SETTING UP

The gallery 'aseismanos' is ubicated in the centre of Bogotá and was founded by three french. It is an original place with a lot of cultural spirit and a wild mixture of culinary delicacies of the two countries. In the middle of the permanent crowdy life of Bogotá it seemed to be a perfect place to show my silent beauties. 

The installation was done by 'La Productora' an art production agency who at first had to fix and renovate all walls of this ancient building. Afterwards they put every picture carefully on its place. Thanx David, Karen and Sergio !

* Pictures are published in 'La Productora' Flickr's photoset

PROTOTYPING THE UGLY

While taking pictures, I just started planning a little happening for my exhibition. What would be if dreams become true? What happens at night in my bed with me? Are there little hairstylists working at night?

So I decided to do an morning hairstyle session in middle of the exhibition. To do so I needed a background, lightening and little bit of styling. So here come some nice samples of my beautiful testing dreamteam. Thanx Juanda & Alejo :)

DEPRESSINGLY FUNNY

Sometime when I was visiting my family, I noticed that all family members in the morning have somhow a similar felty appearance; old and rotten clothes, with stupid patterns and of course "horrible" hair. So I decided to take pictures of a whole family. The results are quite depressingly funny...

THE UGLY AND THE BEAST

After observing the so called "non states" of other people and taking pictures of myself, I wanted to capture not just the face, but the entire body with all its beautiful defects.

To establish these dialogues between beauty and ugliness, I had to interfere in the privacy of people by removing them from their context. I portrayed my guests early in the morning in my house or wherever I was invited, forcing them to a place far from their beds. The result could not be more true and authentic.

These are samples of the dissonance between the beautiful we want to be and the ugly we really are, even for a fleeting moment in the morning. People seem to be 'monsters' who need a few minutes to reconnect with our real life after a long trip within our dreams. Poor creatures, cranky, wrinkled, sensitive to noise and light ...

But there a one more truth behind the truth or more ugliness behind the ugliness. :) The paradox of ugliness is the photographer looks early risen, too. So here are a nice picture someone took while I was taken a picture. Who is the ugly and who is the beast? 

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO IS THE UGLIEST ONE OF ALL?

Before asking people to exhibit themselves (in the case of 'Courage to Confession'), the first person who had to set an example was me. Rigorously, every morning I took a picture of me and my unbearable morning state, knowing that I never want to see it afterwards. But to keep it, put it into a folder with the intention to publish takes a lot of self humor and courage to confess. Here are some beautiful examples of the diversity of my ugliness:

ODYSSEY 2012: LENTICULAR PRINTING IN COLOMBIA

TALE OF A SEARCH

After receiving and classifying all the material for 'Courage to Confession' that was sent, I was sure that I wanted each one of those "non-states" in only one piece. So I decided to have those photos in lenticular printing, like flip cards which you can find in souvenir shops. It was the beginning of a desperate search and it became a little adventure.  To find a person in Colombia who develops this kind of printing was more than find a needle in a nest, because this type of technology is not very common and due to lack of demand. Many times it was thought to make these prints in Germany or the United States. Finally, after an intense search during three months and hundreds of mails and calls, it was found just one single person who worked with this technology in the whole country.

Thank you Edwin Fuentes!

If anyone wants to do this in Colombia here is his number: :)

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THE KITCHEN BECAME A STUDIO


Because of our short production time remaining, it was not possible to frame the twenty-five prints in the place where the rest of the work had been treated.

That was how a kitchen became a suitable place for that job. Accompanied by good music and great food, me and my assistant, took on the task of painting the frames, and mount the photos over them.

This required a lot of time, various materials, different brushes, lots of paintings, and good humor, after applying more than six layers of white on each frame, and paste the twenty-five photos.

ACTION - REACTION

There were many reactions from people. Some ignored the request, others refused without any hesitation. And a few strong ones agreed to show a piece of their precious privacy. Thanks to the many brave people who had courage to confess, thank you very much for being part of this project.

"Hi Annelie, I could not make a better picture, because my SLR camera is damaged! 

Best regards from Mannheim to Bogota."

Francisco, Germany

"I send the photo that you requested me, "destroyed", exhausted. [...] Sure you can use the pictures in your project, I think that me and my camera are an extension of it [...]"

Oscar, Colombia 

       Andrés                                          Jaime                                         Santiago