PHOTO:Elger Esser-Morgenland
In the ‘90s Elger Esser studied in Bernd and Hilla Becher’s class at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art. Today he still lives and works in Düsseldorf. The classical genres of vedute and landscape are central themes in Esser’s photographic œuvre. Largely monochrome colouring, a predilection for diffuse, uniform lighting and constant tension between micro- and macro-structures are characteristic of Esser’s work.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Parasol Unit Archive
Sensitive and precise in his observation, Esser seeks in his surroundings those moments which reveal the essential character and mood of a landscape. It is no coincidence that Esser’s photographs manifest frequent associations with late-18th and 19th Century travel literature. Elger Esser in “Morgenland” his first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom is on Presentation at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art and focuses on a new series of works created during his travels in the Eastern countries of Lebanon, Egypt and Israel from 2004 to 2015. The “Morgenland” series refers to the concept of the Orient. His depictions of the Near East aim to convey a sense of reconciliation amidst regional differences and historical issues. Raised by a German author and French photojournalist, Esser ‘grew up with German values, but with a certain Italian and French spirit. This changed his perspective on the world and time. It led him in particular to realise that Germany’s adoption of modernity in the wake of 1945 seemed to fracture the country’s relationship with the past. Travelling along the Lebanese shore in 2004 and the Nile between Luxor and Aswan in 2011, Esser photographed the banks of rivers, traditional feluccas and dahabiya sailing vessels, using an 8 x 10 Land camera. Captured from a great distance, Esser’s calm awe-inspiring landscapes, somewhat reminiscent of the romantic images of faraway lands on old postcards, seem to convey a sense of the infinite. During a visit to Israel in 2015, Esser created a series of works based on some archival photographs taken by an unknown photographer who had documented the existence of ruins in Israel/Palestine during 1948. With his series, Esser aims to present a timeline of conflicts, dating from the Byzantine period to recent times, showing the development and decay of cultural periods. Landscapes are seen as stratifications, layers upon layers of different cultures. The work “One Sky” (2015) shows two panoramas printed back-to-back on a silver-coated copper plate. One side displays a view as seen from Lebanon, while the other side presents the same view as seen from Israel. Although both scenes are so similar they appear to be the same, they present us with a single location as seen from opposite perspectives. While Andreas Gursky and other photographers from the Dusseldorf School bring a conceptual eye to the motifs to be found in urban and industrial buildings, interiors, houses and modernity in general, Esser’s images are rooted in history and a sense of time passing, and if the analytical conceptualism which emerged from the Becher’s relentless documentation of industrial structures marked the work of Dusseldorf alumni, Esser has concentrated on landscapes, seascapes and lakes, villages and old buildings. His photographs evoke a melancholy evocation of time past and childhood memories. He seems to have replaced conceptualism with a return to romanticism.
Info: Curator: Ziba Ardalan, Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, 14 Wharf Road, London, Duration: 29/3-21/5/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, Sun 12:00-17:00, www.parasol-unit.org
