Process Room, 03.03.07- 18.03.07

«  Margaret Platt, 79 years old, cut the 78ft plait of her 43 year old daughter Ursula in the afternoon of a rather sunny day »
News of the World, Sunday 14th of March 1872

For French photographer Delphine Balley the camera is a tool, which allows her to see through reality and have access to fantasy.  The alterations she imprints on the world around her are the result of uneasiness; feelings and ideas one may experience when trapped in the familiar setting of humdrum life.  Delphine Balley’s work is an attempt at capturing the huis clos atmosphere in which she was and still is immersed.  Her need to interrupt her growing-up is forcefully conveyed in her images.  In order to create her characters Balley draws from anecdotes, news articles and pays attention to details.  Her practice evolves on the search for new events, new personalities and new stories, which culminate in images that evoke a strange familiarity.  Balley has had recent exhibitions in Gallery Le Réverbère, Lyon 2005 and Contemporary Art Centre, Château des Adémar, Montélimar 2005.

All images on view in the Process Room have been created during Balley’s residency at IMMA and are all works in progress.

Balley would like to thank the following :
Thanks to Mr & Mrs Casey and their family and to Marina & Kevin for lending to me the use of their homes.  Thank you to all the models in the pictures for their patience and their time, and to everybody else for helping me to create this work (the list is really long).  And a special thanks to Desmond Guinness for his assistance in getting this whole project started.  Thanks to Janice Hough, who has helped me from the beginning, and to IMMA staff.  Thanks to Nigel Monahan, Keeper of the Natural History Museum and to Myles Nolan, Mattew and Paolo for their help.  Thanks to François for his advice and his contribution to my work with writing and to Fernanda for a lot of different things.

Some photographs taken with kind permission from the National Museum of Ireland.
© The National Museum of Ireland, 2007

For a printable version of this information please download the following document Delphine Balley Process Room doc.

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