IN THE MAKING

From the series In the Making, Photography, 40x43 cm, 2009-2012

From the series In the Making, Photography, 43x40 cm, 2009-2012

From the series In the Making, Photography, 40x40 cm, 2009-2012

From the series In the Making, Photography, 40x43 cm, 2009-2012

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Valerie Leray’s pictures imply a return to the “realms of memory” regarded as expressions of the artistic gesture, showing in the present time what used to be but which remains invisible. In her series In the Making, the artist looks for the testimony of places where the Stasi exerted its power: the former ministry in Normannenstrasse and the former main remand center in Genslerstrasse – once unidentifiable on a map and called terra incognita. These places, today museographied but almost in their original condition, these memorials are visited under the guidance of former prisoners so as to offer the public their utmost genuineness. The layout of the furniture and the choice of the shooting angles make a human presence palpable. Their minimalistic aspect and the limited palette – as many hints of a real-life history – have led her to play with overlapping shapes, and to emphasize their geometric and abstract properties. Today’s objects are both tracks of the past and allegories, symbols or sources of fiction.

(Translation: François Marinier) 

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ADDITIONAL TEXTS

John Lambert(En)

Vergangenheit im quadrat, Peter Krilles (de)

Vergangenheit im quadrat, Peter Krilles (trad.Fr.G.EBERT)

Angel

Nicolas Oltramare(fr)

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PROJECT ROAD MAP

. Projektraum stattberlin, European Month Of Photography, Berlin, 2012

. Photographic revue “Camera Austria”, n°119, Austria, 2012