Friday, March 31, 2017

Tender Mint a new photobook by Lynn Alleva Lilley

 

Lynn Alleva Lilley is an American photographer who in 2011 moved with her family to Amman, Jordan. Over three years she photographed Western women who married Jordanians of Palestinian descent, a private zoo, Syrian and Iraqi refugees, bird migration routes, artists, and landscapes. Themes of displacement, entrapment, and adaptation are reflected in the work. The result a profound and moving bookwork - Tender Mint.

Tender Mint is scheduled to be published by The Eriskay Connection, Breda, Netherlands in May 2017 pending a successful fundraising campaign.

Lynn says this about the work: I had never lived in the Middle East before so when I moved with my family to Amman I knew I wanted to explore this unfamiliar world and ultimately to make a book. Yet there was concern both on an external level as the war in Syria had just started and a personal one as my father was ill back home in the US.
Ultimately, over one million refugees from Syria fled to Jordan joining those who fled the Iraq war.  This violence and tension in the North put tremendous pressure on the country, yet it remained stable. 
For three years I photographed confined places, landscapes, animals and people including Syrian and Iraqi refugees and Jordanians. I was struck by the paradox of beautiful places located in military zones such as a bird observatory located near the border with Israel, the village of Hemma in the north from which you can see Israel and Syria, and Bethany Beyond the Jordan.  
The loss of my father in the US brought an urgency to the work. I wondered how those living through war and catastrophic loss were coping, maybe hoping to connect and come to some form of understanding and acceptance of grief. The more I saw and photographed, the more worlds within worlds opened up which, strangely, led to an epiphany in a zoo.  I was able to go deeper and look beyond the obvious entrapment of the animals and into strange, beautiful worlds of animals and their environment. I feel that many of the images have an other-wordly, fairytale-like quality to them.
It is interesting now to look at the images and see unexpected relationships among them that, together, make a book.

Book production is expensive. To fund the project Lynn has launched a Kickstarter fundraiser, it's worth checking out HERE - there is more about Tender Mint and if you're moved by the images show your support.






The Photography Show - AIPAD at Pier 94 NYC this weekend

 

The Photography Show, presented by AIPAD, will be held March 30–April 2, 2017 at Pier 94 for the first time. The newly expanded Show, organized by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, will present exceptional photography from early masters, modern luminaries, and emerging and established contemporary artists from more than 115 of the world's leading fine art galleries. An opening night vernissage will be held on March 29.
The Photography Show will feature galleries from around the world, including the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, the Middle East, and South America. With four new sections – Salon, Gallery, Positions, and Discovery – the Show will offer work from both AIPAD members and new exhibitors, as well as younger galleries, and book dealers and publishers.

You can go to The Photography Show website HERE.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Elton John and David Furnish talk with Christie's Head of Photographs Darius Himes

 

‘A photograph brings me so much joy, they’re beautiful objects,’ says Sir Elton John, discussing a remarkable collection of 25 works by some of the world’s greatest photographers, to be offered at Christie’s in New York on 6 April 2017. Proceeds from the sale of these works will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), an international non-profit organisation founded by the celebrated recording artist 25 years ago with the mission of ending the AIDS epidemic.
Commemorating the foundation’s 25th year, this special auction holds great personal significance for the Oscar and Grammy Award-winning star. ‘It’s my 70th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of my songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin,’ he explains.

Artists and estates that have donated to the auction include Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Misrach and Cindy Sherman. ‘They’ve been amazingly generous,’ Sir Elton continues, acknowledging the consistent support his foundation has received from the creative industries.
Filmed in his LA home, this interview offers a glimpse of some of the works in Sir Elton’s own collection, which is hailed as one of the greatest private collections in the world. He reveals it has been largely acquired while on tour and from galleries across the world. ‘You always find something different; that’s what I love about photography,’ he says. The exhibition Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection  is on show at Tate Modern in London until 21 May.

You can watch the video HERE.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Wolfgang Tillmans FREISCHWIMMER 119, 2005 fetches £464,750 at Sotheby's London Cotemporary sale tonight



In spirited bidding at Sotheby's London tonight Wolfgang Tillmans 2005 color-field work FREISCHWIMMER 119 fetched £464,750 over three times the high estimate of £120,000.

Any immediate viewers of my blog can watch the auction live HERE.