Book review: The Space Between Memory and Expectation by Renate Aller
© Renate Aller, from the book The Space Between Memory and Expectation, published by Kehrer Verlag
Written by Angelica Cantù Rajnoldi
Edited by Jana Massoud
I vividly remember the morning when I went up to the Swiss Alps. I had been in the mountains many times before, but I had always limited myself to fairly low altitudes. That morning I decided, for the first time, to summit the mountain. I was a little scared and the cold was quite unbearable. As I reached the top, I remember seeing the wind caressing the snow making it rise and fly away. It was early afternoon and the sun was gently breaking the forest with its light. I watched this wonderful spectacle from above. I was no longer afraid, but I felt suddenly unarmed in the face of such immensity and unaccountable beauty.
© Renate Aller, from the book The Space Between Memory and Expectation, published by Kehrer Verlag
The photographs in Renate Aller’s book titled The Space between Memory and Expectation reminds me of this unique sensation. Through the course of the book, the striking pictures of ice fields of Patagonia, the European glaciers, and the urban waterways of New York’s harbor seem to become material paintings with the power to immerse the viewer in a space where the gaze gets lost – a space sparked when photographs stop being photographs and become works of art, or as Renate Aller calls them, “windows into the real world”.
© Renate Aller, from the book The Space Between Memory and Expectation, published by Kehrer Verlag
The artist’s key interest is in “creating an experience for the viewer to enter a space and be embraced and held by a continuous landscape”. This can be captured by the juxtaposition of images. Indeed, each image seems to have a relationship of continuity based on details, colors and shapes with the image that precedes it. From here, we can realize Renate Aller’s need to be in control of her own narrative.
© Renate Aller, from the book The Space Between Memory and Expectation, published by Kehrer Verlag
Thanks to Renate Aller’s pictures, we relive a common experience with greater awareness: the landscape as a mirror of ourselves—filled with illusions, desire, and nostalgia—and as a fulfillment of our idealized self.”
© Renate Aller, from the book The Space Between Memory and Expectation, published by Kehrer Verlag
Born in Germany, Renate Aller grew up in Hamburg. She moved to London where she learned a more experimental and open vision of art. Here, she started her studies at the Chelsea School of Art, but then she entered the painting and sculpture departments of the art school, Byam Shaw the Arts, where she finally approaches photography. After finishing her studies and establishing a career there, she moved to New York, where she still lives and works. Her work is displayed in the collections of corporate institutions, private collectors, and museums, including Lannan Foundation, National Gallery of Art, Yale, University Art Gallery and others. You can find the link to her website here: https://renatealler.com/
