“Unfortunately it is paradise”: black and white photographs by Renate Graf at Crux Gallery

A reference to the poet Mahmoud Darwish. Graff presents large-scale photographs of the rituals in honour of St Sebastian in the South in southern Sicily

Crux Gallery presents a series of black and white photographs by acclaimed photographer Renate Graf. Known for her poetic and profound approach to the medium of analogue photography, her work often links the image to literature. In her artistic universe, authors such as Fernando Pessoa, Rainer Maria Rilke, Mahmoud Darwish, Rabindranath Tagore, and the cultural and geographical richness of landmarks around the world, such as the temples of Jodhpur in India, the icy landscapes of Alaska, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and many others. Renate Graff’s extensive travels and her photography, which takes the form of an ongoing personal diary, have shaped her distinctive photographic style, which she describes as a form of visual language that transcends traditional photographic documentation.

In her exhibition at Crux Gallery, entitled ‘Unfortunately, it is paradise‘, a reference to the poet Mahmoud Darwish, Graff presents large-scale photographs of the rituals in honour of St Sebastian in the South in southern Sicily, as well as photographs of funerary sculptures from cemeteries in Vienna. As the rapid movement of fireworks and confetti is captured fleetingly in her lens, the forms and shapes are isolated, almost giving the impression of geometric abstract painting. At the same time, the depiction of the festive atmosphere evokes an immediate emotion in the viewer. The momentary impressions of the feast of Saint Sebastian contrast with the slowness of time, indicated by the abandonment and collapse of the stone monuments.

Renate Graf was born in Austria and is based in Portugal. She has presented her work in solo exhibitions in international venues such as the House of Photography in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2021), Palacio Anjos in Oeira, Portugal (2019) and CerModern in Ankara, Turkey (2022). Many of her works are in prominent private and public collections around the world.

“My images […] are neither complete nor conclusive […] They function not only as images, but as language, as signposts pointing to meaning […] They do not define, they only record, and in the great cultural diversity of a universe they become a language in themselves, my language to describe what I see. It is my own language to try to describe to describe the world as I see it“. – Renate Graf