Beyond the Canvas Blog

May 24
2 min

Richard Mosse - Displaced, Fondazione MAST

'Beauty is the main line to make people feel something.' - Richard Mosse It's easy to be fooled by the alluring colours of the striking photo chosen for the advertising poster of this superb exhibition at the MAST Foundation, but anyone who may have been misled by that imagery soon realises what the show is really about. Mosse is interested in the themes of war, displacement and migration, and with his camera he captures beauty and tragedy where there's conflict and destructi

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Beyond the Canvas

Mar 23
2 min

Laura Aguilar's courageous rebellion

“My photography has always provided me with an opportunity to open myself up and see the world around me. And most of all, photography makes me look within.” - Laura Aguilar In her series of self-portraits set in the rocky desert landscape of the American Southwest, Laura Aguilar used her body like a sculpture, she is a human monolith. Her large body is draped on a big boulder whose shape echoes hers. It's hard to say whether she felt at one with nature or whether she was try

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Carrie Mae Weems' The Kitchen Table Series (1990)

Beyond the Canvas

Aug 23, 2020
2 min

Carrie Mae Weems' The Kitchen Table Series (1990)

"I think that most work that’s made by black artists is considered to be about blackness. [Laughs.] Unlike work that’s made by white artists, which is assumed to be universal at its core." - Carrie Mae Weems How many assumptions do we make every time we look at a piece of art? How much of of our own experience do we project? And does the artwork then become more about what we want it or need it to be? Weems' statement is eye-opening and it made me reflect about my way of appr

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Dwelling: In This Space We Breathe, Khadija Saye (1992-2017)

Beyond the Canvas

Jul 27, 2020
2 min

Dwelling: In This Space We Breathe, Khadija Saye (1992-2017)

‘The series was created from a personal need for spiritual grounding after experiencing trauma. The search for what gives meaning to our lives and what we hold onto in times of despair and life changing challenges.’ - Khadija Saye To most of you, Grenfell Tower won't ring any bells. To Londoners, its mention immediately evokes a raging blaze, a preventable tragedy, and the tragic loss of 72 innocent lives, the victims of social inequality and injustice. Khadija Saye, 24 years

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Gordon Parks' chronicles of everyday segregation

Beyond the Canvas

Jul 24, 2020
2 min

Gordon Parks' chronicles of everyday segregation

"I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera." Gordon Parks (1912-2006) Throughout his over six decade-long career, Parks used his camera to give a voice to those who didn't have one and to address inequities, documenting social injustice and all forms of discrimination. These images are from the Segregation in the South series that he shot in 1956 for a Life Magazine

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Spring in art part 7: Steichen does a van Gogh

Beyond the Canvas

Apr 2, 2020
1 min

Spring in art part 7: Steichen does a van Gogh

Luxembourg-born Edward Steichen is one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Photo-Secession, a movement that promoted the idea that photography was not just about accurately reproducing the world, but also about creating artistic imagery. Steichen and his peers adopted a more 'painterly' approach to photography using filters and soft focus to express their creativity and manipulate their images. Steichen, who had trained

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