Italian photographers Romina Raffaelli and Stefano Marini make up the trademarked Winkler+Noah. Together they have photographed and created many different ideas that make you take a second look. In their series called "The Puppet Show", they depict different children having the complete look of a doll, which creates irony between the way children are seen and viewed in real, every day life, as well as the way dolls are depicted: flawless and innocent.
On their website, they describe this series saying, "They talk, laugh, dance and joke....like children. Because that’s what they are. Children we ask too much of, to be perfect, like dolls. Children who have become sons and daughters of perfection, pretense and image, manipulated by the media and the social context and who are inevitably losing their naturalness." Too often we put such pretenses on children as they grow up leaving them with different feelings on how they have to look and act and deal with the every day, which is something I personally despise. Perhaps this is why I am so intrigued by this series.
Another series they did that intrigued me is called "The Witness", where 20 different people in their 20's are depicted as being blind as a result from being "on the other side of the wall." They have no way of visualizing the real world at hand. Of course, the first thing that catches your eye when you view a piece like the one above is the subject's eyes that are covered up by a white patina. It's almost as if you think they might be completely blind like they suggest, or that their eyes are just light and foggy. But once you look at the entire series, you see different faces, and of course more white patina covered eyes, but you also see a very strong and tight composition. All you have to think about is what emotions are each of them going through, and wonder just what they imaginatively see in the complete darkness which is their vision.
Italian photographers Romina Raffaelli and Stefano Marini make up the trademarked Winkler+Noah. Together they have photographed and created many different ideas that make you take a second look. In their series called "The Puppet Show", they depict different children having the complete look of a doll, which creates irony between the way children are seen and viewed in real, every day life, as well as the way dolls are depicted: flawless and innocent.
On their website, they describe this series saying, "They talk, laugh, dance and joke....like children. Because that’s what they are. Children we ask too much of, to be perfect, like dolls. Children who have become sons and daughters of perfection, pretense and image, manipulated by the media and the social context and who are inevitably losing their naturalness." Too often we put such pretenses on children as they grow up leaving them with different feelings on how they have to look and act and deal with the every day, which is something I personally despise. Perhaps this is why I am so intrigued by this series.
Another series they did that intrigued me is called "The Witness", where 20 different people in their 20's are depicted as being blind as a result from being "on the other side of the wall." They have no way of visualizing the real world at hand. Of course, the first thing that catches your eye when you view a piece like the one above is the subject's eyes that are covered up by a white patina. It's almost as if you think they might be completely blind like they suggest, or that their eyes are just light and foggy. But once you look at the entire series, you see different faces, and of course more white patina covered eyes, but you also see a very strong and tight composition. All you have to think about is what emotions are each of them going through, and wonder just what they imaginatively see in the complete darkness which is their vision.
This is intriguing work. Which work do you find more compelling - this with the obvious doll references, or that of Loretta Lux, which are more ambiguous?
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