JOHN R. PEPPER
'SANS PAPIER' (Series)
DESCRIPTION
In this selection my photographs are about the possibilities of the encounter, about witnessing moments of life never meant for the camera or for memory. I try to capture human life in its essential form – detached from time and cultural specificities, and typically, alone.
I use the camera as a tool to grapple with human existence on its own terms, neither romanticized nor dramatized. I hope for the human form to be central, if rarely depicted up close; I wish for it to seem incidental. At times, a figure seems to be simply present, as if it has moved into the picture field at a fortuitous moment. Faces are often only partially visible, obscured by shadow or harsh light. There is no story to be told or lesson to be learned, no moment of epiphany. But this happened – a certain confluence of human action, light, and landscape, that became crystallized once the photographer pressed the shutter of his camera.
Working alone and often in a foreign landscape, I am attracted to figures that inhabit loneliness. Even when in photographing couples or small groups of people, minimal interaction is visible; solitude qualifies as both an individual and group activity
AUTHOR
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
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