{"id":37126,"date":"2021-07-09T01:55:54","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T08:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=37126"},"modified":"2021-07-07T15:49:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T22:49:54","slug":"communicating-with-visuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/07\/09\/communicating-with-visuals\/","title":{"rendered":"Communicating with visuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHanging Out\u201d by Derry Lubell.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Derry Lubell\u2019s photography captures the motion of dance, the ephemeral magic of the art form that generally only exists at the moment of performance. Unless, of course, it is recorded by a talented photographer.<\/p>\n

Lubell\u2019s solo exhibition The Body Speaks: Dance \u2022 Movement \u2022 Emotion opened on July 2 at the Zack Gallery. The official opening on July 8 was in person, as the long months of COVID restrictions started to ease. The gallery\u2019s latest email to its patrons joyously states: \u201cAppointments are no longer needed to see the show in person. Come on in!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
\u201cThe Dichotomy\u201d by Derry Lubell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you do go in, you\u2019re surrounded by dance and dancers, their beautiful faces, and their astounding bodies. The gallery is a quiet place, but you can almost hear the music floating in the air, while the graceful ballerinas leap and pirouette around you. Most images are black and white or rendered in muted colours. \u201cI think you can see the lines better in black and white,\u201d said Lubell in an interview with the Independent<\/em>. \u201cThe colour is often distracting, and I don\u2019t want that. I don\u2019t like fussy. I want clean shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lubell has been an artistic photographer for about five years. \u201cBefore that, I had a career as a psychotherapist. I had a family to raise,\u201d she mused. \u201cI always had a small camera with me, since I was young, to photograph my family or places I visited, but it was casual, like memory shots. After I retired, I started thinking: what else do I want to do? I always enjoyed talking to people, understanding their emotions. I wanted to do something similar but without the responsibility. Photography allows that. Using photography, I can still communicate with people, discern their emotions, reach their hearts, but on a visual level, without words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Derry Lubell (photo from Derry Lubell)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The former psychotherapist reinvented herself as a photographer, and it led her on a long road of self-exploration, especially because the technology had progressed so much. \u201cI had to learn computers,\u201d she said. \u201cI work harder now than before I retired. Shooting. Editing my pictures. Studying. Taking classes. Looking at other photographers\u2019 images to see what works and what doesn\u2019t. I put up my pictures on my website and Instagram, so others can see me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dancing series is her latest, and it came about almost by accident. \u201cI always enjoyed working with people who are comfortable with their bodies,\u201d she said. \u201cEven as a psychotherapist, I paid attention not only to words but to body language. Many people speak with their bodies. Dancers are the best at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her admiration of dancers prompted her a few years ago to enrol in dance lessons. \u201cIt was incredible,\u201d she remembered. \u201cThe instructor was wonderful. I asked her: could I take your photograph? She agreed. After that, I photographed her and some of her students, and some other dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lubell prefers taking pictures in people\u2019s natural milieu. Some of the photos in the exhibit she took during rehearsals in the dancers\u2019 studio spaces around the city. For others, she arranged meetings with the dancers outside, in urban surroundings, parks or the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach session is an hour or two hours long. Each one is a collaboration between a photographer and a dancer,\u201d she explained. \u201cTogether, we choose a location. I would ask her to bring half of her dancing wardrobe, and we try different costumes to see what works for the camera. I often select the background, and then the dancer would start dancing, and I would walk around and take shots. I might suggest a position or a prop, like \u2018play against that log\u2019 or \u2018turn this way,\u2019 but they are the performers. They like to perform. It is up to me to capture the perfect moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those moments resulted in a unique picture. Only the legs of the dancer are showing. One wears a point shoe, posing like a coquette on a staircase. The other is still wearing a stiletto. The photo, titled \u201cThe Dichotomy,\u201d emphasizes the dual nature of the subject: a woman and a dancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was sold before the show started,\u201d Lubell said. \u201cI brought pictures to the gallery to hang on the walls. Everything was still on the floor, in boxes. I left the gallery for a few minutes. When I came back, Hope [Forstenzer, the gallery director] said: \u2018You know, this one just sold.\u2019 Before it was even displayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
\u201cForm in Flight\u201d by Derry Lubell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another interesting image, \u201cForm in Flight,\u201d is of a young dancer in street clothing jumping in front of a brick wall. Lubell took the photo in Chinatown. \u201cIt is one of the oldest walls in the city,\u201d she said. \u201cI walked around Chinatown with that dancer. She is a student, but she loves dancing. When I saw that wall bordering a parking lot, I asked her to dance against it.\u201d The dancer\u2019s flight in the image is airy and joyful.<\/p>\n

Several pictures display more than one dancer. One of those photos, called \u201cHanging Out,\u201d is imbued with humour: one dancer is hanging from a wall with her hands, while the other is hanging upside down by her feet. \u201cThey are best friends,\u201d Lubell said. \u201cThey met years ago as gymnasts. One does stunts for the movies now \u2013 she is the one who is upside down. I asked them to dance against the wall, and they started playing together, having fun. That mutual pose was a surprise to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lubell considers her dancers as partners in her art. \u201cThey have the right of veto. It doesn\u2019t happen often, but sometimes they would say: \u2018Don\u2019t use this picture, my leg is in the wrong position.\u2019 And I won\u2019t. I honour their requests. After all, they honour me by allowing me to shoot their photos.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Body Speaks is on display until Aug. 16. For more information, visit the photographer\u2019s website, derrylubell.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHanging Out\u201d by Derry Lubell. Derry Lubell\u2019s photography captures the motion of dance, the ephemeral magic of the art form that generally only exists at the moment of performance. Unless, of course, it is recorded by a talented photographer. Lubell\u2019s solo exhibition The Body Speaks: Dance \u2022 Movement \u2022 Emotion opened on July 2 at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[2466,3119,19903,2747,40],"class_list":["post-37126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-art","tag-dance","tag-derry-lubell","tag-photography","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}