I always find it kind of funny when two reasonably unrelated things attract me, and then eventually it clicks that oh these two things might look mighty fine together.

Just today, about 20 minutes ago as it happens, I stumbled upon Mona Simon‘s photographs of Transylvania’s traditional Roma (aka gypsy) population and was immediately struck by the vibrant colors and patterns of the community.

Then I remembered seeing Pamela Bennett Ader‘s paintings:

The flowers on their own are, of course, beautiful, but I’m certainly delighted and intrigued by the integration of the little color swatches within the painting. We’ve all become accustomed to seeing color swatches attached to artwork, pulling out their colors and giving them special attention. It’s interesting to see them incorporated into a fine art status and I find that it brings a sense of modernity to the work in addition to bringing attention to the beautiful colors themselves and drawing the viewers into the artistic process.

And then I found myself grouping them together in my mind. I think it has something to do with both the nature of the colors in both selections of work and perhaps the combined/collage-y elements.

I don’t know, but it works, doesn’t it? Click on the links above to see more :).

The discussion went on and to come back to our flâneur, I suggested to look at this concept from the perspective of the voyeur or the detective. Sophie Calle is always standing at this corner! She is well-known for following and taking photographs of people in the street of Paris in her early works. Not to mention that she has herself asked a detective to follow her in ‘La Filature‘ ['The Shadow'] where she developed 3 points of view (the detective / Calle / a friend).

‘In April 1981, at my request, my mother went to a detective agency. She hired them to follow me, to report my daily activities, and to proviede photographic evidence of my existence.’ Sophie Calle

I also emphasize on Sophie Calle’s work because of her artistic method of experimenting with mise en scène and giving more  importance to the artistic idea over the final artwork.

Sophie Calle is the excuse to have a closer look at a text which is particularly relevant for our research: his accomplice Jean Baudrillard’s contribution to ‘Suite Vénitienne. Please Follow Me‘.

“For months I followed strangers on the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me. I photographed them without their knowledge, took note of their movements, then finally lost sight of them and forgot them.” Sophie Calle

Calle’s curiosity continues as she follows a man from Paris to Venice in February 1980. ‘Suite Vénitienne. Please Follow Me‘ is a book which contains her notes along with black and white photographs and an essay by Jean Baudrillard on Calle’s work. FYI: Baudrillard started to take photographs himself after this collaboration!

Paperback / 87 pp. / 21 x 18cm / Printed offset, photo, text / Publisher: Bay Press, 1988 (originally published in 1983 by Éditions de l’Étoile and Les Cahiers du Cinéma, Paris). UNFORTUNATELY OUT OF PRINT!!

I have dug up the original translation into English of Jean Baudrillard’s essay. It has been reproduced in ‘The Jean Baudrillard Reader‘ by Steve Redhead (Columbia University Press, 2008). Not that everything is directly related to the concept of the flâneur, it is such a delightful prose though. Publishing this text here is not at all copyright-friendly, so before I remove these pages in a couple of days while I am seeking permission… Enjoy!

yasmina reggad

We all feel very passionate about storytelling through photography and believe that our cultural background and individual approach to Photography helps us developing a dialogue, reflect and discuss human and environmental realities based on the different local or national circumstances we live in or originate from.

The aim of the collective is to work together, support each other in promoting our work and discover topics and issues we as individuals but also as a group find interesting and important to be told. The fact that we originate from different continents helps us to see the developing work through different angles.

We appreciate to be part of the collective encounter and are looking forward to work on this project.

©Christian Rodriguez / Vea Collective

Då eg var i Romania i fjor fekk eg ikkje sett så mykje av Transylvania som eg hadde tenkt, og det slår meg at dette er den typen ting eg ville sett dersom eg hadde reist opp i fjellandsbyane der, i staden for til dømes Bukarest. Togsystemet var imidlertid så tidkrevande at vi måtte redusere på antal reisemål. 

Det rumenske landbruket er framleis ikkje mekanisert, og foregår på den økologiske gamlemåten. Grønsakene der er difor av særs høg kvalitet, og den lokale vinen er særs god, særleg dei årgongsvariantane eg smakte på. Fattigdom er imidlertid eit kjempeproblem, men vil forhåpentlegvis betre seg no som landet har vorte EU-medlem.

• Transylvania, biletserie
• Informasjon om prosjektet (fotografen tilhøyrer den tyske minoriteten i Transylvania)
• Fotografen har også skrive litt om turen på bloggen sin