Julia Christe
WHITE SANDS BEACH / WHITE SANDS / MEETING POINTS /
The fantasy seems perfect. “White Sands” is rightfully an American national monument. Newlyweds and holiday-goers travel here to celebrate, slide down sand dunes and barbecue. But, the park has another history: as the United States’ largest testing grounds. In the military research labs a new missile was half-way perfected, blocking access roads for a short time. “White Sands” then became a missile range. It was also here where, in 1945 shortly before Hiroshima, the first atom bomb was detonated. Even today tourists are gladly shown melted stone satisfying a skewed curiosity. But, no need to fear, the radiation can no longer cause any more damage than a dentist’s x-ray!
Julia Christe, a former student of Bernhard Prinz who has been awarded numerous art prizes, intensified the amazing luminosity of her landscape through a calculated overexposure. People are en route, in search of some free-time entertainment. But, at the same time, they are lost in the sun and are on their way to simply disappearing in the light. “I am most especially interested in the ambivalence between testing grounds and leisure retreat,” says the photographer. With “White Sands”, one of her first completely outdoor works, she strove towards clearly separating herself from her succesful career as an advertising photographer.
The snow-white dunes of New Mexico are so beautiful, displaying their animosity towards every form of life in Julia Christe’s photographs. While moving around, the people look like contaminants in the utopian setting of a fantasy film. There is something grotesque about it. And in this way, the series “White Sands” encompasses the ridge between Paradise and Hell, between amusement and contamination. Humor and irritation are without a doubt the essence behind almost all of Julia Christe’s photographs. The series “White Sands” achieves thereby a special radicality by virtue of it’s reduction, perfect aestheticism and double meaning.
The fantasy seems perfect. “White Sands” is rightfully an American national monument. Newlyweds and holiday-goers travel here to celebrate, slide down sand dunes and barbecue. But, the park has another history: as the United States’ largest testing grounds. In the military research labs a new missile was half-way perfected, blocking access roads for a short time. “White Sands” then became a missile range. It was also here where, in 1945 shortly before Hiroshima, the first atom bomb was detonated. Even today tourists are gladly shown melted stone satisfying a skewed curiosity. But, no need to fear, the radiation can no longer cause any more damage than a dentist’s x-ray!
Julia Christe, a former student of Bernhard Prinz who has been awarded numerous art prizes, intensified the amazing luminosity of her landscape through a calculated overexposure. People are en route, in search of some free-time entertainment. But, at the same time, they are lost in the sun and are on their way to simply disappearing in the light. “I am most especially interested in the ambivalence between testing grounds and leisure retreat,” says the photographer. With “White Sands”, one of her first completely outdoor works, she strove towards clearly separating herself from her succesful career as an advertising photographer.
The snow-white dunes of New Mexico are so beautiful, displaying their animosity towards every form of life in Julia Christe’s photographs. While moving around, the people look like contaminants in the utopian setting of a fantasy film. There is something grotesque about it. And in this way, the series “White Sands” encompasses the ridge between Paradise and Hell, between amusement and contamination. Humor and irritation are without a doubt the essence behind almost all of Julia Christe’s photographs. The series “White Sands” achieves thereby a special radicality by virtue of it’s reduction, perfect aestheticism and double meaning.
