Raphael Dallaporta - still life (web)

Landmines look like fruit.

 Blu-3/B aka The Pineapple, USA © Raphael Dallaporta

They also happen to look like perfume bottles, absorbent sponges and cookie jars. A strange analogy maybe, to describe these tools of devastation in such a fashion but this is an observation to which I am not alone; Foam.org described the collection as "pleasantly coloured" and "simply framed" (oct 2011) - thus lulling the viewer into a false sense of security that these still life images do nothing more than act as just that, still life. It is only on closer inspection of the accompanying text that one can grasp the full extent of their purpose.

 B-40, USA/Vietnam © Raphael Dallaporta

GMM1-43, Germany © Raphael Dallaporta
 




This makes for uncomfortable viewing as you start to have visions of the damage caused by the landmine to the unfortunate people who, like you, were deceived by the pretty wrapper that it was contained in. By entitling the project 'Antipersonnel' the work takes on a different kind of metaphor in to the anti-personNAL nature of the images themselves and possibly alluding to the chilling thought that these objects are still very present, hiding in plain site.

Raphael Dallaporta
Antipersonnel
35 Ilfochrome prints (24x30cm) with captions.
http://www.raphaeldallaporta.com/projects/antipersonnel

Foam Press Release | 6 June 2011
http://www.foam.org/press/2011/raphael-dallaporta