of the viewer, allowing unique connotations to resonate within each individual.