William Ropp//

 William Ropp is known for the unique style in which he captures the mysterious aspects of human nature. Placing his subjects in absolute darkness during extended exposures, he uses a flashlight to paint a magical effect of illumination and shadow in what he calls ‘The dance of light’. ”My pictures were influenced by me working at the theatre, and I struggled to liberate myself from theatrical expression. This continued until I stopped using actors as models, replacing them with ordinary people I met.” Ropp often works in a studio, using a powerful torch as illumination, forcing him to expose for as long as ten minutes. In the darkness the models have little to focus on, and their stare is redirected towards the viewer. Seemingly coming from a different time, these human beings unify ancient mysteries and timeless questions in their appearances. William Ropps images takes us to different levels of reality and invites the viewer to occupy with the anthropological question of being and non-being. In his portraits of children their facial expression does not fit in the presentation of the ever-cheerfull child. The viewers childhood emotions and memories might be awakened.

Ropp produces his own richly toned, traditional gelatin silver prints. His photographs have been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries around the world, and his work has been published in several books including one devoted to the Children series, as well a twenty-year retrospective, and the “Dreamt memories from Africa” (april 2010), and ‘Faces’ with his recent color work – published in 2012.

 

//Five New Exhibitions at the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie//

Except from Vingt Paris/

Ropp’s incredible series of 20 portraits really stood out from the others. A stupefying eye for etching figures out of shadows, he knows exactly how to capture the “…nooks and crannies of our most intimate souls…” (Geraldine Schrepfen – author). His photographs are proof of what Daney, the influential French film critic, describes as “great trust in light” as he makes the invisible visible, using the light to erode away certain parts of his composition burning it like acid. This gives his portraits an appealing yet eerie atmosphere.

There is nothing conventional about Ropp’s portraits. A mishmash of greys, sometimes blurred, sometimes in focus and most the time, a mix of both, he captures his subjects as though they were confiding their darkest secret to him. For example, the print, Orphanage, Russia (2008), in which a child is photographed holding a crow up to the camera, squeezing it just a little too tightly.

There is an unsettling ambiance in most of his work. However, the series, Dreamt Memories from Africa, which is shown as a slideshow on a screen as part of the exhibition, is less dark. A veritable photographic feat, it shows the intimate relationship between two young African brothers – the light here snakes and slides like slithers of silver along the boys’ dark skin, giving his shots a hypnotic, poetic quality..//