CONCORDANCE

Emmanuel Iduma
Jul 01, 2023
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CONCORDANCE is a series of micro-essays in response to sequences of photographs previously featured on the newsletter. These notes, inspired by CORRESPONDENCES, will point to affinities in style, mood, or theme between the tendered photos. The series will run for an initial period of 3 months (June 3—August 19, 2023).

Empty Chairs

Emmanuel Iduma
·
June 3, 2023
Empty Chairs

There are marks of human presence in all three photographs.

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The Aftermath

Emmanuel Iduma
·
June 10, 2023
The Aftermath

In an aftermath, the character of an event is settled, which is not to imply the scene is relaxed. Where there are people—as in photographs by Teresa Meka and Olaoluwa Adamu—the mood seems to fold in one collective expression of unease. In Meka’s photograph, for example, others might have the luxury of waiting, but the stance of the man in construction overalls is one of deliberation, of an intention to compose chaos into a pattern. And where, in photographs by Aghogho Otega and Taiwo Aina, the scene of an aftermath shows no persons, the point appears to be that chaos is without pattern.

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In Community

Emmanuel Iduma
·
June 17, 2023
In Community

The argument could be, then, that a photograph of a community is most eloquent when photographers speak of being “here,” when they get so close as to portray individuals in the ordinary course of a day.

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Shut Eye

Emmanuel Iduma
·
June 24, 2023
Shut Eye

The eye in a photograph is similar to an aperture: an opening through which light can pass. And just as the camera is an optical instrument for looking outwards, so the eye is never seen to be facing rearwards. A final similarity—if the analogy isn’t already strained—is that an eyelid, like a shutter, can stay shut.

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Intimate Sight

Emmanuel Iduma
·
July 1, 2023
Intimate Sight

There is a range of intimacies in the photographs, from the filial to the romantic. Yet, no immediate truth about the particulars of each relationship is attested to here.

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Passersby (I)

Emmanuel Iduma
·
July 8, 2023
Passersby (I)

When time is a blind instructor, photography can become an efficient docent.

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Passersby (II)

Emmanuel Iduma
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July 15, 2023
Passersby (II)

Certain photographs are intimations about the flow of life.

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Spectators

Emmanuel Iduma
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July 22, 2023
Spectators

What is clear is that he is not content with simply being an observer; he also wishes to be observed.

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Three Together

Emmanuel Iduma
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July 29, 2023
Three Together

It’s a miracle of composition: there are three bodies, facing a house with three sections. Between the boys and the house there is a pool, and a stretch of low steps. The boys who face the pool hold their bodies with a relaxation that points either to fatigue or contemplation. Better the latter.

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The Road

Emmanuel Iduma
·
August 5, 2023
The Road

The road is pictured at a point from which it inclines into a bend. When you round the corner, you arrive at the house. From there you can stare down at the river, and it looks back up with tides of omniscience.

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The Sitters

Emmanuel Iduma
·
August 12, 2023
The Sitters

In all four photographs, the sitters are positioned in the center of the frame, and all except one show a lone figure.

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Light Fall

Emmanuel Iduma
·
August 19, 2023
Light Fall

The degree to which a camera absorbs light is the extent to which a photograph is legible. Yet, as we see from the following images, the passing of light can be the raw material of a photograph as much as a subject depicted in it.

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