Hokus Pokus Photon Photos

Another Spring in Egypt. Not Capturing the Moment: Photographs by Tony Binder (1868 – 1944)

Tony Binder

Tony Binder does not use photos to take possession of reality for later transcription into paintings, as photographers and artists of his time commonly did. The photo helps him comprehend a little known reality and, like all seekers, he is concerned with a vision of the world that differs from his own and from that of others. The photos are not there to capture the moment, but to describe the transition from the painting to vision — he needs them in order to see. He photographs as he sees. He communicates to us the illusion of the reality of foreign worlds which are not of his dreaming, to which he only gives expression. His extraordinary, anthropological documentation is expression. He kindles our emotions with a sharp eye. What is it that you wanted to show me? I finally understand: it was you. Vincenzo Mazzarella