Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy
"Not Alone"

Exhibition: 16. January – 20 February 2016
Vernissage: Saturday, 16 January, 11am – 2pm

Ghislain and Marie David de Lossy modus operandi transcends the nature photographic genre and traditional techniques. Displaying 50 photographic images taken over the course of several trips throughout Europe encompassing Finland, Iceland, Italy and Spain, their images offer a unique and unusual outlook on the animal world and nature.

The contemplative viewer is required to scan the landscape for the animal, as it is not readily apparent, regardless of its actual size. The viewer’s eyes sweep the vast panorama (3 meters plus in length) from one end to the other interrogating and ultimately losing themselves in the intense detail.

Despite the incredible precision and clarity, there is something surreal about the natural environment shown in these photos. In this paradox lies the magic of Marie and Ghislain David de Lossy’s artworks. At the origin of this sleight of hand lies a unique shooting technique that consists of freezing the focal point, speed, diaphragm and the distance from where the animal is initially photographed before reproducing and reconstructing the surrounding landscape. Each one is realised by reuniting 100 to 150 shots. One of those shots is a single image of the “subject”, reintegrating the animal in its original environment.

Using digital data, their photos reveal perplexing details that cannot be seen through the actual telephoto lenses. This is shown by, for instance, a gnat colony still flight right under the nose of a bear that is just coming out of the forest.

This new approach to nature, both macro and microscopic, blurs the border between reality and fiction. It is between these two worlds that we find the certain poetic quality of their artwork. The telephoto effect breathes the viewer right into the middle of the landscape, turning us into image hunters. Lost in the vast wilderness we can, strangely enough, see the invisible. Rich colours add to the supernatural aspect of the setting and excite our imagination. Nature thus sublimaged see to harbour unexpected guests : elves and fairies, ready to colonise the banks of the lead-coloured lake.