Caelen and Cirilli are exhibiting for the first time the fruits of their photographic experience, at l’Espace Provisoire, UCL Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (March 21 – April 7). They have different visual styles, but both are led by a sense of exploration and tenacity. Caelen produces eye-catching and provocative scenes, while Cirilli conjures up a sense of beauty by playing with shadow and light.
The project “VU in Alma” is part of the programme supporting cultural initiatives supported by the non-profit association Arte-Fac on the “Alma” university campus.
Caelen (pseudonym: irving S.T. Garp) first writes down his ideas on paper as a detailed scenario. The shooting of the pictures then takes place once the decor, style and accessories have been assembled. The resulting images offer a surprising contrast between humour and impertinence, where the model is both praised and ridiculed.
“Usually, models like the photographer to showcase them in their pictures. That’s rarely the case with me. The ‘Little Bird’ that flies out from my camera has claws and pecks with its beak. So, the models must have a healthy dose of self-mockery to accept that I’m destroying part of their image,” said Caelen.
Cirilli uses different a differnt method producing a series of pictures focusing on the silhouette, using light to envelop a definite shape rather than the shape itself. She says a picture might “be the quest for the essence of imagination, an expression of a language with many shades and interpretations. They are inspired by Chinese and Indonesian shadow theatre, and I’m interested in creating beauty by forming shadows in places not significant by themselves.”
Her photographs offer us impressions, memories of a fleeting encounter between light and surface.
