Aurora Király, VIEWFINDER series

Voices Section, curated by Sonia Voss

In Viewfinder series, Aurora Király revisits an archive of her early photographic work captured nearly two decades ago, at the beginning of her career. These images are taken in her studio, during artist residencies, or while traveling. We observe her reflective gestures, her confronting gazes into the lens, her reflection, or her shadow taking center stage. Often, we catch a glimpse of the camera she is holding, a recurring detail that blurs the boundary between subject and observer. Through the medium of analog photography, the artist transforms her personal space into a site of exploration and artistic investigation. The series invites a voyeuristic gaze to witness this intimate process In the late 1990s, when these photos were taken, self-portraits were unaffected by the cultural shifts that the rise of the selfie — made widely accessible by digital technology — would later bring. These changes have profoundly altered the ways we construct and perceive identity within visual culture.

In the project shown at Paris Photo, the artist revisits her analog photographs, framing them within schematically arranged cardboard sheets. This process retraces the choices behind what we photograph, while leaving the imagination open to the long history of photography. The viewfinder is a photographic device that allows the user to select from reality what will be shown in the final image. Using humble materials commonly associated with photographic archives (such as cardboard and adhesive tape), Király transforms photographic fragments from a past reality into a recent abstract fiction.

This approach investigates a range of conceptual layers: the act of framing in photography, the way an image from the past is perceived in the present, how a situation can be captured through photography or drawing, the tactile qualities of the materials themselves.

The evolution of the Viewfinder project can be traced through two related series. In Viewfinder Mock-Ups (2016-2019), the artist explores the construction of structures that mimic early cameras, using cardboard and cut-outs to frame an image – an enlarged photographic cliché engraved on plexiglass The next stage, Viewfinder Clash (2020-2021), highlights the contrast between the wide range of materials available today and the process of capturing an image on a silver gelatin dry plate. The images at the center of these objects are predominantly landscapes, a genre favored in the early days of photography.

PARIS PHOTO 2024

Grand Palais – Paris

7-10 Nov. 2024

Booth V2