photography
EMERY MOUNTAINS
April 2024, FRIEZE No. 9 Cork Street Gallery, London
EXHIBITION: The Mountains Between Us, FRIEZE No 9 Cork St


Weaving together photography, video and sculptural objects, lena_c_emery highlights the accelerated loss of mountain glaciers and the desperate conservation efforts currently employed to impede their decline. Under the continued influence of greenhouse-gas forced global warming, ice that took centuries to develop is vanishing in just a number of years. A fate experts predict for at least two-thirds of all glaciers by the end of this century. EMERY: In ‘The Mountains Between Us’, I capture the current environmental efforts undertaken to reduce the rate at which glaciers melt. Glaciers have held space for centuries, silently bearing witness to history. They’ve seen the world change in ways we can barely comprehend. Because my grandfather spent his life in these mountains, watching this particular glacier retreat and form lakes where there was previously only ice and at a pace that’s steadily increasing, feels deeply personal. The idea of covering these mammoths in fabric to stall the inevitable, feels both tragic and emblematic of our relationship with nature: The magnitude of loss countered by gestures that, though earnest, feel powerless. Visually these wrapped peaks evoke images of muddied tents, makeshift shelters that we’ve come to erect for those displaced by upheaval. This fragility, their fragility, our fragility, is a direct reflection of the imbalance we have sown, where those least responsible for ecological destruction are forced to bear its heaviest burdens. The title became a way to frame those divides. Mountains have always symbolised barriers, but perhaps they could also be reimagined as thread, shared histories and a collective belonging. The elemental particles composing our very being once danced amidst these ancient landscapes and if they disappear, part of us does too.



and wander x Muraco Designs Heron Tent Shelter Sets
This tent boasts a straightforward structure, allowing for quick and effortless setup. To assemble, lay the flysheet on the ground and firmly secure the four corners with pegs. Then, raise the center pole at the top. The remarkable simplicity of this setup is unmatched by self-supporting dome-shaped tents, and its generous overhead clearance adds to its allure.




HERON 2POLE TENT SHELTER SET




Form #7, Josef Schulz, 2003
Josef Schulz is a photographer known for capturing images of modern warehouses and factories, which are typically considered mundane industrial structures with little architectural significance. These buildings, produced worldwide, follow standardized plans and materials, lacking distinct external features to reveal their specific purposes.
Schulz's approach involves studying the essence of his craft through these photographs. He employs digital image processing to remove any elements hinting at the buildings' age, location, or surroundings, transforming them into virtual blueprints. By emphasizing colors, shapes, and symmetries, he turns the buildings into block-like structures, resembling toy architecture and presenting them as idealized versions of themselves.
In this process, Schulz blurs the line between photographic and painted reality to optimize the images. Simultaneously, he reduces the physical buildings to their design concepts and the photographic reality to its virtual representation. His intent is to diverge from the typical pursuit of making digital images appear as real as possible. This approach might leave the viewer perplexed, as they struggle to distinguish between authentic elements captured by the camera and those created through digital tools.



Thomas Demand



Oscar Niemeyer's MAC Niterói — Louis Vuitton Cruise 2017 Venue
Tokyo Rooftops Ginza
Bruce Weber for Calvin Klein Jeans — 1991 Campaign
Haleakalā Crater — Volcanic Landscape, Maui
ESA HERTZ Anechoic Chamber — Antenna Test Facility at ESTEC
Redhill MRT Station — Singapore
Nanzenji Temple Autumn Foliage, Higashiyama, Kyoto
Robert Häusser J.R. 5-9-70
Gelatin silver print, printed 1999. 43.5 x 58.8 cm. Signed and dated in ballpoint pen lower right. Signed, dated, titled in ballpoint pen as well as photographer's thumb print on the verso. - Framed under glass.
Toni Garrn by Philip Gay, Just Do It, Interview Germany 2012
Floral Botanical Print Textile — Kimono or Wrap Garment
Irving Penn × Issey Miyake — Two Miyake Warriors
"Wendover II (For John)" by Barry Underwood




Nickel Tailings 34, Edward Burtynsky, 1996
From “Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky”
Dean Bouchard — Inside Out
Peninsula House by Watson Architecture + Design
obviously 5 believers
Bas Princen — Colonnade Infrastructure Photograph
Cave Diving — Diver in Cenote Light Rays
Raf Simons Menswear Lookbook — Photography by David Armstrong
Black and White Mountain Snowscape — Fine Art Alpine Photography