1956 and Ever After


This page is dedicated to the set of photographs recently displayed at Digby Gallery Mercury Theatre, Colchester. The page is set up as a reflective diary of the entire creative process, from the inception to the completion.

As the exhibition was scheduled to coincide with Mercury Theatre Company's production of Arthur Miller's classic A View from the Bridge, I set myself a challenge to create a show in response to the key themes of the drama, set in the docks of Brooklyn in the 1950s.

As the tragedy unfolds trigered by Eddie Carbone's hidden desire, I have made a decision to built the exhibition around two sets of images - one set, reflecting the world of Eddie's erotic fantasies, while the other, presenting the viewer with the domestic "real" world, which sets such fantasies into motion by the daily prohimity to the forbidden subject of his attraction.


As the two act production of the original play premiered in London's West End in 1956, being the prose version familiar to the audiences of today, the exhibition's title was set to reflect the history of Arthur Miller's play as well as pay tribute to the iconic images of femininity produced by the decade's booming popular culture.

As the review of my previously shot material proved to provide me with an ample choice of photographs inspired by the turbulent cine-decade, new session was needed to bring the project together. Below you will find the results of a session that took place on a cold January morning, nearly 60 years after Patti Page and Anita O'Day hit the charts with "The Tennessee Waltz." I am forever thankful to my friend, fellow photographer and lindy-hop pro Eleonora Kozlovska for making this project happen by tolerating my photographic endeavors at 5 am in the morning while she was getting ready for work.


As the final selection of images comprised of gelatin silver handprints as well as c-types, mounting of work presented an aesthetic challenge, as we wanted to stay true to the intended vintage feel of the show, yet make the work suitable for contemporary exhibition space. I am very grateful to my partner, Che Kevlin, for his dedicated work on this challenge as well as for the final result. Below are a few examples of mounting in production:







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