Guy Tillim
Second Nature
Guy Tillim's Second Nature photographs were taken in French Polynesia from December 2010 to March 2011, and in São Paulo from June to September 2011. An exhibition press release states: 'In many respects, the images of the contested urban terrain of the megalopolis appear to be the antithesis of the French Polynesian landscapes, with their reverence for nature and awareness of the elements of water, wind and light. Yet, on closer looking, it becomes clear that Tillim is seeing and perceiving the landscape of these two strongly contrasting places in the same way. In all these images he does not offer the conventional point of focus or easily identifiable subject that is the standard premise for photography; instead, he gives equal treatment to the many elements that comprise an image. As a result, one is never sure what is actually being photographed, yet one's eye remains engaged and active within the frame of the image. The paradox that Tillim is photographing nothing yet everything, and that he conflates the notions of subject and object, reminds us that the premise for the Second Nature series is not the qualities of the landscapes of French Polynesia or São Paulo, but the way we perceive them.' In this book, Tillim's extraordinary images are prefaced by a short text by the artist, and followed by an essay by Els Barents, director of Huis Marseille Museum for Photography in Amsterdam.
Published by Prestel | 2012
Hardcover, 112 pages | ISBN 978-3-7913-4690-8 | Price: R720
