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Photograph & Jazz

Gregory Colbert

Gregory Colbert, Ashes & Snow


The Vision of Ashes and Snow

"In exploring the shared language and poetic sensibilities of all animals, I'm working towards rediscovering the common ground that once existed when people lived in harmony with animals. The images depict a world that's without beginning or end, here

or there, past or present."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gregory Colbert

Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow is an ongoing project that weaves together photographic works, three 35mm films, art installations and a novel in letters. With profound patience and an unswerving commitment to the expressive and artistic nature of animals, he has captured extraordinary, unscripted interactions between humans and animals.

His 21C bestiary includes more than 40 totemic species from around the world. Since he began creating his singular work of Ashes and Snow, Colbert had made more than 30 expeditions to locations such as India, Egypt, Burma, Tonga, Namibia, Kenya, Antarctica, the Azores and Borneo.



The title Ashes and Snow suggests beauty and renewal, while also referring to the literary component of the exhibition—a fictional account of a man who, over the course of a year-long journey, composes 365 letters to his wife. The source of the title is revealed in the 365th letter. Colbert's photographs and one hour film loosely reference the traveller's encounters and experiences described in the letters.

Colbert, who calls animals "nature's living masterpieces," chose to film animals in their native habitats in an effort to be true to each animal's voice. The film can be viewed as a work of art as well as a poetic field study. The film was edited by two-time Oscar-winner Pietro Scalia. It is narrated by Laurence Fishburne, and the musical collaborators include Michael Brook, David Darling, Heiner Goebbels, Lisa Gerrard, Lukas Foss, Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn and Djivan Gasparyan.

The Ashes and Snow exhibition now includes more than 100 large-scale photographic artworks and a one-hour film and two nine-minute film haikus. The show first opened at the Arsenale in Venice, Italy, in 2002. The permanent home of Ashes and Snow, the Nomadic Museum, debuted in New York in 2004 and is charted to travel the globe with no final destination.

None of the images have been digitally collaged orsuperimposed.

They record whattheartist himself saw through the lens of his camera. While Colbert uses both still and movie cameras, the images are not stills from the film. These mixed media photographic works marry umber and sepia tones in a distinctive encaustic process on handmade Japanese paper. The artworks, each approximately five feet by eight feet, are mounted without explanatory text so as to encourage an open-endedinteraction with the images.



















































Gregory Colbert, Ashes & Snow
다큐멘터리 영화 감독에서 시작해 사진 작가로 그 활동범위를 넓힌 Gregory Colbert
13년동안 이집트, 인도, 버마, 스리랑카, 에티오피아, 나이비아, 탕가 등 31개국을 여행하면서 코끼리, 고래,
해우, 팔콘 등이 인간과 교류하고 교감하는 모습을 필름과 사진으로 담아 Ashes and snow라는 제목으로
2002년 이태리 베니스에서 가장 큰 개인전을 열면서 세계적으로 인정받게 되었다.
동물들에게 해가 가지 않도록 산소호흡기 조차 휴대하지 않고 작업을 했던 그였기에
이렇게 놀라운 장면들을 담아낼수 있었던 것으로 보여진다.
(앞서 게시했던고래와 심연이라는 작품에서 볼 수 있습니다)
Eddie Higgins Trio (2005) - Love Theme From The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

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