Elena Helfrecht & Teri Varhol — AUGURY
Entitled AUGURY, the photobook is the very first collaborative publication by artists and friends Elena Helfrecht and Teri Varhol.
Both travelled separately across Europe in the last years exploring solitude, isolation and freedom. In the book they blur the line between the natural and the surreal world, investigating the daylight, nightlife and its iconography. Presented as a back-to-back book, it relates two stories: ‘The Swallow’ and ‘The Cage’, where the artists introduce us to a distorted reality through their own individual journeys.
Published by Antics Publications, the photobook constitutes the artists’ debut. Antics Publications mainly focuses on photography, balancing the work of emerging and established photographers. The house-based publisher in Brooklyn and Bogota was founded in 2018 and since then has been championing an inclusive and open approach to the global photography community.
The way the book is configured is really characteristic. It presents two sides that bring together places that are apparently unconnected. Elena and Teri travelled individually to different European locations during the global lockdowns such as Bavaria or the Alps, capturing their sublime landscapes and natural phenomena. Keeping always that mystic aura, both artists connect their narratives through the constant tension between light and dark, reuniting the inside and the outside.
It is almost inevitable for the viewer not seeking the correlation between photographs, since it is what the series suggests. Some of them could be purely read as documentation or captured moments, but through all the book, we never abandon that space between reality and imagination. Two stories encountered in a shared space.
Elena Helfrecht (b. 1992, Germany) is a visual artist based in Bavaria. She is interested in the inner space and the phenomena of consciousness. From an autobiographical point of view, she opens up her practice to the surreal and fantastic; merging memories, experiences and imagination. She holds a MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art in London, and has a strong background in Art and Image History.
Teri Varhol (b. 1986, Czech Republic) is an artist whose practice revolves around photography and video. In her work she explores the psyche and the patterns where boundaries of reality blur and the unexpected arises. Teri graduated from the Studio of Intermedia at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno and currently resides in London.
If you are interested in acquiring AUGURY, you can find more information on Antics Publications website.
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Text by:
Juan Blasco — Founder & Curator of Conceptual Projects
