|
Kyoto
1997
Colour photograph, cibachrome
48.5 x 179.5 cm
Purchased in: 1997
|
This triptych is part of the series Aux Interstices des Cibles (In the Interstices of Targets) produced by Lin Delpierre during a period of residence at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto in 1996. Carrying on the photographs taken at the Villa Médicis, which aligned contemporary Roman architecture with portraits of residents at the Villa, Delpierre this time takes a close look at Japanese society and its extremely contemporary character, where, nevertheless, traditions are still powerfully present.
This piece works like a narrative, its rhythm provided both by the way the images are treated and by the varied range of photographic media (positive and negative, colour and black and white, different dimensions, and different exposures).
The central image, with two overlaid photos, works like a static pivot whose realism is heightened by the absence of grain. The other two photographs refer to a more dreamlike world, but one that is just as imbued with Japanese tradition. On the right the face of the young woman, somewhere between death mask and ecstasy, refers to the symbolism of the 19th century, by way of the pathetic content that it releases; this freeze frame – taken from a television series – echoes the nostalgic cult of past ideas, which still markedly conditions contemporary Japanese culture. The third photograph also invites us to reflect on the persistence of history. By superimposing some 10 photos of one and the same zen garden, Delpierre obtains an abstract image, where the volumes become repetitive forms set on a blurred earth. As a ghost-like, unchanging, mental image, this third photograph represents an opening for the whole work, while at the same time emphasizing the tension between the different time frames.
Cécile Bourne
|
diaporama