About Albert Nanning
ABOUT ME
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am still a child searching for treasures. I seek the scars, the abrasions of the city, the unseen shelters where time passes, where old posters hang, electricity boxes are plastered, and dead cardboard lies on the street, and I capture them. Like wounded soldiers, I take them home and breathe new life into them when necessary. Sometimes recovery takes longer, and I use band-aids from the archive.
I grew up in the 80s, during the times of Punk and New Wave, which rebelled against the established musical order and flourished due to poor socio-economic conditions. The punk attitude fascinated me. It’s not about technique; it’s about feeling, about resistance, being free to do what you want. That feeling is reflected in my images: this is beautiful to me, this I will capture or use, whether you like it or not.
It took me quite a while to dare to show this passion. I am naturally shy and introverted. Only after a divorce and some inner reflection did I dare to focus on my fascination with weathered objects, because I no longer chose what others might find beautiful, but what I find beautiful. Life marks people and things. In that sense, my images are literally signs of life. When I photograph an old, weathered door, I see not only the peeling paint but also the history of all the hands that have opened it. When I look at a wall covered in posters, I see how time builds up in layers and then crumbles away. That layering resonates with my own experiences. There is beauty in the imperfect, in what remains. I feel a compulsion to capture these images before someone decides to clean them up, to erase them. (Cliché warning:) At the same time, I hope that my work invites people to look at their surroundings differently, to discover the beauty in what is often overlooked.
I hope that people see the aesthetic beauty of my work and that upon closer inspection, they reflect on the time that has passed within the work and find comfort in it. For me, it is a way to reconcile with how life is, with my mortality. And it is a way to show who I am and that I stand by my images like a father for his son, or perhaps better, like a son for his father. My work is a statement against superficial appearances and the ideal image that is often imposed on us.
Background
I grew up in Groningen and became involved with photography and film during my study Dutch Language and Literature when I took a course in black and white photography. I was also occupied as a filmprogrammer at a movie theater for students for several years. Nowadays I live and work in Amsterdam where I scours the streets in search of images. Besides images I like to write and I've published two books, see also here.
Education
Nanning is autodidact.
Development & Style
From 2004 I fully focused on digital photography which resulted in my mirror collages (Digital/Mix/Symmetry) that are both striking and intruiging, often with very powerful colors. Furthermore I'm fascinated by objects changing over time.
Nowadays Albert focusses more on making series. He also started portraying people in the streets of Amsterdam.
Credo
You don't have to go far to discover beauty, It's closer than you think.
And one of my favorite writers Martin Bril once wrote: "First an artist has the obligation to search for beauty and second not to fall in the pit of seriousness."
© ALBERT NANNING
