Stones against Diamonds, 2016
Premier Photograph
160 x 160 cm
A lump of ice nestles in a pair of cupped hands like a diamond in a padded jewelry box. An apt analogy given the project from which this work derives: the video installation 'Stones Against Diamonds' by filmmaker photographer Isaac Julien (1960, United Kingdom). Shot in a remote Icelandic glacier cave, 'Stones Against Diamonds' is inspired by a letter that Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi wrote to her husband. Turning conventional notions of beauty on their head, Bo Bardi stated her preference for the beauty of natural elements over that of diamonds. Photographed as the ice cave crumbled and melted as a result of global warming, this work is a reminder of the preciousness and vulnerability of nature.