De opmaat (The Anacrusis / The Start Off), The First 10 Years of LhGWR; LhGWR, The Hague

For an anacrusis ten years may be a bit long but LhGWR has probably found itself cocooned in its gallery and wants to fly out now like a butterfly.

Of course that should be respected, but on the other hand it is a bit sad to see a good platform for photography go, as this is LhGWR’s last exhibition in its gallery.

It is sad because LhGWR like no other place in The Hague, and like just maybe a few other places in the country, has shown its audience what style is in contemporary photography.

Style in photography is not stylishness or an aesthetic hype; it is a way of finding balance in a chaotic world, basically by means of looking through a lens.

Photography, as such, is a reflective medium par excellence, both technically and philosophically.

In this last bow LhGWR shows works by ten of its artists with whom they have intensively co-operated through the years.

The works presented are by Karianne Bueno, Sarah Carlier, Pierre Derks, Sjoerd Knibbeler, Thomas Kuijpers, Lana Mesić, Krista van der Niet, Daan Paans, Marleen Sleeuwits and Nadine Stijns.

The exhibition lets the works speak for themselves without bothering much about names and titles (so i stick to that same principle in this case), but to regular visitors they will be recognisable or even familiar.

In the mean time i hope to see and hear more of future initiatives by LhGWR, maybe even in this village of pomp and rubbish.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Contents of all photographs courtesy to the artists and to LhGWR, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Postings about LhGWR in Villa Next Door 2: https://villanextdoor2.wordpress.com/tag/lhgwr/

Postings about LhGWR in Villa Next Door: https://villanextdoor.wordpress.com/tag/liefhertje-en-de-grote-witte-reus-lhgwr/

Postings about LhGWR in Villa La Repubblica (in Dutch): https://villalarepubblica.wordpress.com/tag/lief-hertje-en-de-grote-witte-reus-lhgwr/

Maja Daniels, Elf Dalia; LhGWR, The Hague

In LhGWR Swedish photographer Maja Daniels presently shows the more or less spiritual aspects of life in Älvdalen, an area in the Swedish Dalarna region.

She mixes her own pictures (the colour pictures) with photographs by Tenn Lars Persson (1878-1939; black and white photography) who was an avid vernacular local photographer in Älvdalen who also knew about magic and sorcery.

Daniels presents Älvdalen as a quaint place with a touch of mystery.

Her story is interesting against a background of globalisation and the local histories in Europe.

Although Daniels’ presentation is interesting and atmospheric, i missed proportionally more photographs of her own on show; as it now very much looks like an ethnographical exhibition with Persson as the central voice and photographer.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Maja Daniels and the estate of Tenn Lars Persson and to LhGWR, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Sydney Rahimtoola, I Forgot how to Speak Spanish; LhGWR, The Hague

Sydney Rahimtoola graduated this year from the KABK (Royal Academy) and her graduation work is now presented at LhGWR.

In the film you meet La Babosa (cry baby), a second generation Dominican-American in Queens, New York.

The film is an intriguing collection of aspects of living in modern day America but descending from a Caribbean culture with its strong traditions and mysticism which balances La Babosa’s life on a tight rope of realism, surrealism, stereotyping, deep meaning and colourful kitsch.

Rahimtoola has made an installation of the film presentation, but i doubt if that really works.

The film itself takes so much attention that the rest of the installation seems to be obsolete.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Sydney Rahimtoola and LhGWR, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Milou Abel: Christian, Eelke, Amelie, Marleen, Willy, Jozef, Misty, Thomas, Thijmen en Els; LhGWR, The Hague

LhGWR presently has four shows, three of which i will show some pictures of; separately, as they are very different exhibitions.

To start with, here are some pictures of the photo installation by Milou Abel (1990) in the gallery’s basement.

She portrays people of the margins of society, empathetically, even warmheartedly.

She shows their daily struggles and daily joys.

There is no tearjerking, no social expressionism or social realism, there are just characters.

The way she presents them, photo portraits combined with objects from real life, Abel succeeds in creating real characters.

Although stereotyping is always a danger in this kind of photography, it is clear Abel is trying to avoid that.

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Milou Abel and LhGWR, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters