THE COLORS OF LONGING



Off the south coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, lies Martha’s Vineyard. Every summer the island is a well-frequented holiday destination. Alison Shaw (*1954) has lived permanently on the island since 1975. For years she has observed and contemplated the change of tides and seasons and allows herself to be inspired by the light, wind, and weather for her calm, atmospheric, and intense pictures of the coast. She lets herself be directed by nature and her mood; she pours herself completely therein. Alison Shaw’s photographs are epic, radiate tranquility, and tell of endlessly beating waves and the magic of the island with its opulent atmospheric palette of color. While her quasi-square pictures are intrinsically related to classical landscape painting, her panoramas have the effect – though only a single still image – of motion, as if they were made during for a film, and we almost can hear the underlying, slow, narrative music of a reunion or bidding farewell.