Linger
by Viggo Mortensen.
Published by Perceval Press. 2005. ISBN: 0-9774869-3-1
Viggo
Mortensen was born in 1958, in the United States, and is, as many
will know, an acclaimed, award winning, actor famous for his role
as
Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and for several collaborations
with director David Cronenberg. What many may not know is that
Mortensen is a gifted photographer, painter and poet.
Mortensen is also a champion of the arts through
his publishing company Perceval Press. Perceval Press was set up in
2002 by Pilar Perez and Mortensen with the aim
of distributing, to a wider audience, high quality publications of
photography, art, critical writing and poetry by artists who 'otherwise
have gone unnoticed and to do so without compromise while keeping
prices as low as possible'. Each publication is supervised by
Mortensen himself to an exacting standard 'I
go over all the books with a fine-tooth comb before they go out.'
The
monograph 'Linger' is available in both soft cover and hard cover.
I am reviewing the hard cover version. Within its 104 pages the
viewer will find a series of monochrome photographs and text by Mortensen.
The photographs are reproduced, to a very high standard, on good quality,
heavy weight paper. The text takes the form of both poetry and a series
of short essays. The book and its author challenge us to look directly
at loss, bereavement, change and renewal. We often rely upon photographs
to aid and prompt our memories, 'tools' to be used to help 'fill in
the blanks' as time and distance from the 'event' or 'place' being
'remembered' pollute and invade. 'Linger' challenges our memories
and our use of photographs as aids to recollection.
Many
of the photographs within the pages of 'Linger' are deliberately 'out
of focus' or 'blurred' which only furthers their appeal. Frequent
use is made of the open shutter to create temporal patterns. Some
images give the appearance of having been shot through tubes and pipes.
Many are sharp centrally but play with vignettes and 'fall off' of
focus at the edges, reminding one of the imagery produced by 'toy
cameras' such as the Holga and Diana. Other images 'appear' to be
created via multiple exposures. Whatever technique is employed, the
resultant imagery draws the viewer in, reminding us that our own memory
and our perception of past events are equally 'out of focus'. There
is a frailty to memory that is, despite its flaws, beautiful and this
is reflected within the images found within this book.
The photographs Mortensen creates encourage us not to
fear 'loss' but to 'embrace' it. Where 'detail' is lost we find a
welcoming and reassuring emotional response in its place. This beautiful
book contains a body of work that, like memories, seduces us into
making repeated return visits, where we are encouraged to 'Linger'
for a while. It is a monograph that I can highly recommend to you.
Whilst 'Linger' is published through his own label,
this is no vanity publication created to soothe the ego and pretensions
of an actor.
Mortensen is a serious artist who produces imagery that
is beautiful, compelling and authentic. His artworks stand apart from
his more well known acting accomplishments and would demand to be
taken just as seriously even if he did not have the big screen name
baggage attached.
Review
by Christopher John Ball
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