Wednesday 30 January 2013

Jordi Huisman - Rear Window

I stumbled across Dutch photographer Jordi Huisman's work by accident - as much as I often complain about Tumblr, one thing it does do well is provide photographers with the opportunity for their work to be seen by thousands with one simple "reblog". One image in particular caught my eye while browsing my timeline - a photo of what appeared to be the back of an apartment block at night; the main light sources were the lights inside individual flats. Something about its simplicity struck me. A quick google search led me to his website, where it turns out he has an ongoing series of images of a similar theme, entitled "Rear Window".

"The Rear Window series focuses on the back of buildings in European capitals. It shows how someone decided to put a large satellite dish on his balcony, where the next door neighbour uses the balcony as a storage room… The series also has a voyeuristic aspect: through detailed exposures, small details in the houses of the neighbours become visible. Details that aren't meant to be visible."

The medium and large format images somehow struck a chord with me. It's true that the majority of the time, we will never get to see the back of buildings, houses in particular. I know for a fact that at my parents' house, much more TLC is given to the front lawn as "more people will see it". The back garden currently lies in a state of mild disarray (our enthusiasm for sorting out the weeds lasts for half a day at the most) while the front looks immaculate. From a social point, is it a case of keeping up appearances? Either way, it's great to be given a chance to see the "details that aren't meant to be visible".

------------------------------------------------
Photography collective No Culture Icons are teaming up with the independent Village Bookstore in Leeds to host their first photo exhibition on Thursday 7th February (6pm-9pm). Work by Jordi will be exhibited alongside Alex Cretey Systermans, Bryan Schutmaat and Alex Catt, with an evening of music & drink on offer. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Village yet, but from the comments I've seen on twitter, this will definitely be worth going to if you're a Northerner with a passing interest in contemporary photography. 

For more information, visit No Culture Icons online or Village's Facebook Event.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, saw your comment on the Londoner so I thought I'd have a look as I'm trying to get my own men's lifestyle blog going so feel free to check it out http://www.cdgsimpson.blogspot.com let me know what you think! You've got some really, really great stuff on here, love the photography keep it coming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, thanks a lot! I never realised how hard it is to actually get going with writing all the time, but I'm getting there. I'll definitely check out your blog too, sounds great.

      Delete