Barbara Cole Archives - The Curated House

The Curated Collection | Barbara Cole | Duplicity

You may remember my recent post about Barbara Cole. The beauty of her images has tapped into a part of me that cannot help but respond with passionate admiration. No doubt I am not alone in my visceral response, as Cole’s work is extensively collected and exhibited around the world.

I’m thrilled to share that Cole has recently created a stunning new body of work entitled Duplicity, and the official opening is this week at Toronto’s Bau-Xi Gallery.

Arresting and Breathtaking. Those are the first two words that come to mind as I drink in the beauty of this new series. Knowing that Cole is a photographer who does not use photoshop to alter her images, my next response is one of awe and admiration, and my curiosity leads to wonder as I contemplate how she creates such ethereal, other-worldly images with her camera.

“In Duplicity, Cole continues to explore the medium of water as a natural lens which refocuses and reinterprets a painterly aesthetic. Inspired by its inherent reflective quality, Cole uses the underwater environment to challenge our perception of the figure in space. The images in Duplicity capture the dramatic tension between the figure and form, and test the nature of photography and its impact on our experience of reality.”

Duplicity will be showing at Toronto’s Bau-Xi Photo from September 12th to the 28th, and I highly recommend making a point of getting downtown to see these works in person if you can.

Wishing you an inspired Monday!

xo
s.

The Curated Collection | Barbara Cole

My fascination with water goes back to my earliest memories. Somehow it was always the place where I felt most at home – free to explore the stillness or the resistance in it; to work hard and feel the grip of my muscles against the pull of its density, or to simply float effortlessly while dreaming limitlessly.

Water has always had the power to distort things in a meaningful way for me. It took the limits others placed on me and helped me push them back like a wave. It became my sound-proof sanctuary where I could reveal my heart, knowing no one could understand my watery words. My sacred revelations rippled out into the blue like the play of light beneath the surface. I suppose water has always been rather healing for me since then.

I share this with you because I think it explains why I have such a visceral reaction to the fine art photography of Barbara Cole. She, too, sees the power of water to distort things meaningfully, transforming beauty into an otherworldly underworld of figurative fantasy.

A self-taught photographer who started out in image making in the 1980s, Cole pushes beyond the limits of rules and standard practices, delving deep into the realm of the spectacular.