The Thompson Gallery, 78 Third Avenue, Melville, hosts a joint exhibition by Martin Osner - 'A Child's Gaze' and Eugene van der Merwe 'Lens Light Landscape'.
Martin Osner's 'Endurance No. 1' is an extraordinary photograph of a young rural girl. Osner has made every aspect of her a portrait, her face, her hands her feet, the dress she wears and the way she sits inform his portrait. Osner gives us an extraordinary image of the young girl's world view. Though she is young we easily see that she is a parentised child who already plays a responsible part in her community. Osner has photographed her, not as a member of her community, but as an individual who sits for him with great dignity and we are aware in this photograph of the trust that exists between photographer and subject. At her feet glinting in the dust is a teaspoon - a fortuitous, serendipitous image or symbol of the kind that happens to great photographers, which is indicative of so much in the young girl's life. She was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth and it holds all the connotations of her female role of nurture.
Eugene van der Merwe is a rising star in photography. He studied under Martin Osner and now lectures in photography himself. His photographs of landscape are quite extraordinary. It is often argued that all landscape imagery in South Africa is of necessity colonial having the marks of possession, dispossession, history, people, ownership. Eugene's photographs cannot be labelled thus because although he photographs places in South Africa they are not images that have you guessing whether you may have been there or who it belongs to. There are no people in his landscapes. You do not look at these from some elevated height and pronounce about what you see because, I think, you become immersed in them in the kind of way a Hindu might immerse him or herself in the Ganges. You just know they are South Africa at its most pristine, not tainted by popularity or other people's perceptions, and presented with a sense of heightened visual awareness. Eugene achieves this by using a specially made large format view camera where the image, dimmed, is viewed on a ground glass screen and is seen upside down! His processes, devised in the pursuit of perfection are both expensive and lengthy but determine the nature of the 'considered' image that he wishes to achieve as well as an image in which its process of making is felt. He is in control of every aspect of the image until the moment of shooting. He says it is the surprises that happen, where he captures detail, motion and colour that do not reflect exactly what he saw at the time of capture, that constantly excite and motivate him to express his love of nature. For this viewer Eugene's photographic processes, performed with all the perfection and deliberation of a Japanese Tea Ceremony, achieve a visual equivalent: a state of heightened meditation, where we listen to the silence and where every bubble catching the light on a wave, every grain of sand or mark on a rock become significant. I believe his images restore one's sense of being and one's own inner landscape.
Sally Thompson
This joint exhibition runs at the Thompson Gallery from June 14 to July 11. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10.30 am to 5.00 pm. Telephone 011 4822039 or 0829222529.
The Thompson Gallery, 78 Third Avenue, Melville, hosts a joint exhibition by Martin Osner - 'A Child's Gaze' and Eugene van der Merwe 'Lens Light Landscape'.
Martin Osner's 'Endurance No. 1' is an extraordinary photograph of a young rural girl. Osner has made every aspect of her a portrait, her face, her hands her feet, the dress she wears and the way she sits inform his portrait. Osner gives us an extraordinary image of the young girl's world view. Though she is young we easily see that she is a parentised child who already plays a responsible part in her community. Osner has photographed her, not as a member of her community, but as an individual who sits for him with great dignity and we are aware in this photograph of the trust that exists between photographer and subject. At her feet glinting in the dust is a teaspoon - a fortuitous, serendipitous image or symbol of the kind that happens to great photographers, which is indicative of so much in the young girl's life. She was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth and it holds all the connotations of her female role of nurture.
Eugene van der Merwe is a rising star in photography. He studied under Martin Osner and now lectures in photography himself. His photographs of landscape are quite extraordinary. It is often argued that all landscape imagery in South Africa is of necessity colonial having the marks of possession, dispossession, history, people, ownership. Eugene's photographs cannot be labelled thus because although he photographs places in South Africa they are not images that have you guessing whether you may have been there or who it belongs to. There are no people in his landscapes. You do not look at these from some elevated height and pronounce about what you see because, I think, you become immersed in them in the kind of way a Hindu might immerse him or herself in the Ganges. You just know they are South Africa at its most pristine, not tainted by popularity or other people's perceptions, and presented with a sense of heightened visual awareness. Eugene achieves this by using a specially made large format view camera where the image, dimmed, is viewed on a ground glass screen and is seen upside down! His processes, devised in the pursuit of perfection are both expensive and lengthy but determine the nature of the 'considered' image that he wishes to achieve as well as an image in which its process of making is felt. He is in control of every aspect of the image until the moment of shooting. He says it is the surprises that happen, where he captures detail, motion and colour that do not reflect exactly what he saw at the time of capture, that constantly excite and motivate him to express his love of nature. For this viewer Eugene's photographic processes, performed with all the perfection and deliberation of a Japanese Tea Ceremony, achieve a visual equivalent: a state of heightened meditation, where we listen to the silence and where every bubble catching the light on a wave, every grain of sand or mark on a rock become significant. I believe his images restore one's sense of being and one's own inner landscape.
Sally Thompson
This joint exhibition runs at the Thompson Gallery from June 14 to July 11. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10.30 am to 5.00 pm. Telephone 011 4822039 or 0829222529.