From the first photograph taken by Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce in the mid-1820s to the endless ones we snap on a daily basis now, there is, of course, an unimaginable amount of photographs floating in the ether, lost in time. <\/p>\n
John Stezaker, however, finds some of these images (or rather, as he often suggests, these images find him) and gives them a new lease of life. In a collection of his work at The Whitworth, gifted in part by the artist himself, and in part by Karsten Schubert, collages from a number of Stezaker\u2019s series are on display. And in just 22 pieces, Stezaker had me completely transfixed by his work. <\/p>\n
From \u2018Untitled (Film Portrait Collages)\u2019 to \u2018Mask,\u2019 to \u2018Marriage\u2019, Stezaker splices and combines images to breathe new air in to them, give them new meaning and reimagine old meaning. With something as outwardly simple as splicing and placing on top of another image, each series manages to evoke all manner of emotions. In \u2018Marriage,\u2019 publicity shots of film stars are overlapped creating obscure hybrids, creating a sense of the uncanny and making once beautiful images bizarre and, sometimes, ugly. <\/p>\n
In \u2018Mask,\u2019 glamorous movie stills and actors are partially hidden by scenic photos and postcards, creating an unsettling juxtaposition as well as a feverish urge to know what\u2019s underneath. Yet on top of this, there\u2019s a sensation that, somehow, these photographs work harmoniously together \u2013 that they\u2019ve found their place, finally, on top of each other in their peculiar pairings. Stezaker\u2019s careful, considered placement of one image on top of another, be it trees on a B-movie actors face, or white square placed in a film scene, the sheer care in which these collages are made make it difficult to question them. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a timelessness to Stezaker\u2019s work, and in omitting faces, or combining two different faces, it\u2019s hard to know where\/when these pictures came from. The exhibition highlights ideas of the physical timelessness of these images, too. Though once lost, these photographs in whatever chopped, spliced, rearranged manner, are physically present in The Whitworth. When we\u2019re often told about the permanence of technology, of photographs put on the internet, there\u2019s something fascinating about the re-emergence of these images that existed solely in their physical form. <\/p>\n
In a climate where hand craftsmanship seems to be resurging, and splicing seems to be on the rise \u2013 Instagram-famed artist Adam Hale (@thedailysplice) amassing huge popularity and working with the likes of Adidas, Mulberry, and Louboutin \u2013 Stezaker\u2019s work is a trailblazer. It\u2019s moving, occasionally funny, thoughtful and thought-provoking. An ode to the power of photography, but also to how simple changes can completely alter the way we look at something. Who knew a waterfall stuck on the face of a film star could do so much? <\/p>\n
The collection is on display at The Whitworth until June 2018. <\/p>\n
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