I selected Bruno Roels for my juror’s special award as something of a challenge to the artist. Hand printing in the darkroom is a fundamental aspect of Roels’ practice, attempting to subvert the inherent reproducibility of photography by intentionally printing the same negative differently each time. In addition, Roels frequently embellishes his prints with ink, taking them another step further from the convention that photographs are mechanically or digitally reproduced. The final objects are so delicate yet have clearly tested their creator, physically and mentally. At the same time, the look and feel of his work reminds me of the collotype process which produces prints that exude serenity. In my mind I have a vision of Bruno Roels and Master Printer Osamu Yamamoto wrestling to reconcile the different photographic printing processes each is so familiar with, in the end creating something unexpected, original and spectacular. By giving my juror’s special award to Bruno Roels I am challenging him to make this meeting in Kyoto happen one day. Nothing good is easy.

– Tristan Lund Juror, Hariban Award 2017

Bio

The American conceptual artist Baldessari warned against the “tyranny of camera viewfinders and rectangular boxes of enlarging papers”. He had a valid point; a lot of photography is defined by the camera used, the film (or technology) in that camera, and the paper the photographs are printed on. Bruno V. Roels was frustrated by this and started researching ways to get more out of the process. Not just to be ‘different’ but to get away from ‘the tyranny’ of normal photography. Roels found that the very act of developing and printing analogue photography offers endless ways to be free, artistically.

Images courtesy of Gallery Fifty One