Beth Dunlop writes incredibly thoughtful essays around artists, photographers and crafts people. Her “Frozen Music” piece about the work of photographer, Héléne Binet is as beautiful in the written word as the photographs of Binet herself. Below is a short excerpt from the article, to read the entire Modern Magazine article, click here.
When Héléne Binet talks about photography, she speaks reverently and a bit gently. “I often compare myself to a musician with a score,” she says. “I can do my own interpretation, but I have to respect the notes and the score, respect the music.” In Binet’s case, the music would most likely be Gustav Mahler—achingly beautiful and soaringly powerful. Her photographs can be like that, too; they are full of dimension, depth, and contrast—using light and shadow and solid and void to draw us into a space, and then somehow they delve even deeper. “In my photography,” Binet says, “I ask what is the meaning, where is the soul?”
Often she uses details or fragments to tell a larger story. Her work is multilayered and profound. “She is not just photographing architectural subjects, she is exploring three dimensional volumes through light, shadow and texture,” says the gallerist Gabrielle Ammann, who has shown Binet’s work for the past eight years.
Héléne Binet, La Tourette – Skylights. Architecture by Le Corbusier, 2007.
Image courtesy of Modern Magazine.
Héléne Binet, Kolumba 01. Architecture by Peter Sumthor. 2007.
Image courtesy of Modern Magazine.
Héléne Binet, Therme Valls Triptych. Architecture by Peter Zumthor. 2006.
Image courtesy of Modern Magazine.
