Until 04.09.2021 | Hazegallery shows from 29th August 2021 “Twins meet Twins” exhibition with the works by the artists Polina Polikarpova and Diana Arbus, curated by P.C. Neumann
The exhibition about otherness in sameness (Diana Arbus) presents exclusively two photographs by Ukrainian photographer Polina Poilkarpova and American photographer Diane Arbus, which enter a dialogue with a musical layer in an exhibition architecture curated especially for this event.
Polina Polikarpova staged her twins in a location with an old, heavy, depressed post-Soviet background and a strong green color palette. Valeria (black-haired) and Regina (red-haired), they never met before the shoot, although they have the same facial features and Tatar roots and are both artists. At that time Valeria was an art student and liked to draw academic paintings, and Regina was a bass guitarist in her indie music group and a collage artist.
Diane Arbus also paid close attention to staging in a location specially chosen for the subject. The photo shows the two young twin sisters standing vertically against the wall, isolated from the outside world in an imaginary room. Both wear matching corduroy dresses and white headbands in their dark hair. The only exception is the different design of their white stockings. The twins, Cathleen and Colleen, were seven years old in 1967 when Arbus discovered them at a Christmas party in a small town.
Both photos show two girls each, who are the same and yet different. Both photos are taken from waist level. Like Polikarpova's twins, Arbus' twins are wearing green clothing (though it appears black). The looks into the camera are different for all four, as is the individualized body language, documenting the sense of otherness and difference. Documented here is also art and reality - and that photography always shows more than what you see.
Twins are fascinating and at the same time unreal. The music Is following these feelings in using surround techniques that repeat melodies from different positions in the room and overlaying them, to become one. The historical and the contemporary aspect is determined by use of real orchestral instruments and synthetic soundscapes. So, these Twins meet Twins melt and counterpoint in Time and Space.
Polina Polikarpova is a photographer and stylist born in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1992 and holds a BA in Art History from KSADA (Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts). She is currently photographing in Kiev. She has participated in many photo exhibitions and international fairs. Her work can be described as construction of scenes and figures in her hometown, focusing on local provincial poetry and her place in it. The appearance and sculpture of her figures are infantile, erotic and extravagant. Based on the objective sexuality of the woman, the compositions created "here and now" are also characteristic of her style: instead of the artificial environment of the studio, she prefers the interiors of real spaces and the landscapes of the city, saying that she prefers to "hold the mirror" instead of being constantly reflected in it.
Diane Arbus was born in New York City, where she studied at the Ethical Culture School. Working with her photographer husband Alan Arbus as a stylist on fashion assignments, she developed an interest in photography that led her to take classes with Lisette Model from 1955 to 1957. Model encouraged her to pursue her own projects, and in 1961, Arbus published her photographs for the first time, in a Harper's Bazaar feature, which began her successful career. Her work appeared in Esquire, Show, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications, attracting attention very quickly. Arbus's photographs possess a disarming psychological frankness. Her subjects were often odd-looking characters on the margins of society or "ordinary" people whose normalcy was made strange by Arbus's camera. Because she used a flash and held her camera directly opposite the faces of her subjects as they looked into the camera, her photographs often appear confrontational. Her personal work is thus considered by some to be exploitative, and it has been the subject of controversy.
Text: P.C. Neumann
Date Vernissage:
Vernissage: 28. August
Exhibition Period:
Exhibition Period: August 2021 bis 04 September 2021