Stephen Dupont: White Sheet Series
An exhibition of Stephen Dupont’s White Sheet Series No 1 photographs, speaks of culture and community.
The series was shot during India’s most important Hindu Festival, Kumbh Mela, in 2010 and features portraits of pilgrims and sadhus who caught the attention of Dupont during his time there. Dupont asked his subjects to stand before him while he took an impromtu image. Holding up a white bed sheet, an action that united the photographs in the series together, created a makeshift studio. The sheet not only defines the visual plane for the image, but also highlights the environment of the image.
Hand printed woodblock prints frame the images and were created from patterned textile stamps Dupont collected on his travels through India. The borders were created in the same impulsive manner as the images were taken.
The Australian photographer has produced a remarkable body of visual work throughout his career; hauntingly beautiful photographs of fragile cultures and marginalised peoples. Dupont’s images provide valuable insight into the people and cultures that have existed for hundreds of years, yet are fast disappearing from our world.
Dupont plans to continue the concept, using the white sheet as his portable studio and the basis of future series. The current exhibition, White Sheet Series No 1, is on display at Edmund Pearce Gallery in Melbourne’s iconic Nicholas Building until Saturday 3 May 2014.
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