“If you are not willing to see more than is visible, you won’t see anything”
Ruth Bernhard
In her ongoing project “It will have another title one day” Anna Block explores her experience of encounter with a place and her strong inspiration with it.
In this work she constantly resorts to metaphor of a body, perceiving a city as a physical knot of nerves, blood and vibrations, something palpable she can sensually connect to and express this connection through photography.
The project is shot during her few days` stay in Paris and though it is linked to a specific geographic place it doesn`t aim to present a visual image of a certain city but rather to address a stream of fiction and fantasies which a place can trigger. This stream is rooted in her own self, her desire for mysticism and longing for adventure – encounter with the city brings it into surface and gives a space for its visualization.
“Meeting a new place is the same as meeting an unknown person. A spontaneous exchange of fleeting gazes with a stranger who you won`t ever see again, a glimpse that is hard to catch or remember, a precious moment, elusive, fast. It can also be a long deep conversation that engulfs you with the mystery of a foreign language. It can be hide-and-seek. It can be a race. It can be a kiss.
Every city, like a person, has not only its own history and memories, but also its reveries, desires and pursuits for pleasure. They are being born, transformed, exploded with every dash of traffic, every drunkard falling onto a pavement, every swing of a tree in the park. A city pulsates with passion and anger. It has its own gaze, it observes you and wants you to look back.
As soon as we met I could feel your calling. Every porch and alley drew me in, tempted me with the dark unknown. Tentatively I made a step forward and you put your arm around my shoulder. You stepped back. I followed. You drew me closer. In an empty narrow lane we hugged and a dance started. Slim elegant bridges, moldy wet bricks of old solid buildings, embankments, benches – all your particles –
followed our rhythm whirling around in dark slumber. You opened your gates, seduced me with humid touch of your night streets. I walked and walked until I could feel it is you who moves me and lays my path – it is only you who exists. A city without a name, a journey with no title. “
About Anna Block
Anna Block is a Russian artist, she lives and works in Moscow. In 2016 she obtained her MA in photography at Jan Evangelista Purkine University (Czech Republic). She participated in exhibitions in Russia and abroad, her works were published in BKN Magazine UK, Der Greif, Dienacht, Eyemazing.The New Collectible Art Photography (Thames&Hudson) etc. Her prints are held in collection of Russian Museum (St Petersburg, Russia), Centro de Fotografia Isla de Tenerife (Spain) and private collections. [Official Website]
