OCTOBER ISSUE 2009
the long pause exhibition notes
photographers richardo toledo mikio oba matilda cooper paul loades janet durran beatriz palma nadja sumichrast
nadja sumichrest
I listened to ‘political noise’ over and over – letting the sounds become a journey in my imagination. It became for me the journey of a soul, a human being, its heart-beat the starting point and only constant from which it enters the noise and chaos of existence. There are different ‘pauses’ for me in the piece, where the soul escapes from the clamour of the world and find back to itself, in a private place devoid of time – only to be sucked back into the vortex of life which is forever being devoured by time. The journey was simultaneously inspired by the ‘Radical Nature’ exhibition, and from that became about the juxtaposition of life vs. non-life, of the vulnerable vs. the invulnerable: all life has a need – for air, for water, for shelter, for warmth, in order to remain alive. Its need thus makes it simultaneously vulnerable (it needs to rely on forces outside itself to continue to exist) and alive. Concrete, steel, machinery, plastic, does not share this vulnerability, this need to rely on another for its survival. In my picture I have tried to capture these elements: In the invulnerability of steel & glass, a woman sees her own feet reflected: a space opens up in which she sees something other: something alive, vulnerable, tender and fragile. In this brief pause, through this small gap, she can find back to herself and recognise what she is.
mikio oba
If pause in music is defined as absence of sound, pause in Photography would be shadow, which is absence of light. Shadow is obviously an essential element in photography but it is not common for shadow to dominate a photograph, as it is not common for silence to dominate a piece of music. This series of photographs explores how much shadow can be a main element in photographs, and how it can affect the sense of the viewer.
janet durran
Not used to thinking outside the box I found this brief extremely challenging. Many of my ideas were simply too difficult to translate into practice. I have chosen a photo of Chinese street food. I’m not sure exactly what it is - they look disgusting yet at the same time in a mass they look almost pleasing. The colour and the texture stand out. Perhaps radical f o o d ? !
matilda cooper
Political Noise reminded me of disharmony and chaos; I was inspired to create a visual metaphor using the common commuter making the transition from one destination to another, but to re-interpret their physical persona as something more fluid, indistinguishable and perhaps chaotic - perhaps a reflection of their inner-being. I chose to focus on people using escalators on the underground because of it’s sterile and metallic nature, another adjective I’d apply to the soundscape. My aim was to explore different techniques to capture him/her as they stepped off the bottom of the escalator and by slowing down the shutter speed and by pressing the shutter button at the ‘decisive moment’, I was able to capture an image that I believe encompassed the essence of Political Noise.
beatriz palma
The Long Pause by Zul Mahmod is a very complex piece with many layers of ‘sounds’ and meaning. Such variety of layers provokes various strong feelings in the listener. These feelings change as the piece unfolds. When I listen to the piece most feelings are of a negative nature. I feel claustrophobic in a sort of post-nuclear, nightmarish world, where a Big Brother is constantly watching you; where men and women are stripped off their human qualities and are mere grotesque creatures, and where there’s a great sense of isolation and mistrust towards each other and everything around us. However, the future is not that bleak. Or at least in this piece. The last part of the piece presents, although high-pitched, much warmer, brighter sounds, which I interpret as the light of hope. The breve might seem to present a shelter amidst the devastation, some peace and tranquility. However, this is a false sense of peace and tranquility. From this, a strong sense of uneasiness and eeriness arise. We are awaiting for something horrific to happen. The long pause, therefore, provokes a sense of foreboding. I have tried to capture all these reactions in my photographs. I have presented places which are normally busy and full of life, like corridors, streets and houses, and I have photographed them when they are empty or abandoned. Even though the space is deserted, there is a sense of imminent human intrusion. “An oasis of horror, in a desert of boredom.” Charles Baudelaire
paul loades
‘It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away, a nervous tick, an unconcious look of anxiety-anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case to wear an improper expression on your face was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak....facecrime’. George Orwell 1984 Book 1, Chap 1
richardo toledo
“I felt the need to find my long pause in a boiling city like Rome, crowded with tourists, marching like ants to the next sightseeing spots, and a traffic that seems like a streaming blood line, going through every and any direction without any control. There right in the middle of the Italian city, away from common sandal and socks tourist I found my place, my nirvana, my sanctuary. Far from anyone, the only thing I could hear was the sound of silence, that sometimes was broke by the sound of a birds flapping wings, or a lone runner pace. This place was the Tevere river, and it seemed that it was waiting for me, his banks untouched by the common tourist flashy cameras. There I found my Long Pause, and my breve from the madness of the urban environment, and found peace, at least for a while.�
SEED is an exhibition publication from The Mango Lab. www.themangolab.co.uk info@themangolab.co.uk design by karl grupe covers by beatriz palma photo editing by julia massey stewart and karl grupe magazine concept by karl grupe All material Šthe selected artiists and The Mango Lab 2009.