20 November – 2 December
Baker Mamonova Gallery: 43-49 Norman Rd, St. Leonards-On-Sea
Photographs from Simon Roberts’ series Polyarnye Nochi are currently showing at Baker Mamonova Gallery.
Using the perpetual dusk of Russia’s far North, Roberts encapsulates the natural light that was available for only a few hours each day during Polyarnye Nochi (Polar Nights), the period from December until mid-January when the sun remains below the horizon. Like Motherland before it, Polyarnye Nochi is a testament to modern Russian life and can almost be viewed as a ‘road movie’. His images allude to the half-light between the reality of subject and the surreal quality of image. Often he balances the dream-like property of subject matter with the use of a long exposure to render as much detail in the photograph as possible.
Man’s ingenuity in the face of nature’s might is one aspect of these photographs. But they are also studies of the way in which nature, and specifically, winter, despite being temporarily and often brutally tamed, is able to consume, transform, beautify and disguise the man-made world. The photographs hint at the uneasy co-existence of man and nature, but also capture the indefinable and elusive beauty that emerges as a result of this precarious alliance.
More information is available on Simon Roberts’ website.
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