Saturday 16 April 2011

Maurizo Anzeri - Saatchi


Weird, strange compositions, but brilliant if you ask me. These images caught my eye at Saatchi last month. I love the way Anzeri has transformed these found photographs. He carefully sews directly into the photographs, altering them. He has come up with a way to bridge the future with history which I find fascinating. What also caught my eye was how Anzeri edits into the photographs, he trys to never completely cover the faces and as a rule always leaves one or both eyes open. As they say the eyes are the 'pathway to the soul of a person".


Lastly I want to consider the ethical nature of what Anzeri is doing here,. These photographs were found and for one reason or another were selected and deemed to be 'interesting' to Anzeri. She then edited them further by creating a physical barrier. This portraits original context is unknown, as it has now been given a new one. What I'm trying to get my head around is if an image can ever reflect a open and free representation of someone when the act of photographing someone can be so very constraint (opposite). How can a photographer claim to create an honest image when the subjectivity of the act is so very vital in its creation. It is interesting as Anzeri makes clear she found these images, and then edited them, she makes no claims of who these people are, and in doing this it could be argued that the viewer is allowed to perceive them freely (in doing so the act of making sense of this is free).

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