We are glad to present an amazing selection of new and unique pieces of Douglas Mandry’s on-going series Monuments, for which he won the Foam Talent Award 2020. Our exhibition is part of the Amsterdam Art Week.
Swiss artist and photographer Douglas Mandry (*1989, Geneva) is interested in the technological possibilities of photography, particularly in relation to capturing time, evolution and natural phenomena. In his photo series “Monuments”, all these elements come together. This ongoing project is the result of journeys of experimentation to the Swiss Alps, where Mandry collects chunks of ice and pieces of geotextiles, which are used to slow the effects of glacier warming. He uses the smaller ice pieces to make photograms with a homemade camera obscura. During the development process, the ice melts and light shines directly onto the photosensitive color paper, creating an almost cosmic abstraction: a condensed and visible representation of the vanishing process.
At the same time, Mandry collects photographic archival material from expeditions dating back to the early 20th century and transfers it onto the pieces of geotextiles, many of which still contain various traces of use. The fading memories of the Swiss Alps thus become part of today’s technological attempts to preserve a past that no longer exists.