Today, The
Little Black Gallery in London hosted a book signing by one of the most iconic
photographers of our times, Norwegian artist Anja Niemi. Her unique concept is
based on playing the part of a subject, photographer, stylist and director in all
of the images. Above is my favourite, entitled The Backyard, from the current
exhibition, Darlene and Me.
The women portrayed by Anja are glamorous, and have coiffed hair and amazing dresses. But looking closer it is clear they display
all sort of human traits, often not very desirable like jealousy, or murderous
inclinations, like these two, caught up in a heated argument in The Terrace.
The artist explained it takes a combination of several shots
to arrive at the final image. And sometimes, her original vision takes an
unexpected turn when she discovers an unintentional but particularly effective idea.
This photograph was originally planned to include one of the characters
floating on the water but took a different turn when Anja realised that the
character coming out of the swimming pool (on the right) was more dynamic, and
suited the story better.
We had a chance to see images from three series: Darlene and
Me (current) and previously exhibited Starlets (from 2013) and Do Not Disturb. The
Secretary – seen above – belongs to a sequence entitled Starlets.
Anja Niemi elegantly captures a woman`s complex relationship
with herself, and tells visually inspiring and sometimes somewhat disturbing,
but always memorable stories. Today, she signed a limited edition softcover
book published by The Little Black Gallery. It features images from her three
collections.
Darlene and Me is showing at The Little Black Gallery until
10 March 2015.
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