The Pleasant Shore – Talisa Lallai
17th April – 30th May 2015
Opening 16th February, 6 – 8 pm
Talisa Lallai’s practice addresses her Italian roots through photographs and films made during her travels, or taken from her archive of found images. Presenting these in diverse forms – as polaroids, slides, framed or unframed photos, on screen or as 8mm film – she evokes an Italy that no longer exists outside of the movies of Antonioni and his contemporaries.
Images of palmleaves rustling in the summer breeze, seascapes, mountain ranges, details of sculptures or of women on the beach emptying sand out of their shoes, all depict a nostalgic longing for an utopian heritage. The photographs awaken a yearning for a forgotten era – a time when one’s family would take lengthy road trips to warmer places, spending long days on the beach, photographically documenting each moment to then share these holiday memories with friends and family in extensive slide shows.
Lallai uses found photographs from discarded family photo albums, selecting specific sections of the image, which she sometimes displays enlarged, sometimes in small framed format. It is important to her that the original flaws from faulty developing and yellowing of the images remain visible as these traces are reminders of a time when photography was still developed manually, and was thereby exposed to imperfections. At the same time Lallai demonstrates that the photographic aesthetic is bound to the time of its creation and hence reveals photography’s continuous transformation. The careful selection of modified photographs and meticulous planning of the display allow Lallai to present an harmonious exhibition.
Talisa Lallai (born 1989 in Frankfurt, lives and works in Dusseldorf) studies at the Arts Academy Dusseldorf, until recently with German sculptor Georg Herold, currently with Rebecca Warren and Keren Cytter. Future and recent exhibitions include: solo, Tom Dick or Harry, Düsseldorf (forthcoming), TERRA INCOGNITA – Wahrnehmung der Landschaft in der Gegenwart, Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf (2015), Disappear Here, solo, curated by Alexandra Blaettler, Coalmine, Winterthur (2014) and 68. Bergische Kunstausstellung, Kunstmuseum Solingen (2014).