The Photographs from the exhibition "Beyond the Mirror" at Gulbenkian

In this review, I will focus on how portrait photography was presented in the exhibition Beyond the Mirror currently held at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. The theme of the exhibition is borrowed from Lewis Carrol’s novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871); and it evokes the whimsical aspect of experiencing a direct reflection of reality. Curated by Maria Rosa Figueiredo in collaboration with Leonor Nazaré, the exhibition maps how the mirror has been historically involved with the European realm of artistic representations. Between surrealism and allegoric narratives, the photographs of Paulo Mendes, Jorge Molder, Richard Hamilton, Daniel Blaufuks, Noé Sendas, Cecília Costa, Ana Janeiro and Michelangelo Pistoletto are placed side by side with paintings and sculptures that evoke the long-standing problem of understanding self-identity. In the core of this matter there is a fundamental quest for truth, that confronts the unsettling and mysterious reality created by the playful inclusion of the mirror in their photographs. This ambivalence suspends the mirror as an object of coherent vision of the world, and transport the viewer to a dream-like space welcoming the projection of desires. The common point between the reflected world of the mirror and the one captured by the photograph, is the possibility of finding something unique about the self, and how this uniqueness is perceived socially.

Daniel Blaufuks (1963) Hand with Mirror from the series Oficio de Viver, 2010. Inkjet Print.

Blaufuks photograph illustrates the idea of identity as something precious and private, that could be kept hidden from others or set to complete disappearance. In this last reading, the hand as a background could suggest the “let go” of the reflected face. The dramatic lighting enhances the textures of the hand whose strong lines alludes to past experiences. The hand reminds the viewer that there are some physical and psychological aspects of the self that become more prominent through time, while others are ephemeral.

Ana Janeiro (1978) Onze#13, 2004. Chromogenic print.                   

Cecília Costa (1971), Isabel, from the series tiled Pli ,2005. Lightjet Print.

In Janeiro’s Photograph, there is a clash between the subject and its unrecognized reflection. The double acquires an autonomy that is not welcomed by its original, and becomes a threat. Similarly, in Costa’s image, the subject turns into anonymity by getting too close to herself. A confusion that unexpectedly created by blending the delineation of object with that of its subject.

Cecília Costa (1971) Notting Hill II, from the series Pli ,2006 Lightjet Print.                          

Paulo Mendes (1966) O Senhor S – aceita o seu destino, como um santo se sacrifice, tenta controlar os impulsos mais obscuros e congénitos da sua existêcia interior, from the series S de Saudade. 2008-2009. Inkjet Print.

It becomes inevitable to metaphorically leave your own body in order to analyze who we really are. The reflected image acquires the status of an entity, a double extension of the self turning the mirror into an allegorical object, responsible for psychological knowledge as well as the construction of subjectivity. In Mendes photograph, this entity assumes the form of nostalgia. The phantasmagoric scenario of hidden objects intensifies the relation of subject and his image that is mediated temporally by the pictures of Salazar hanging on the wall.

Noé Sendas (1972) Crystal Girl no. 78 and 69, 2012 (Ed. AP1) inkjet prints.    

Jorge Molder (1947) Retrato, série Nox, 1999, Silver Gelatin Print

Furthermore, the promise of knowledge about the self is turned into a trap. The embodiment of a narcissistic illusion is what causes in us an unsettling sensation when searching for a dialogue with the mirror. So fascinating to eyes, this experience deviates us from the truth, and it allows access to an infinite world of imagined dimensions and vices related to beauty.

Richard Hamilton (2922-2011), Mirror Image, 1974, Collotype.                          

Michelangelo Pistoletto (1933), due ragazzi alla fonte 1975. Photography on mirror.

Throughout the exhibition, the mimetic aspect of the photographic medium overlaps the dualistic instance of the mirrored image, and reaches its epiphany with the work of Pistoletto, who reminds us of the uncanny relation that could exist between stable bi-dimensionality of the photograph with the tri-dimensional depth of the reflected image.  His work is conceptually linked with that of Richard Hamilton as it pinpoints that the mirror image is an ephemeral passage while the photograph is a solid and retained image. Overall, the photographs in the exhibition address a symmetrical balance between the power of reflected image and our willingness to shape a truthful aspect for the self, which demands us seen beyond what you expect in this introspective instance.