A Trendy Fable at Filter Photo

Collaborative artmaking is an artwork in itself, artists generally being considerably ego-driven, however the duo who goes by the identify Rager appears to have sorted it out, as witnessed within the first exhibition within the newly opened second gallery at Filter Photo. Rager is comprised of Marzena Abrahamik, born in Poland and raised in Greece, whose work offers with private historical past and the immigrant expertise, and U.S. born Rebecca Kressley, who now lives in Amsterdam.

Kressley says that her work is created “as a response to a driving curiosity about relations between excess, intractability, sexuality and creativity,” whereas Abrahamik describes her work as being “anchored in historical events with formal interests in lighting, color and gesture that connect individual images.” Together they, as on this present, inform an entire story. Even the title of the exhibition, “Feeding a Swan to a Wolf,” feels considerably Brothers Grimm, the photographs main the viewer into an imaginative fairytale that, though hovering on the fringe of scary, is nonetheless beautiful.

For instance, in “party,” (2024) the inexperienced is as verdant as spring, the main focus comes and goes throughout the body, or in “really good” (2025), stemless inexperienced thistles relaxation on one thing visceral, shiny blood crimson towards a sweet pink background. The present incorporates each wolves and swans, luckily not in the identical picture on the identical time, however evident sufficient to trigger a sort of prescient hum of imminent hazard. The work is eerie and but fascinating. A swan and its reflection, an ideal pairing, diminutive within the large black area of the body, is sort of a mom of pearl brooch on a black velvet cape, nearly painfully elegant. To additional add thriller, the reflection is on high, the swan on the underside.

Three wolves take a look at the digital camera in a single {photograph}, whereas in one other, a solitary wolf lurks half behind a stand of bushes, as if ready for Red Riding Hood. In one picture, movement blur abstracts the flowers as if the photographer was operating—you may nearly hear labored respiration as she flees from one thing unseen within the forest.

There are three photos that diverge from the remainder. In all three, a nude lady, crisply photographed, is the topic. In one, she lies together with her again to the digital camera on a blanket lined with cartoon portraits of “The Simpsons”; in one other, she seems to crouch within the grass subsequent to a lake as if she herself is a wolf about to howl; and within the third, the one black and white picture within the present, she dives beneath the floor of the water, apparently taking part in the a part of the swan. The connection is believable however pointless. The remainder of the photographs inform the story in a much more delicate approach, and viewers don’t want the that means of the connection between the wolves and swan spelled out so clearly that it insults their mind. It’s higher to go away properly sufficient alone and let the traditional story retell itself within the remaining pictures.

“Feeding a Swan to a Wolf: Rager” at Filter Photo, 1821 West Hubbard, by September 12.