A pack of dogs, a suggestion of a transformation, a woman in a wild place. A wolf. In the analogue photography of Joanna Pallaris, the time, as Hamlet had it, is out of joint. Double exposures make visible the formation of a rock face through the head of a dog. A woman’s face – the artist’s? – appears framed inside a canine silhouette. Shadows perch upon rocks, boundaries blur, corners fade to white. Something is gained perhaps, or someone lost. The moon shows itself for a moment through the clouds.
Where, if anywhere, did these tales take place? And when? Are these questions we can ever answer?
“Nay, come, let’s go together.”
Photographer Joanna Pallaris graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2004. Her multi-layered analogue photography harks back to twentieth-century surrealists such as Man Ray, depictions of the animal in nineteenth-century photography, and the long histories and ancient myths that underpin relationships between humans and the wild. Bird, butterflies and dogs are regular subjects in images that roam between wonder and melancholy. Pallaris lives in remote southern Italy with a pack of semi-wild dogs.
An exhibition of Joanna Pallaris’ work entitled ‘Back to Nature’ opens on Wednesday 12th July at 18:30 at the Pinacoteca Civica, Piazzetta del Saracino, Positano. It runs until Friday 21st July. Opening hours: 17:00 – 22:30
www.joannapallaris.com
www.flickr.com/photos/joannapallaris
Part of The Learned Pig’s Wolf Crossing editorial season, spring/summer 2017.
