Interludes

This series consists of what could be easily described as portraits of everyday people, in their homes or workplaces, in what appear to be everyday life scenes. I stage my pictures in order to capture reality in the moments between action and stillness. Like people in 17^th century Dutch paintings, they are quietly absorbed in the occupations that constitute everyday life.

Jeff Wall talks about the absorptive mode, “in which figures are immersed in their own world and activities and display no awareness of the construct of the picture and the necessary presence of the viewer. In absorptive pictures we are looking at figures who appear not to be acting out their world but being in it”. My photographs definitely belong to this category. I see the absorptive mode as a way of creating a narrative wherein the viewer does not focus on the person depicted but is free to wander around in the picture. The sitter is integrated, almost hidden in the general setup of the picture and is by no means its central point, in contrast with more ‘theatrical’ pictures whence the sitter becomes an ‘actor’ monopolizing the viewers’ attention.