American photographer Gregory Crewdson is widely known for his immaculately staged photography that resembles cinematic film stills.
His exhibition, In a Lonely Place, runs at the Centre For Contemporary Photography (CCP) at Fitzroy, as part of Melbourne Festival.
In a Lonely Place consists of three of Crewdson’s renowned series of works – Sanctuary, Beneath The Roses and Fireflies. Upon entering CCP, I was immediately greeted by Sanctuary, a series of black and white photos that resemble shots taken by a film director scouting locations for a movie. Further research proves that Crewdson embarked on this series of photos to uncover Rome’s legendary Cinecittà film studio. These photos are more scaled down, more organic and much more subtle, which is a change from his usual but legendary cinematic photos of elaborately staged scenes, providing a breath of fresh air.
Walking further in, I came face to face with Beneath The Roses, which are the very photos that made Crewdson into the phenomenon he is today. Selected images from the series of 20 photos that were displayed on the walls of CCP depict the hauntingly beautiful imagery of everyday life – derelict trailers, people walking along train lines and even a woman stripping down every possession she owned until there was nothing left, save for the skin that covered her body. Crewdson’s ability to transform nondescript (he mentions this word as one of his favourites during his talk at Melbourne Festival), every day life into images of insurmountable, breathtaking beauty is nothing short of amazing.
The last series on display was Fireflies, a series of black and white photos that depict the trail of fireflies as they spring to life at dusk every evening. The similarity in the modesty of Fireflies resembles Sanctuary, and is comforting to look at.
In A Lonely Place is shown at Centre For Contemporary Photography from September 28 to November 11 as part of Melbourne Festival. It will later travel to the following venues:
Institute Of Modern Art, Brisbane — March 16 - May 25
City Gallery, Wellington — June 22 - September 7
Dunedin Public Art Gallery — September 28 - January 26
