I was very pleased to meet with Giacomo Brunelli again at the opening of his show ‘The Animals’ at Photofusion in Brixton this evening. The show continues until 26 March 2010, and if you are in London it is one you should not miss.
There are few photographers who have produced such an individual and intense vision as this, one which reflects a peculiar and single-minded devotion it its subject. Frankly I find most animal pictures boring and would run a mile to avoid any ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ exhibition (and frankly who gives a toss whether that wolf was wild tame or even stuffed.) But these small dark and glowing images are something else completely, a different and highly personal way of seeing the world.
I first saw this work when Brunelli brought it to Rhubarb-Rhubarb in Birmingham in 2007 and was knocked out then. These are small but dramatic images, printed by the photographer himself (in his bathroom when his wife lets him take it over for the purpose), with dark edges and rounded corners and just so different from anything else.
I wrote about it on this blog then and included a couple of examples, so I won’t repeat myself. It still has that same freshness and impact. Don’t miss it.