Monday 7 October 2013

A premonition, perhaps?...


Cuba. Che Guevara. 1963
Renè Burri
(Magnum Photos Archive)


Last Saturday Zürich awoke to a misty, rainy day. I took a stroll around the city with my camera and an attentive eye for the imprint of water in all things.
Crossing one of the streets in the heart of the financial district, I noticed a folded note, wet and thinned by the rain. I picked it, unfolded it, and found "El Che"! Luckily his skin hadn't completely wrinkled.
I put the note between the pages of my journal and pressed it under my arm. The event was somewhat surreal.

Just a day after this happening, I attended the marvellous exhibition of Swiss Photographer Renè Burri at Zürich's Gestaltung Museum. Burri's extraordinary work covers six decades in recent history, where he crosses paths with some of the 20th century's iconic figures: Picasso, Giacometti, Le Corbusier, El Che.
Renè Burri applied his visual language to photo journalism which is never devoid of the artist in him.
The above photo essay gave birth to one of the most memorable and compelling images of Ernesto 'El Che Guevara'.
For my part, I can say that I'm content with this silent, yet powerful, visual-victory!

A link to Gestaltung Museum

http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch/