ITheBrunswick

The Brunswick in Blue: A Double Reality

When I first visited the Brunswick, the perception of it belonging to another world has already settled as I was first introduced to the place through watching Episode 4 of Andor My introduction to the A-frame through the image has shifted the vision of the Brunswick, for even when I started taking photographs of its sculptural forms from the outside, I couldn’t help but look for the certain setting where Syril crosses the bridge.

I successfully received access to enter the atriums that are now privatised for residents’ access only. Although I was unable to achieve the exact angle and framing, due to limited timing, the pleasure in recognising the similar placement showing the A-frame from the first floor allowed me to use it as an experiment in replicating the image from Andor. To finalise the image, I attempted to match its colour grading. I increased the contrast and desaturated the image, then applied cooler analogous hues of blue and grey over the image. (Fig.8 & 9)

I noticed the hues of a lighter yellow read as sunlight against the external columns of the Brunswick were juxtaposed, fading away once inside the A-Frame atrium in Andor. The frame is stripped of warm colours, with grey and blue grading dominant, further displacing the Brunswick. Blue, according to Patti Bellantoni, subtly manipulates the audience. When the colour is persistent in a scene, it “provides the emotional context for their plight and influences our sympathetic response to it”. Blue is often associated with detachment and is the ‘quintessential colour of powerlessness’. 16

In Andor, blue is blanketed over the Brunswick, not just as a sympathetic act to Syril’s melancholy but its persistent presence adds onto an oppressive uniformity Syril now faces, emphasised by walking in between the impenetrable thickness of the A-frame’s repeated structure within the frame. Additionally, the lightest hue of blue is seen beyond the A-frame, suggesting the open space of the rest of the city, adjusting the A-frame’s sense of space within Andor whilst blurring boundaries.