Do you remember the famous scene from "The Wizard of Oz", Judy Garland's farmhouse blown up by a tornado, getting higher and higher into the sky?
Spontanesly, that's what crossed my mind when I first spotted one of Rafa Zubiria's pictures.
But when I kept looking at them, a mixture of some other, far more subtle moods took hold of me. I remembered my childhood, dreaming of physically impossible things like flying houses, elephants balancing on a mouse' paw, or even myself, hovering over the city roofs. When I took a walk in green parks with my parents, passing bushes and flowers, simple but nevertheless idyllic places that made me feel safe and imagine things.
The visual style and quality of Zubiria's series "No Way Home", looking a little bit like old polaroids or family pictures, treasured in thick photo albums since decades, contribute to these feelings and memories.
All of them do have that impact on me, but of course, some of them are clearly more recognizable as post digital work as well. Maybe that's the only detail I'm annoyed at it. If you wanna present an illusion, it should be done in a nearly perfect way. Filip Dujardin, the Belgian photographer whose works I portrayed in my last post, did that quiet well (at least you need a bit longer to figure out the "fake truth" of them).
Both photographers' series share some kind of playful, dreamy aspect, but in a different way. In my opinion, especially Zubiria's work with its title "No Way Home" evokes a more melancholic character. But anyway, right at this moment, it feels quite wrong the me, comparing the two of them directly. There are similarities, but also clear differences that lead back to their different motivations and backgrounds I think.
If you wanna see more of his very interesting, mysterious and beautiful work, also join:
www.rafazubiria.es
All pictures in this post are copyright of Rafa Zubiria.
