“Such accomplished and beautiful work… precise, playful, clearly loved in the process of making. What I truly enjoyed was how many ways this work might be experienced in person especially if given the permission to hold and move the pages and complex elements that make up each piece. In the time-honored treasure and marriage of nature collected and archived, the work clearly demonstrates the artist’s love of the subject, the concept and the physical act of creating wonder as in the trompe l’oeil stacked pages (referencing the leaves in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass) A pleasure to look at look and experience.” Christopher James
Please click on image to se a different view.
I am in awe of the creative talent that was Denis Roussel, I am continually inspired by the visual art he created in his lifetime. I value and appreciate both his vision and his ability to transform that vision into pure magic.
I never had the opportunity to meet Denis, but his art legacy reveals a person who had a unique way of seeing the world around him. And he managed, time after time, to create something extraordinary out of the seemingly mundane, gifting us with whole other possibilities in the way we might view our own surroundings. His always stunning art and his rare vision remain an inspiration.
So to be named Rfotofolio’s Denis Roussel Award winner for 2021 is truly an honor for me.
In my own photographic life, I have continually searched for ways to create photographic-based art that might move beyond the inherent limitations of this modern art form— whether that’s in pursuing 19th century photographic printing processes, using pinhole cameras, going camera-less — or transforming my photographic imagery from a 2-D to a 3-D art form— the creative possibilities seem at once endless, exciting, and challenging. And what could be better?
Enormous gratitude goes to Jerry and Connie Rosenthal of Rfotofolio, for conceiving of this Award and for the encouragement, validation, and honor that accompany it. By creating such a space and opportunity for contemporary alt process photographers, they keep Denis’s art and legacy very much alive. As individual artists themselves, and through Rfotofolio, their unwavering support of contemporary photographers and their clear-eyed recognition of photography as an art form are positively transformative.
I also especially thank esteemed juror, Christopher James, for his continued support, the knowledge he freely shares with others, and for his insights. His thoughtful comments on everyone’s impressive work were illuminating and went above and beyond.
And much appreciation also goes to all the sponsors of this Award, most especially to Josephine Sacabo.
I’m honored and thrilled with the Rfotofolio 2021 Denis Roussel Award, and to be among such fine photographic artists. Diana Bloomfield
This work continues my exploration and construction of one-of-a-kind hand-made artist books created from my images printed in historic processes.
I love the whole idea of books- the tactility, the 3-dimensionality, and the intimacy. Some of these books incorporate photograms and image details from my ongoing series, The Old Garden. Others detail what I experienced during the year-long lockdown of a global pandemic, with subject matter as diverse as witnessing ‘A Murmuration of Starlings (Bird Box),’ or the layered beauty in a nearby ‘Field of Rapeseed,’ or the tactile and abstract quality of simple packaging paper, as in ‘Paper Dreams.’ Printed on Japanese Gampi paper, ‘Winter Garden’ attempts to show the stark beauty of a backyard winter garden, layered like memory, one on top of the other.
The one issue I have always found with still photography is that it is, in fact, so still. These books are just one more way to exploit movement and fluidity in an otherwise static 2-D art form, inviting touch, interaction, and a sense of play in my work. Images made from my backyard garden, or what I experienced close to home— all made by hand in 19th century printing techniques— seem to mesh well with the hand-made and perfectly imperfect tactile quality of these books. I also appreciate the liberation that stems from literally deconstructing my own hand-made prints to build a totally different art form, creating new meanings and new ways of seeing.
And now when I create a handmade print, I look forward to folding, sewing, and binding that print into yet another engaging art form— one where the details create the whole.
Diana Bloomfield
To learn more about the work of Diana Bloomfield please visit her page by clicking on her name.
Featured Comments
“Such wonderful work. Simple, elegant images beautifully crafted. I’d love to see these in person and to feel them in my own hands. Congratulations Diana!” Ruth Steinberg
“Just beautiful and timeless work!” Stan Klimek
“Amazing, delicate and inspiring work. If only I could have these beautiful books in my hands!!! Well deserved your Award, Diana!!!! “Ana Tornel
“Thoughtful and engaging images bound together with superb craftsmanship!” Lou McCorkle
Such wonderful work. Simple, elegant images beautifully crafted. I’d love to see these in person and to feel them in my own hands. Congratulations Dianna!
Just beautiful and timeless work!
Amazing, delicate and inspiring work. If only I could have these beautiful books in my hands!!! Well deserved your Award, Diana!!!!
Thoughtful and engaging images bound together with superb craftsmanship!