In the work of Belarusian photographer Alexandra Catiere, each image seems to emerge from an ancient world, haunted by the ephemeral beauty of things. Her flowers, sometimes withered, often intertwined, do not completely fade. “To please her, I colored two prints, one in red and the other in cyan,” she says of a photo taken in a retirement home where she was doing a photography internship, a discreet homage to the woman in charge of the daily flowering of this haven. This tenderness inhabits all her work, from her apples inspired by Morandi, “the only fruit available in Belarus,” to her cherries, “forbidden fruits,” photographed in the United States in an almost mystical light.
Alexandra Catiere’s prints are meticulously crafted and bear the marks of a slow process of appearance, of great care. Bodies are seen or fade away, silhouettes dance with the wind and nature. The plants seem to retain a trace of life and nostalgia. “The essence of things is best seen from afar,” she says.
Opposite her, the Flemish Belgian Thomas Vandenberghe speaks with other fragments, other effusions. Small formats, great intensity. In his images of flowers, folds or leaning busts, he blurs the boundaries: still life or portrait of a woman? Femininity or vegetation? “Who doesn’t like flowers?” he says mischievously. This trained printer, working mainly in the darkroom, plays with silver chemistry like a living instrument, juxtaposing, burning, gluing, until he gives birth to “snapshots of truth”.
A face disappears beneath a fragment of contact sheet, a hand unfolds its gestures in sequences of shadows and light, and the flowers become almost a memory. In this exhibition, the confusions are fertile. The repetitions of the subjects are as many variations.
Between the meditative gentleness of Catiere and the raw poetry of Vandenberghe, the In Camera gallery orchestrates a sensitive tête-à-tête where photography becomes the language of intimacy and nature. Flowers speak, bodies become still life, and black and white reveals—with modesty—this invisible world.
Alexandra Ctiere & Thomas Vandenberghe exhibition — Galerie In Camera , Paris 7th — until May 31, 2025.
