Threnody

2009Photography

Ode of mourning

A threnody is an ode of mourning composed as a memorial to a missing person. Triggered by the death of someone dear to my heart, this series of photographs is an emotional expression brought to life by a painful loss of words.

Inspiration
Mannerism and Baroque paintings

Inspired by the elongated proportions of High Renaissance Mannerist paintings and the dark compositions of the Baroque era, Threnody is an attempt to capture both the passage of time and the feeling of a dramatic fleeting moment. By opposing rest with movement and order with freedom, I tried to create a duality that never subside.

With more than half the image shrouded in darkness, attention is drawn to the void, gives pause, and brings a little bit of fear. Highly pronounced “chiaroscuro” which is the name given to the effect of light falling from a single source, serves to dramatize what the subject is feeling.

Mannerism

Baroque

Chiaroscuro

Elements
Wind and Fine Silk

Threnody is all about movement and sophisticated corporal language. A setup was created to frame the fabric free from distracting background elements, allowing the wind to blow from below and create beautiful black and white waves of silk.

For fluidity and translucency, my research into the properties of fabrics led me to the beautiful French Silk Tulle. Slightly more opaque than traditional veils, French silk tulle is incredibly soft and flowy, ideal for the creation of unique combinations that complement the movements of the model.

Wind Machine Setup

Process
Mouvement Complementarity

Defining compositions right from the beginning required a meticulous process of manually matching preliminary sketches. Photographs of the fabric were taken in rapid successions to get as close as possible to the intended shapes, followed by the model carefully placing fragments of silk on her body to match a variety of complementary images. Each photograph of the model was then matched to its corresponding shape of fabric and combined in post-production for the final image.

Special mention to Gregory Buchakjian for writing a beautiful piece about my work. The following is an English translation of the original French version.

"A woman is lying down. Like a nymph emerging from a High Renaissance Mannerist painting, she struggles, resigned. A dark and immutable force tears her body, limbs and extending veils. This is not a fight, but a capitulation, a drama being played out in every picture as the game of life and death has been haunting the artist for more than two years. Redundant in their baroque tenebrism, their sophisticated corporal language and their almost dematerialized fluid construction, the images of Karim Joreige are above all a catharsis effort, an elegiac ode dedicated to the loved one. The work of art strays from the concerns of modernity to meet its primitive roles: spiritual, emotional, magical."