|
During the lockdown of 2020, Dutch photographer Claire Felice uses her analogue Rolleiflex box camera to roam the complete empty streets of downtown Amsterdam and she captured the dystopic vibe that was going on at that time in history. The neighborhood of the normally very lively Red Light District is surrounded by two monumental churches: the Nicolaaskerk & the Oude Kerk and for centuries, sex and religion, sin and salvation have always been neighbors. But while all forms of life are putting on hold and businesses, shops, all types of leisure and even churches are closed, Claire shoots pictures and her head keeps spinning by what she absorbs in the middle of empty streets. Freuds "Eros & Thanatos" crosses her mind and keeps her thinking: What kind of impact does this virus have on us that it so completely has put our life on hold? What is the fine line between living and surviving?
The moments she captured at the Red Light District, the monumental Church building and cemeteries in Amsterdam she visited during this time are made into diptychs and combined with her ongoing series Memento Mori (portraits of friends & family with eyes closed, holding an object of meaning and overthinking their own mortality). The outcome is her philosophical vision on religion, dead and sex, beautifully captured in her black and white photobook Falling Man.
Falling Man is Claire Felicie's own publication, with financial help of crowdfunding via Voordekunst, Amstel Gallery and the Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds
|
