Yolanda del Amo’s photographs manage to tell as much of a story in a single image as a novel, play, or film do. Whole stories seem to unfold in her highly intense shots.
Her series Archipelago, created between 2004 and 2014, shows scenes that seem to capture reality: the feelings, tensions, and emotions that connect (or divide) two people in a relationship. But the impression of reality is an illusion: the portraits, which at first appear to be social studies, are in fact meticulously arranged and purely fictional moments from invented stories. The surroundings are mere stage settings; the people portrayed are actors whose gestures and expressions have been directed by the photographer. Every detail, including each pose, has been carefully choreographed by Del Amo. The result is a blend of psychological tension and ingenious visual grace.
Strongly influenced by the expressive dance theater of Pina Bausch, Del Amo succeeds in conveying a wide range of emotions through her photographs. She examines the (individual) needs, desires, longings, and constraints that are part of every partnership. Her tableaux create a form of hyper-reality–a reality that is exaggerated just enough to have a disturbing effect, subtly and unconsciously. Del Amo’s images thus achieve an unusual combination of internal and external world, an illusion of reality accompanied by an eerie sense of unreality.
Vicky Goldberg
Yolanda del Amo Archipelago Fotografie staged photography storytelling couples Pina Bausch Hyper-Realität Sozialstudie Emotionen