The Photographers Gallery - Anima & The Widest Prairies

Photographers gallery 

Anima & The Widest Prairies - Charlotte Dumas

Anima and The Widest Prairies is the first UK solo exhibition by Dutch artist Charlotte Dumas (b. 1977, Netherlands). It features her first moving image work Anima (2012), a contemplative video capturing the caisson burial horses of Arlington National Cemetery in the United States as they slowly drift in and out of sleep in their stables.

Also on display are selected photographs from her latest series The Widest Prairies (2013) made while tracking wild horses in Nevada.  Charlotte Dumas’ compelling images of animals aim to provoke subtle relationships between the viewers and the subject, presenting them as catalysts for our emotions. Her tender portrayals express a vulnerability that is as much about the human onlookers as the animals.

http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/charlotte-dumas-anima-and-the-widest-prairies-2

the film was called Anima 

The video of the horses was interesting as it was silent, so your ears start to pick up the footsteps of people walking around the gallery outside.  

The photographs were displayed in different ways, there were a few large prints hung by bulldog clips, which I really liked to look at, they had a nice simplicity that complimented their subjects - the horses running in the landscape and doing other horse things. 

Other polaroid photographs were displayed in frames with the mount board over them framing them again, with the 45 degree angle cut. there were some more pictures displayed, they were framed also, about a3 size. 

The photographs were showing two types of horses, wild horses and domestic horses. I never really managed to work out the difference between which one was which in the photographs. I especially liked the one of the horse standing on the road looking a bit confused as if wondering where to go next. It was nice to see the large prints up close and I could see the film grain. However I didn’t feel the images were super sharp, I felt they could have been sharper. 

Although I was a bit critical, I did really enjoy this exhibition, it was calm and had vibrant interesting pictures with a story to them. I hope I can emulate this for my degree show.

Human Rights Human Wrongs 

quite a heavy subject, all black and white photographs, displayed at the same size in the same frames. Weren't any modern pictures that I saw, ie after 1990. Displayed in a non linear way, you had to walk around several times to see every picture, I found that rather annoying as I had to stop at a corner, go to view another wall then come back to it. 

Didn't seem to have any good pictures about humans, they all seemed to be pictures of human wrongs, with some pictures about human rights demonstrations. When I read the name human rights / human wrongs I expected to see some positive  photographs contrasted with horrible ones. These photographs were pointing out all the wrongs with humanity, focused on how humans affect each other. There wasn't pictures about how humans effect the environment and animal ecosystems. After walking around two floors full of black and white images (floor 2 seemed to have heavier subjected pictures) I grew tired of looking at photographs ad wanted a break.