Exhibition

- 'Northwind II from Cardboard & Light. Artist - Silvia González de León

CARDBOARD & LIGHT

Silvia González de León         

July 12 – August 12, 2007

The Gallery of Photography is proud to present the Irish premiere of work by the Mexican artist, Silvia González de León, one of the leading international practitioners of pinhole photography.

González de León’s strange and enchanting images are captured in pinhole cameras. These are simple black boxes made by the artist from cardboard or wood in which a tiny hole has been punched. Light passing through the pinhole forms an image that is imprinted on photographic film or light-sensitive paper placed inside the camera. Pinhole images differ from conventional photographs in that they retain the surprising distortions and looming perspectives that regular lens-cameras are designed to ‘correct’. The creative possibilities pinhole cameras offer are shown to particular effect in the ongoing series Objects & Me, which sets a monumental foreground against a diminutive background in a kind of game between two different scales.

Other series include the highly experimental work Twilight; magical landscapes from the endangered Lacandona Rain Forest; and nude studies inspired by the work of Bill Brandt.

WORKSHOP Experience the fun and creative satisfaction of making your own camera and producing your own prints! Silvia González de León lead a  special weeklong summer workshop on pinhole photography during July, here in the Gallery of Photography. The images produced can be viewed by following this link to the online gallery.

About the artist:  Born Mexico 1954, Silvia González de León has shown her work in solo and group exhibitions in different cities of Mexico and the US, Ecuador, Argentina, Brasil Cuba and Italy. She has been Artist in Residence at the Djerassi Artist Program, in California, 1997; and the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada, 2001. As a teacher, she has taught photography at the Center for Cinematographic Studies, in Mexico City, and pinhole camera workshops to children and teenagers at the National Center for the Arts, Mexico and at the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco.

The exhibition is brought to Ireland with the support of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Embassy, Dublin. It will be launched on Wednesday July 11 at 6.30pm.

Gallery of Photography is open: Tuesday - Saturday 11am-6pm and on Sunday from 1pm-6pm

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