American art photographer and filmmaker Alex Prager is having his first exhibition in Italy, in Fondazione Sozzani. Entitled Silver Lake Drive, the exhibition unites ten years of Prager’s photographic and film works.
The exhibition is curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer, director of the Musée des beaux-arts Le Locle, Switzerland.
Prager’s work is cinematic, drawing inspiration from her surroundings, personal experiences, street photography, pop culture and film. She utilizes a range of style elements reminiscent of early film genres such as film noir, thriller, melodrama and crime fiction. Women have frequently been the protagonist in Prager’s work, driven by emotion. Through the use of saturated colours and familiar imagery, Prager is able to create her own unique world where she explores darker topics in a seductive and unsettling way. – from Fondazione Sozzani
Inspired by the photographic work of William Eggleston, Diane Arbus and Cindy Sherman, Prager’s work, as well, is trying to master the art of freezing the indeterminable everyday moment. She uses heavily staged, large format images using rich colours. Her photographs capture enigmatic stories within the edges of the frame and are characterised by the absence of a linear narrative.
The exhibition is on view from September 15th, 2019 to January 6th, 2020 in Fondazione Sozzani, Corso Como 10, 20154 Milano.