T H E N E X T: Holly Anders Show

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Holly Anders Show

Last night I went to the opening of the Holly Anders show at DNJ Gallery on La Brea. Aline had blogged about her amazing new series Sparrow Lane on Lenscratch in November 2008, so I was eager to see the entire series in person. The images are more luscious and vivid than you can imagine. DNJ is a small gallery almost hidden on La Brea, up a flight of stairs on "Gallery Row". As you walk in the space, the large images take your breath away. The girls in the images come alive as they peek into drawers, cut open pillows and creep down stair cases.

Holly and her husband were in the small crowd, and she explained her process and several of the images. She and her husband worked together on the series, he as the lighting director and she as the photographer. She shot the series with a large format camera and then scanned the negatives. Some of the images are composites, with one girl serving as both characters in a twin role. The entire series took just one year to complete.

This is the same girl, composited in the shot. The cats are also added.

I love the "Nancy Drew" quality to this image, and when I told Holly that, she said that Nancy Drew was an inspiration for this series. The surprised expressions, the mystery... she had read every Nancy Drew book as a young girl and the illustrations were in her mind as she developed this series.

She told us a heartbreaking story about one of her main models, the teen age girl who plays the twin, discovered she had cancer midway through the project, and had to leave before the project was complete.

This image, of the girl taking medicine with her bag packed in a bed room with twin beds, was the last time Holly worked with this young girl in this series before she left to get treatment. This image, complete with the twin element, was her way of saying good bye, and a way to face the fear of illness. Thankfully, she is doing well now, and Holly recently took photos of her.

Holly shared other inside stories of one of her other models, the younger little girl, who reminded Holly the first time she saw her of herself as a child. She was immediately taken with her and when she met her again at yard sale, Holly asked her family they would let her photograph her. She has been photographing her since she was seven years old.

In a second room at DNJ, there is a second part of the show, almost a vernacular show, that compliments the main show. Odd portraits, photos of little details like hands, cats, twin ballerinas, line the walls, all framed in vintage frames. It is a such a lovely addition to the show, drawing you in a little more to a very personal side of this story, as if you are seeing the result of the girls sleuth work along side the hidden family history.