Colin Pantall on Hairnets and Nylons

24/11/08

Hairnets and Nylons

“I started doing photograms through pure experimentation,” says Elaine Duigenan. “The first thing I scanned was an old hairnet and it felt like I had discovered something new and exciting, something that lent itself well to the work that I was doing.”

These early experiments by the London-based photographer led to more detailed photograms of archaic woman’s wear, work that will be on show in Duigenan’s Intimate Archaeology exhibition at Klompching Gallery in New York from July 10th to August 29th.

“After I scanned the hairnet, I did the Nylons series,” says Duigenan. “I began collecting them, starting with vintage stocking by Dior going through to more recent stockings. Collecting and discovering nylons in unlikely places was part of my passion for the process.”

“It’s like finding treasure in unlikely places because nylons are objects of beauty and oddness. They are functional, but they are also flirty, sexy things and they are fetish objects. I was interested in the delicacy of the stockings, the way you could see individual threads pulling away. The nylons are both there and not there, fragile items that are incredibly intricate and can unravel so easily, but with a texture that has an almost sculptural quality. They connect on many levels, so people react in different ways and bring their own connections to them.”


After completing her Nylons series, Duigenan returned to photographing hairnets, partly because she also wanted to collect them. Drawn by the oddity of the items, and the fact that some older hairnets are made of human hair, Duigenan found her curiosity piqued.

She also found that the organic nature of the hairnets revealed a darker, forensic side that found a resonance with some of her earlier work.

“I had worked at the Royal College of Surgeons photographing 200 year old animal specimens. For me there was a dark edge, a sensibility that for all the beauty on the surface, there is something dark lurking underneath, a mystery to do with things that are unseen. On the surface, an old animal specimen might be beautiful, but it got me musing about what’s beneath the surface. What’s inside a 200 year old horse foetus?”

This darkness carried over to Duigenan’s hairnets, where the mystery was compounded by her arrangements of the nets on the scanner, arrangements that, given the hairnets’ flexible nature, are only partial at best. Indeed Duigenan’s hairnets almost take on a life of their own. They spring back from their orderly arrangements and weave shapes that emerge from their organic architecture. Look at them long enough and they become a photographic Rorshach test - one image depicts a seahorse, another a pair of knickers or a jellyfish, or whatever the depths of the viewers psyche decides it to be.

How the images are photographed is no great mystery. “The photograms are made with an ordinary, domestic scanner,” explains Duigenan, who still works with the same Epson flatbed scanner she started with 4 years ago. “You can do it with the lid down or with the lid up. You can work in a darkroom and push the limits with experimentation - there’s a lot of latitude.”

“The real work goes into the prints which are very rich with a black that is exceptionally rich and velvety. The prints have a wonderful seductive, linear quality that draws the viewer in.”

The luxuriant quality of the prints, and finding opportunities to show them to gallerists and publishers has played a large part in Duigenan’s burgeoning career. For Duigenan, the most effective places to show work and network are review events, especially Rhubarb Rhubarb, where she met both Debra Klomp Ching and Darren Ching (owners of the Klompching Gallery). “The first time I met them, they gave engaging and constructive reviews and both talked about buying a print, but that didn’t happen. In fact, nothing happened for a while, because I didn’t hear from them for a few years. But review events are not about getting immediate results. They are about finding people who are there for the long term, who can produce consistent, quality work over a period of time and show commitment to their ideas and their art.”

“So I didn’t hear from them for years, then I had a 3 line email from Debra last year asking if I would like representation and I said yes and now I have my first New York show, which I am obviously delighted with.”

The importance of taking a long term perspective is something Debra Klomp Ching is also keen to emphasise, as is the importance for reviewers of seeing photographers whose work matches their specific needs.

“One of the things that I like about Rhubarb Rhubarb is that photographers can do their own bookings,” says Klomp Ching. “I’m a gallerist, so I’m not really interested in editorial work for magazines. That’s very important because I know how much photographers are paying, so it’s important they see the reviewers who are going to be most interested in their work.”

In addition to Duigenan, Klomp Ching has picked up Lisa Robinson, Sarah Lynch and Simon Roberts through Rhubarb Rhubarb events. “We met Simon Roberts when he showed Motherland to Darren Ching straight after he got back from Russia. The work was raw because he was in the process of editing and getting a book deal, but the quality was obviously there and he was photographing in a way that clearly showed his intent and engagement with the medium.”

Rhubarb Rhubarb ( together with Houston Fotofest and Review Santa Fe) is one of an international programme of portfolio review events which are an increasingly important, albeit expensive, opportunity for photographers to show their work.

“Different festivals have different approaches. Rhubarb Rhubarb is for people who have resolved bodies of work ready for publication as a book or for exhibition. At Rhubarb Rhubarb we’ll see 36 photographers and 3 or 4 will be memorable. There might not be an immediate fit - there wasn’t with Elaine - but it could come later.”

While Rhubarb Rhubarb and Santa Fe have a narrow range of photographers who generally have well-developed work, Houston has photographers ranging from those starting out and are simply seeking feedback to those who are mid-career and looking for specific opportunities, something that makes the range of reviewing something of a diplomatic tightrope.

“The problem of a lot of festivals is you’re not aware of who is attending. One advantage of Santa Fe is they have a list of photographers attending so you can check out who you are seeing. It’s really tough work to review 12 photographers in a day. You want to be fresh for the people you have booked, so you need to take breaks. But if someone comes up to me and says I wanted to book you but you were full and gives me their details and where I can see their work, I will always take a look.”

Another way for photographers to show their work to reviewers is through portfolio walk-throughs, where photographers lay out there work for all to see. “Portfolio walk throughs are great,” says Klomp Ching. “If somebody recommends a photographer, you can see their work anonymously by taking a quiet look and following up later.”

And the things that will attract the reviewer’s eye? “I look for a number of things in an artist: an integrity of intent and an engagement with the medium. There should also be a constant flow of ideas and a strong focus in the work, a strong conceptual flow. Elaine’s bringing the photogram up to the 21st century. Her work has a focus on female appareil and you can appreciate it on many levels, for the structural form of the nylons as well as the sexual and social connotations they have.”



The photographer should also be able to express those ideas in an engaging manner. “If there isn’t an energetic or active dialogue it might not be a fit. People need to be able to talk about their work and be personable. For her upcoming show, Elaine will have to talk to the press, give interviews and lectures. We don’t consider anyone for our gallery until we’ve met them and it works in the other direction as well. We need a professional but personable relationship. We’re an establishing gallery working with a lot of emerging photographers so we’re taking a lot of chances with them, but at the same time we’re looking to have a long term relationship with them.

These are the elements that helped make Rhubarb Rhubarb a success for Duigenan, but there are other reasons for her success. “It’s a benefit being a little bit older and having a confidence and belief in your work. You have a lot more experience of life under your belt and so different elements come out. That’s important because one thing about review events is you get conflicting opinions and advice. You need to have your own voice and have confidence and self belief.”

http://colinpantall2.blogspot.com/2008/11/elaine-duigenan.html