Fine Art nominee

In all of these images I have attempted to capture certain mysteries that leave us in awe of the world we live in. Be a bird of shadow flying out from a dune in the desert (Iran), or a tree miraculously springing out of the white Sand in another desert (Russia), or a torso of a siren trying to extricate herself from the sand or a lunar landscape and a modern road both denying man’s claim…
In ‘Inhabited Deserts’ I am investigating desert landscapes and their effect on time, history and people Has man's presence inexorably altered the landscape or is the land in essence still close to what it was before mankind arrived --the land under the "landscape" potentially still pristine, pure, untouched-- is explored. Is it possible the land survived, as a separate living entity, in spite of man having been there in it and upon it?
For the record, this is the negative. No ‘photoshop’ or any post-production.

BIOGRAPHY

John R. Pepper (Rome, 1958) is an Italian photographer.
For thirty years, he dedicated himself to photography while directing both theatre and film.

After debuting in the USA in 2009, the exhibition ‘Rome: 1969 was shown in Paris and Rome in 2010.
This was followed by ‘Sans Papier’ (2011) --Rome, Venice, Saint Petersburg, Paris and Palermo)

‘Evaporations’ is published (2014/15) exhibitions are presented simultaneously at the Rosphoto State Museum, Saint Petersburg, Officina Zattere (14th Biennale di Architettura, Venezia) AND across Russia. November 2016 to January 2017 ‘Evaporations’ was presented at Palazzo Cipolla in Rome, by Fondazione Roma.

in September 2018 Pepper opened ‘Inhabited Deserts’ in Teheran –where he was one of 1st Italian photographers since the revolution. In November 2018, after participating at Paris-Photo, the show moved to Tel Aviv before going to The Empty Quarter Gallery, Dubai (U.A.E.). 2019 the show will be in Russia (St Petersburg) for a tour before returning to Moscow. 2021 it will tour the USA.

Pepper works with a Leica M6, 35mm lens and uses Ilford HP4 film. He works exclusively in B&W with gelatin silver prints on Ilford Baryta paper, exhibition quality.

Instagram: John R. Pepper
Wikipedia: John Randolph Pepper
www.johnrpepper.it