Behind the Glass

The pane of the window, with its scars, stains and scratches, is between us and the human face which Alexandra Catiere wants to show us as an example of many in her home towns of Minsk and Moscow. The pane carries the mark of history. With the background of the photographs, it combines to form an abstractly expressive picture - full of energy like a lithography of DeKooning, and also provocative like Marcel Duchamp`s Large Glass, designed to stir the spectator from his lethargy and move him to view the picture in a dynamic way. In the center is the face which puts us to the test: Do we want to establish eye contact, do we want to read the thoughts which become apparent in the features?
The extension of the brief, non-committal encounter into the greyscales of infinity of the photograph does not make it any easier to participate - but the possible process becomes clearer, the longer we watch. There are rarely photographs where the distance between the human beings is shown in such a clever way. At the same time, in Catieres photographs the space becomes oppressive, it turns into a laboratory of thoughts which will be free again only when the doors of the bus open and the passenger leaves for his every-day destination.

Horst Kloever

Alexandra Catiere lives and works in Paris, France.

http://alexandracatiere.com
http://www.popphoto.com/americanphotofeatures/4744/alexandra-catiere.html