Currently being hosted at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas, are two exhibitions which are very different in tone and style, but which both draw on us emotionally. Over this and a forthcoming piece, I will be covering both, starting with the longer-running of the two.
Located within the Annex at Nitroglobus is an exhibition by Sydney Couerblanc – a Second Life photographer whose work I don’t believe I’ve previously encountered. Afterimages of Spring presents a series of images captured within the ever-engaging Bella’s Lullaby, a place I have been known to frequent and have written about on numerous occasions. For me, this would usually be enough to encourage a visit to an exhibition; however, Afterimages of Spring presents two further attractions: Sydney’s use of black and white photography, together with the fact that these images are not intended to present the beauty of Bella’s lullaby per se, but rather they use the region to present a story, one that might be seen as part of a larger narrative, given the questions it spurs.
Spring is ending. It is her last day as light keeper on Blackheart Key. She took the job as a desperate attempt to get away. From the city, from the ex, from herself. Although challenging at first, she found solace in the island, and in time came to call it home. Today, with departure upon her, she misses it already.
– Artist’s statement on Afterimages of Spring
So it is that we join this unnamed light-keeper on the island carrying a name that is the negative (so to speak in photographic terms, that is) of the artist’s, as she travels through her final day at this remote location. Through eleven carefully framed and beautifully executed images, we follow her day from rising, through a final round of tasks to a final farewell, the island apparently seen from aboard a departing vessel.
The unfolding story is heavy in latent emotions, which follow outwards from each image: sadness at a forthcoming departure; apprehension at what now lay head; heart-tugging final times with friends soon to be left behind, and more. Through her framing and the gifted use of focus and depth of field combined with the sharpness , and black and white itself, Sydney conveys her story perfectly.
In this, I particularly like Sydney’s use of the lighthouse itself in the majority of her pictures. It is present in nine of the eleven images, generally in the background and in a soft focus. This gives the lighthouse a sense of being; it is not so much a structure designed to fulfil a function – it is a friend; a guardian, a comforting presence keeping a companionable watch on our light keeper without making demands or overshadowing her life and thoughts.
Then there is the broader story hinted at both through the artist’s statement and the idea of the light keeper now leaving this sanctuary she has lived within: what did happen to her city life, her ex – perhaps even her career? – to cause her to seek such remote a withdrawal in the first place? And what now that she is departing – what will see discover or encounter? How will she fair? Might she yet have cause return?
These are questions Afterimages of Spring perhaps stirs – but does not seek to answer. Like all skilled storytellers, Sydney presents enough to provide her core story, then leaves the rest to our imaginations.
SLurl Details
- The Annex, Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine homestead, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 