2/25/2023 0 Comments A day in space essay![]() ![]() Growing up in East Harlem, Smallwood recalls that Central Park “was the only sliver of nature” he had. Learning that the place I go to to escape was yet another place that held a history that featured the type of darkness I was trying to ignore was more than disheartening-but I realized the love I had for the space trumped those feelings and I had to stay true to that.” “It first influenced me into attempting to make harsh images, angry images. Smallwood first heard about Seneca Village when he started photographing aimlessly in the park, the discovery provoking a strong reaction that fed into his images. ![]() Untitled #2, 2020, from the book “Langour” © Donavon Smallwood A soft gauzy light obscures and embraces a young man in a do-rag, eyes seemingly closed, the graceful branches of a tree mimicking his limbs at rest. A monarch butterfly lands on a white flower thick with petals. The reflection of light on water provides the backdrop for a young woman, arms behind her back, gaze taking in the camera. In this series of black and white photographs, Smallwood paints a picture of a near pastoral space, rich in texture and warm with light. Smallwood guides the viewer through the landscape like an old hand, stopping to capture the way a willow bends over a path or the spillage of morning glories over a rock. These are beautiful portraits, treated with a sensitivity and intimacy that draws the viewer in. Lush landscapes give way to soft surroundings that cradle the young people captured in Smallwood’s series Languor. It is this pairing of love and disillusionment that creates the pull of these images. Untitled #20, 2020, from the book “Langour” © Donavon Smallwood ![]()
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