BARBARA BRÄNDLI, FROM THE OTHER SIDE
The trajectory of Barbara Brändli (Schaffhousen, Switzerland 1932 - Caracas, Venezuela, 2011) in photography requires a conscientious analysis of several points. Without stopping at them, it is very likely to miss the reason for her approach, her vision that transcends the documentary as a simple objective or her contributions to that world that she began to consolidate in that Venezuela of welcome on her arrival in South America from her native Switzerland.
The exhibition at Madrid's CentroCentro, curated by Alejandro Leon Cannock and part of PhotoEspaña 2024, shows an essential overview of Brändli's work, incorporating works from his personal archive to give this retrospective an extra dimension that becomes essential to discover the background of his production.
Poetics of the gesture, politics of the document allows us to witness the materialization in photography of that almost inverse process that is obtained from the previous knowledge “of the other side”. Brändli begins her photographic journey launched by curiosity and knowing the power of the image, knowing that other factor, the one she recognizes from her previous position as a dancer or model and whose style is felt, this time from the lens, as that valuable learning to understand, almost innately, the subject she photographs.
Provoked by this knowledge of the movements and needs behind and in front of the lens, the Swiss goes beyond the documentary, as if each photograph of hers were to ooze something more than the archival fact that is presupposed as an ulterior objective. Nevertheless, it can be considered that part of Brändli's way of working has among its functions that of breaking down that invisible barrier that separates object from artist, person from person, photographed from photographer. This causes this redefinition of roles, but, above all, it transcends in a more natural result of her documentary series and, even, more discursive.
Barbara Brändli. Poetics of the gesture, politics of the document can be seen until September 22nd at CentroCentro, Plaza de Cibeles, 1, Madrid (Spain).
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