Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.
Oct 29

Opening: Shadows & Light- The Wilfrid Flores Collection

October 29, 2022 - November 22, 2022

In 1941 the eminent American landscape photographer Ansel Adams photographed a scene in New Mexico depicting a moonrise over the village of Hernandez. This single photograph spoke of mankind’s relationship to nature, its infinite grandeur and therefore by comparison of our relative insignificance in the grand scale of the universe. A single photograph that would pave the way for photography as an art form. In Europe similar breakthroughs were being made. To mention but a few the surrealist experiments of Man Ray and Raoul Ubac in the 1930’s and the humanist documentaries of post war Europe from the likes of Henri Cartier Bresson and Willy Ronis contributed immensely to the development of an unapologetic political language. Photography was to become the ultimate signifier of our civilization. Despite these and the works of many other great photographers, it would take until the late 1980’s for photography as an art form to become fully recognized by museums and art institutions.
Wilfrid Flores’s photographic work needs to be seen within the context of its time from around the late 1920’s until his death in 1981. A master of his craft and an inventive and technically skilled darkroom printer his contribution to photography in Malta cannot be overstated. By comparison very few photographers in Malta were attaining his level of artistic interpretation and metaphor. Ultimately his intention was not to document Malta (as many others were doing) but to go beyond the document towards a more contemplative reading of his photographs. By doing so he left us a testament of a time in Maltese history. His quasi-romantic relation to nature speaks to us of a calm and serenity that in today’s world is all but lost. His empathy for the people he photographed, and for the human condition as a whole, raises uncomfortable questions about our own society that has veered towards an obsessive exaltation of the self. His legacy, as is that of many great master photographers, is that of an artist that is beyond his time and who sees “as angels see”.
David Pisani
Curator of the Wilfrid Flores archive

Details

Start:
October 29, 2022
End:
November 22, 2022
Event Category:
Event Tags:
Website:
https://www.facebook.com/events/781024949762963/

Venue

Christine X Art Gallery
17, Tigne Street (opposite Lady Di Pub)
Sliema, SLM3141 Malta
+ Google Map
Phone:
99844653
Website:
www.christinexart.com

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *