I did a press release/review thing for my friend Dee's photography exhibition. Go see it, it's very good.
‘Dwelling’ is a series of photographs by Newcastle based photographer Dee Chaneva. The images were shot in her native Bulgaria, at her grandparent’s house, following her grandfather’s death.
‘Dwelling’ is a beautifully rendered mediation on grief, loss and memory. The images document Dee’s grandmother’s desperate need to hold on to the memory of her husband by the objects and space they shared, for fear of losing the memory of him all together. These are possessions not just as precious things, but as necessary things.
The Artist says, “After my grandfather's death, the driving force behind everything that ever moved in that house was gone and a thick layer of grief, dust, lethargy and melancholy seems to have covered the beds, the chairs and one can even smell it on the curtains. My grandmother fears anything and everything that might shake up the delicate arrangement and preservation of her husband's possessions and the little traces he's left behind”
In dwelling, the artist presents what was once a home as a tomb or mausoleum, no longer a place of companionship. The images are presented with the keen, thorough eye of an archivist. The images often seem detached and trivial as we see the last tangible remains of a life reduced to photo frames and ornaments. Yet as we are presented with more work it becomes increasingly claustrophobic and acutely painful to look at, like the bittersweet sting of loss itself.
‘Dwelling’ is deeply moving and will surely strike a chord with anyone who has experienced grief and loss, or is interested in beautiful, thought provoking photography.
Dee Chaneva is currently studying in her second year of Photography at Newcastle College. This project was shot during the summer of 2009.
Dee has a website here, http://www.loveandsweat.com/
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