Review of Passage
Peter Ranyard's first Australian solo exhibition is a collection of black and white images from his travels around the world. Unlike many exhibitions of travel photography, Ranyard's images avoid referencing tourism or travel imagery.
His photographs are at times deliberately intimate, at times stark and remote. His emphasis is not primarily on recording his travels but on "exploring notions of time, space, memory and permanence". This show takes us into the vision of a photographer who sees elegance and worth in form, who appreciates the effects of light and shade, and who has a keen sense of the comedy and the pathos inherent in observing a sometimes foreign, sometimes familiar, constantly shifting visual landscape.
A series of dilapidated letterboxes at American houses demonstrates a keenness for viewing the remarkable among the mundane. Ranyard focuses on the minutiae and simplicity of the common feature. A wooden support is knocked askew by time and the weight of the box it holds, clusters of letterboxes crowd together. Ranyard elevates the visibility and even the beauty of these letterboxes through his selections.
Another group of photographs, carefully constructed images of statuary and foliage in England, show an almost classical concern for form and composition. A statue in pieces sits in a wheelbarrow in an interior by an open door, light streaming across the picture frame, and emphasising the contours and shadows of the broken stone and man. Another stone face glares at us from an ivy-covered wall, emerging despite the attempts of the climbing plant to devour the entire face. These photographs illuminate the effects of time, light, nature and wear on objects made by human hands.Ranyard's photographs of Mexican landscapes are particularly enjoyable. These works effectively juxtapose the aridity of the desert with the crumbling human constructions which intrude upon its face.
Ranyard has produced 25 photographic statements that testify to his notion "the idea of permanence is illusory".
Charly Ogilvie
Ogilvie, Charly, "Travel pictures without tourism or advertising imagery", The Canberra Times 16 June 2006
2006
Ogilvie, Charly, "Travel pictures without tourism or advertising imagery", The Canberra Times 16 June 2006
2006