LANDING AT NEPTUNE
by Souheil Chemaly
Bethesda Art Blog
April 12, 2008
I hate digital cameras and cell phones. They make everybody think that they are photographers. To see some really amazing photographs make your way to Neptune for "Landing", an exhibit by Beatrice Hamblett.
This is the third photography exhibit in a row in Bethesda. Fraser Gallery hosted the two earlier ones with the 7th International Photography Competition, with an exhibit by acclaimed photographer Lida Moser. It is nice to see photography taking center stage.
This is the second career for Beatrice Hamblett, initially a journalist and now a photographer sharing her time between Washington DC and Greece. The contrast could not be greater.
In her most recent series of photographs of rural Greece, she chooses to "immortalize" everyday Greek landscapes and people, as opposed to the known monuments born out of Greece's rich history. It is a little bit like Bertolt Brecht immortalizing Cesar's cooks:
Young Alexander conquered India.
Oh, he alone?
Cesar defeated the Gauls.
Didn't he at least have a cook with him?
Every side a victory.
Who cooked the victory dinner?
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters (1938)
Mad Hun's translation
Landing is a great series of photographs. However, my favorite photograph on display is still "Vanishing" a photograph taken from her older body of work "Modern Archeology".