ELLIOTT VERDIER - REACHING FOR DAWN (SPECIAL EDITION)

ELLIOTT VERDIER
REACHING FOR DAWN

The Box
Published by Dunes Edition, 2023
Wood box with the book "Reaching for Dawn" + a print signed and numbered by the artist
Limited edition of 10
Edition 6/10

The book
Published by Dunes Edition, 2021
Book size 24 x 31 cm
Pages 152 pages - 66 photographs (36 b&w - 30 color)
Language English and French
First edition
Limited of 750 copies
ISBN: 978-2-9576132-0-5

Liberia does not speak of its bloody civil war (1989-2003). No memorial has been built, no day is dedicated to commemoration. Still held by certain protagonists of the carnage, the country still refuses to condemn its executioners. This silence, amplified by international silence, sweeps away any social recognition of the tragedy and denies the very essence of a collective memory, generating a deep feeling of abandonment coupled with a sleepy resignation. The trauma of an entire population crystallizes in a society with foundations of clay and transpires on a new generation with a troubled future .

Elliott Verdier's photographic and sound work spanned two years. The shots were taken throughout the territory, from the diamond mines of Gbarpolu to the fishing port of Harper, via the immense shanty town of Westpoint. The silver photographs, taken with a 4x5 camera, offer two interwoven sequences, one in black & white and the other in color. Added to this are recordings made in the studio where we hear the voices of women and men, victims or executioners, who narrate their damaged destinies.

The monochromes are contextual, dark and enigmatic images that set the scene for the color portraits. These b&w are a reference to the night, often present in the testimonies and described as the moment when trauma becomes palpable. They distill a heavy atmosphere and propagate the stifling silence that reigns over the country. From this silence emerge the words restored from the recordings, on fragile layers, as if to come and constellate inaudible murmurs this Liberian night.

editor's text