Photography
MITHUN ARCHITECTS
Pier 56, 1201 Alaskan Way
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 623-3344
09.17-10.27.09
(Weekdays 8 AM to 5 PM )

Curated by: Lori Kirses and Cristina Bump

Iole Alessandriniʼs Photography

Acknowledgment:
Bonnie Duncan
Doug Keyes
Ed Mannery

How do we become aware of time? This elusive dimension is revealed to us through a series of events that show it to be as intangible as light and as supple as the places that it has marked. This photographic collection features three unique projects which illustrate my perspective formed by 15 years of research focused on time-based media and the built environment.

“Evidence of Absence” is a play on words intended to direct our attention to two aspects of life, impermanence and resilience. The impermanent or intrinsically temporary nature of both people and places is measured against their resilience, or ability to maintain their essence, after external events have physically and/or emotionally transformed them.

Onto the radiant fabric of a light plane, placed inside sacred and secular places, I have recorded the temporal and spatial traces of human presence. The dynamic gestures of people on the light plane generate visually flat environments that both envelop us and bypass our normal perceptions. Concentrating on peoplesʼ sensory experience within the specific physicality of each place, these portraits capture a visual phenomenon that typically goes unseen -- a fleeting glimpse of a luminous image that is at once foreign and familiar. The light that embodies people across the plane creates a fluid, ephemeral appearance. The scene is a landscape of bodies of light that defy physical space and evoke a sense of transformation and impermanence.

The images of Civita, also known as the ʻCity that Diesʼ, show a city that was once the Balneum Regis, or the Kingʼs thermal baths, transformed over time into Civita di Bagnoregio, a center of commerce and culture that has evolved over the course of three millennia. Rich in evidence of architectural and human resilience, Civita is timeless and relevant.

Finally, through the photographs of Abruzzo taken after the earthquake of April 2009, we can see this ancient region's ability, not for the first or the last time, to adapt and grow in the wake of devastating change. I found an enduring beauty in the spaces left behind by the destruction and I was inspired by the peopleʼs collective will to rebuild and to remain.

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