By Nerea Ubieto
Madrid: The book Corazón de Bolivia (Bolivia’s Heart) (Publishing House Les éditions de l'Ceil) by Michèle Maurin (Ivory Coast-France, 1954) presented a few days ago in Blanca Berlin Galeria during the opening of the exhibit En algún lugar (In some place), offers a plural and different approach to that country through a selection of photos made by the artist, nourishing from such different genres like landscape, portrait or still life to show an integrating reality.
By taking a closer look to the photos, we have the privilege to acquire double knowledge: that about the documented reality of the country and that about the aesthetic experience of the artist. The vision provided of Bolivia is very broad and heterogeneous; in the images we discover features as typical as mountainous landscapes of high peaks, mixed race population, a multifaceted culture, or the artistic heritage rooted deep in the pre-Columbian Americas.
Michèle Maurin traveled around world with her camera. Cities of Africa, Americas or Asia, portrayed with an unmistakable personal hallmark, enrich large part of her vast production. No one knows how to capture the magic and exoticism of those unknown places with such intensity like she does.
Beyond providing information about a place, the real accomplishment of Michèle Maurin’s pictures is the capacity to evoke oneiric worlds on the observer. This is possible thanks to the sensibility of the author’s eye and her virtuosity in using a very particular technique.
During the developing process, Maurin reinterprets her black and white negatives using rare and precious metals –gold, uranium, selenium, vanadium–, mixing them with the silver emulsion from the barite paper. The toning process, always different, brings her photos up to the category of unique and at the same time gives them the enriching dream atmosphere characterizing her work.
Enveloped in a patina of wealth and sensuality, the landscapes and subjects photographed by the artists remain in this timeless images waiting to be projected onto the imagination of the viewers, who then become authentic travelers.
Michèle Maurin’s works have been showcased in Casablanca, Galerie Omar Khayyâm; Persignan: Musée d’Art de Tradition Populaire; Paris: Photo Galerie rue Littré, Galerie Picto Montparnasse, Association Graines de soleil, Institut des Cultures Musulmanes, Galerie W.; Marseille: Studio 19; among others. She has participated in different events including Estampa and MadridFoto, and she is the author of several books, among them: Henné, plante du paradis, Libertés, Une Femme nue, Fleurs de Henné, Nature Art Today.
Michèle Maurin’s photographs are part of several public collections at the National Library of France, the Musée de la Photographie Fratelli Alinari in Florence, the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, in Béatrix Enéa deAnglet; and also of private galleries and collections.
The exhibition En algún lugar… will be open until late June.
BLANCA BERLÍN GALERÍA
C/ Limón, 28 – Plaza Guardias de Corps (Across the Centro Conde Duque)
28015 Madrid, Spain
(Metro Ventura Rodríguez, Plaza de España, Noviciado, San Bernardo. Parking: Pza. Spain, Pza. de los Cubos, Santa Cruz de Marcenado, 12 y 20)
Source: Press release sent by Nerea Ubieto, expert of the Blanca Berlin Gallery.
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